Skift Travel News Blog

Toss out all the cliches about the woes of “a dog’s life” because many dogs — and cats and other domesticated animals — are now living on Airbnb.

That’s because during the first six months of 2022, around 25 percent of the nights booked that included a pet were for stays lasting 28 days or longer, Airbnb stated Tuesday.

Many of the pets’ human owners, whether they are working, visiting or living in an Airbnb since Covid-19 upended previous job and other rituals of life, were likewise attaching themselves to long-term stays.

“Guests continue to stay longer in Airbnb,” CEO Brian Chesky told financial analysts in August. “They’re not just traveling Airbnb, they’re now living on Airbnb. We saw long-term stays of 28 days or more remain our fastest-growing category [during the second quarter] by trip nights compared to 2019. The long-term stays has increased nearly 25 percent from a year ago. And actually, long-term stays have increased almost 90 percent since Q2 2019.”

In addition, Airbnb said today more than 3 million pets stayed in Airbnb’s since November — whether overnights, weekends getaways or longer stays.

Airbnb hosts can decide whether they want to allow visits including pets, and they can set fees for these add-ons.

These statistics Airbnb touted about pet travel presumably are increases from prior periods, although an Airbnb spokesperson said she didn’t have additional data to provide.

Airbnb tied the pet travel to its implementation of host insurance coverage for pet damages in 2021.

Although many pets are now living on Airbnb coming out of the pandemic, they are probably not living like the locals very much. Nor is it clear they want to.

Airbnb.org and Expedia Group are providing support to people displaced by Hurricanes Fiona and Ian.

Airbnb.org, a nonprofit that says it operates independently from Airbnb, announced that it has committed $5 million to provide free housing on a temporary basis to people displaced by Hurricane Fiona in the Caribbean and Hurricane Ian on the U.S. mainland.

“These stays will be funded by Airbnb and other donors to Airbnb.org,” the group said.

In the U.S. mainland, for example, Airbnb.org said it is collaborating with Global Empowerment Mission and local and state authorities to identify hurricane victims who need housing.

In Puerto Rico, Airbnb.org is working with local organizations that can utilize its grants to house first responders, the organization said.

Meanwhile, Expedia Group donated an unspecified amount of money to Volunteer Florida to help communities that were in Hurricane Ian’s path, an Expedia Group spokesperson said. Part of that effort includes Expedia’s working with Visit Florida to help people find housing.

As it has done in past disasters, Expedia launched an emergency accommodations portal to help people locate available hotels in Florida, for instance.