Today at our TechCrunch Disrupt conference in New York, Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky had some news to share on stage when talking to our own Erick Schonfeld. Apparently, Airbnb will be launching a new option, sublets, in the next few days.
Chesky didn’t dive into many details, but people will now be able to lease out their apartments for longer periods of time on the site (around 30 days). Airbnb has risen to prominence by allowing users to rent out their homes/apartments for short periods of time. Now they’re apparently expanding on that model, leveraging the popular site they’ve created.
Alongside that news, Chesky had some big numbers to share. Airbnb now has 60,000 listings active on the site (and 110,000 that have been created overall). This is doubling every few months. Meanwhile, bookings are up 40 or 50 percent every month, Chesky said.
Also notable, Chesky said they’ve been hiring 2 or 3 people a week. The team is over 85 people now. Not bad for a company that could not get funded in 2008 and resorted to creating fake cereal.
“In New York City alone, tonight we’ll provide more accommodations than any hotel,” Chesky said. Insane.
Erick joked that the most impressive stat he’s heard is the billion dollar valuation for Airbnb. “Can’t comment on that,” Chesky said with a smile.