Airbnb’s CEO compared the coronavirus crisis to Hurricane Maria, saying its business will bounce back, just as it did after the storm that ravaged Puerto Rico

Brian Chesky Airbnb Mike Cohen/Getty Images for The New York Times

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky on Monday promised hosts that the company’s business will bounce back following the coronavirus pandemic, saying that it has weathered crises before.
He pointed to what happened after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico; thousands more property managers are offering accommodations via Airbnb now than they were before.
The comparison could be considered to be in poor taste; Puerto Rico as a whole is still recovering from the storm, which killed nearly 3,000 people there.
Chesky’s message was part of a broader announcement in which Airbnb is setting aside some $260 million to help out hosts.
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The coronavirus-related hit to the travel industry may be unprecedented and unexpected, but Airbnb has survived economic crises before and has always come back stronger, company CEO Brian Chesky said Monday on a video message live streamed to the company’s property-manager partners.

Airbnb was launched during the Great Recession, Chesky noted. More recently, the company’s business in Puerto Rico — and that of its hosts — was hammered by 2017’s Hurricane Maria. But it both cases, the travel industry startup’s business thrived as things recovered, Chesky said.See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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