Subscribe to Brandon Donnelly
Support Brandon Donnelly
Brandon DonnellyAirbnb to add long-term rentals to its platform
>4.2K subscribers
Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
In a recent interview with FT, the CEO of Airbnb, Brian Chesky, said that the company is looking at the following expansion plans:
Offering long-term rentals of up to one year (currently, only about 18% of bookings on the platform are for 30 days or longer)
Offering more "things to do on your trip", including car rentals and dining
These brand extensions make natural sense. You book a trip and then maybe you need a car, or something fun to do. I have used Airbnb "experiences" on a number of occasions to book things like boat tours and photographers. It's a great service.
Perhaps more interesting, though, is how the housing component of their platform is evolving. They started by offering excess or found space for rent (which was very clever). Then it grew to become a short-term rental platform that competed with hotels.
This has created a significant amount of regulatory risk for the company (see New York), and so it's not surprising that they're looking at other ways of slicing up housing: rooms, nights, months, and now years.
Longer stays are less contentious.
If you're renting on a nightly basis, then you're an annoying tourist that is taking away housing. And if you're renting on a monthly basis, then you might be an annoying digital nomad and that is similarly problematic. But if you're renting for a year, well, then, that's perfectly fine.
Now you're just a normal city dweller.
Is there a world where Airbnb becomes a major platform for traditional long-term rentals?
In a recent interview with FT, the CEO of Airbnb, Brian Chesky, said that the company is looking at the following expansion plans:
Offering long-term rentals of up to one year (currently, only about 18% of bookings on the platform are for 30 days or longer)
Offering more "things to do on your trip", including car rentals and dining
These brand extensions make natural sense. You book a trip and then maybe you need a car, or something fun to do. I have used Airbnb "experiences" on a number of occasions to book things like boat tours and photographers. It's a great service.
Perhaps more interesting, though, is how the housing component of their platform is evolving. They started by offering excess or found space for rent (which was very clever). Then it grew to become a short-term rental platform that competed with hotels.
This has created a significant amount of regulatory risk for the company (see New York), and so it's not surprising that they're looking at other ways of slicing up housing: rooms, nights, months, and now years.
Longer stays are less contentious.
If you're renting on a nightly basis, then you're an annoying tourist that is taking away housing. And if you're renting on a monthly basis, then you might be an annoying digital nomad and that is similarly problematic. But if you're renting for a year, well, then, that's perfectly fine.
Now you're just a normal city dweller.
Is there a world where Airbnb becomes a major platform for traditional long-term rentals?
Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
Share Dialog
Share Dialog
No comments yet