- Tourism has been one of the sectors most affected by the pandemic. This is a sector marked by temporality, and the pandemic will condition not only the current reserves, but also the businesses of the future. Thus, the Airbnb apartment rental giant has dismissed a quarter of its staff worldwide, unable to meet the expenses.
So far, Airbnb has employed 7,500 workers worldwide. It has now brought out the fourth, 1,900, as the main cause of the situation caused by the pandemic. The forecasts for 2020 are half that of last year and conclude that fundamental changes in the workforce must be made in order to deal with the crisis.
The CEO of the company, Brian Chesky, has launched a message full of uncertainty: “We don’t know when they will return and when they return they will be different.” He added that it is not possible now to do everything they did before.
He has announced that he is suspending some services, such as transportation and Airbnb Studios. The first is the passenger transport service to the rented houses, while Airbnb Studios is a production of audiovisual parts to attract passengers, with the aim of turning those spaces into attractive. In addition, it has announced that the platform will also reduce its luxury offerings.
Non-staff
The company has reported that it has dismissed a quarter of its workforce, but the biggest workload is placed by the owners of the houses and their carers. The Airbnb website offers over seven million homes and its owners and caregivers, more directly, will be affected by the company’s crisis.
They are not included in the company's workforce and are therefore not counted as unemployed. But the unemployed who have become unemployed will not only be those 1,900 regulated, but will also be many of the seven million homes that advertise housing. The company has announced a $250 million fund to pay part of what was expected to be gained in compensation to the owners of the reserves.