During a tour at Silversquare’s coworking area, I was pleasantly surprised to see a well-known name in the list of operating companies: Airbnb! The platform has chosen to set up its European payment subsidiary here to develop its activity from the Grand-Duchy’s fintech hub.
by: Charles-Louis Machuron
photo: Airbnb
featured: a bedroom in Seattle
The company has been in the headlines in recent times with many European capitals trying to limit or even ban its activity. Since 2007, the tech unicorn has reshuffled the cards of short-term rental and reversed a dusty hotel sector. More than 300 accomodations are available in Luxembourg on Airbnb.
Judge for yourselves! As of September this year, Airbnb’s hosts have earned more than $80 billion sharing their homes and spaces on its platform. The company has also passed another milestone: there are more than 7 million Airbnb listings in over 100,000 cities around the world – more listings than the eight largest hotel groups combined. In 2019, Airbnb reported that nearly a thousand cities have more than 1,000 Airbnb listings; back in 2011, only 12 cities did. And, in the second quarter of 2019, Airbnb recognized more than $1 billion in revenue.
“The launch of Airbnb payments in Luxembourg aims to continue providing payment services to European users after Brexit. Luxembourg is a major financial services hub within the EU where we believe Airbnb will be able to find the appropriate skills and experience to operate its payments hub within the EU,” stated Airbnb spokesperson.
Two positions are currently open, in case you are interested in joining the unicorn: Treasury Manager EMEA and Associate General Counsel, Payments EMEA.
Airbnb also recently announced its intention to become a publicly-traded company in 2020.
