[rafiki6]

Two arguments can be made. On the one hand, there are definitely more private places to be rented out then there are hotel rooms in those 5 chains. On the other hand, I'm not entirely sure that Airbnb can ever be profitable enough with all of those rentable places to justify the cost, especially since much of their stock is misused long term rental capacity that many municipalities are cracking down on now.

So yes, it is rather unlikely that Airbnb will grow enough to justify the market cap. This is tech bubble hype at it's epitome.

The best part about all of this, is that a company called PetCo recently IPO'd as well. https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanverdon/2020/12/04/pets-are-...

So ya, we're probably going to get hurt real bad at some point.

[dorchadas]

> especially since much of their stock is misused long term rental capacity that many municipalities are cracking down on now.

And thank heavens they are. I've been on the suffering end of trying to find a place to rent before but couldn't due to everyone preferring AirBnB for long term rental properties as they could make more money. I won't say it's the root cause of housing crises in cities worldwide, but it's definitely a major contributor, as you have the same number of people now fighting over less area. The quicker AirBnB gets regulated to go back to being a place to rent out a spare room, the better.

[snthd]

The pandemic makes the impact measurable eg

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/pandemic-reveals...

>availability in the rental market has bounced, with 41 per cent more properties for rent nationally and 92 per cent more in Dublin.

>In Dublin availability was almost double what it was a year ago, with nearly 3,000 homes on the rental market on August 1st compared to fewer than 1,600 in August 2019,

[dorchadas]

> https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/pandemic-reveals...

It's interesting you quote the Irish Times, as Ireland is where I had my trouble.

> In Dublin availability was almost double what it was a year ago, with nearly 3,000 homes on the rental market on August 1st compared to fewer than 1,600 in August 2019,

It literally doubled the market, something much needed. And there's honestly probably still more where the owners didn't hop back into long-term rent. Hopefully it stays like this next year when I plan to go do a masters. And that the government works on fixing it.

[tomjakubowski]

Petco is well established (founded 55 years ago), based primarily in brick and mortar retail, and don't try to market themselves as a tech or "dotcom" company. We may be in a bubble, but I don't think their IPO is comparable to Pets.com of the dotcom era.

[rafiki6]

Yes they are two quite different companies. I just found it hilariously ironic.

[igeligel_dev]

I think the post COVID-19 phase will actually be good for them in that regard. Companies switch to remote, at least a bit and cities will empty a bit more. This might make some more space for permantent tenants. But could be also completely wrong about that.