After a roaring introduction to the public markets one year ago, Airbnb (ABNB +0.63%) has delivered exceptional business growth in 2021 with more people traveling again and booking long-term stays on its platform. In this segment of Backstage Pass, recorded on Dec. 1, Fool contributor Rachel Warren shares her take on the stock and why it's one of her favorite companies for investors to consider right now.
Rachel Warren: I always say I talk about the stock too much and because I keep talking about it, I can't buy shares of it. [laughs] I need to stop talking about it, so that I can invest in this company. My quick pitch here, it's been a great run for the company this year after it entered the market, during a really fragile time for the travel industry.
As the global travel industry recovers, we're seeing more and more of that people are changing the way that they think about travel and the way that they view stays at Airbnb, particularly in the context of long-term stays. The most recent quarter was a fantastic quarter for the company. Its revenue of $2.2 billion was its highest revenue on record.
That represented a 36% jump from two years ago in the third quarter of 2019 before the pandemic, the company's third-quarter 2021 revenue also exceeded its third- quarter 2020 revenue by nearly 70% year-over-year. It's net income was also exceptional at $834 million in the most recent quarter. That represented the company's most profitable quarter on record, nearly four times larger than its net income in the third quarter of 2020. That was a 280% year-over-year jump. Airbnb is continuing to find new ways to innovate its platform and to draw more customers to it.
Earlier this year, the company introduced a feature called I'm Flexible. I've used that myself as someone who stays in Airbnbs quite often. Essentially, it allows guests to search on Airbnb with flexible dates about where they want to travel.
Over 40% of gross nights booked in the third quarter of this year where within 300 miles of home and the thing that Airbnb is seeing is an increased popularity in long-term stays.
In its third-quarter report, the company noted that stays at 28 days or more remains the fastest-growing category by trip length and accounted for 20% of gross nights booked in the third quarter of 2021 and more than 90% of active listings on the platform now accept long-term stays.
Airbnb accounted for about 20% of the entire vacation rental industry before the pandemic. I think it's fair to say that that market share has probably grown considerably since then.
Shares of Airbnb are up about 30% since the beginning of this year alone. I love this company. I think it's an incredible stock with a lot of growth opportunity left to tap into. I personally have been very happy to see how it has managed such a strong recovery despite broader lags in the overall travel industry.
