Atwo bedroom apartment located in a community, where the architecture blends the traditional with the contemporary and offers residents a myriad of restaurants, shops and cultural venues, swimming pools, sun decks, children’s play areas, gym and retail venues. All these facilities compliment the project’s unique living experience all year round.

Since its creation, Airbnb has been used to shaking things up in the hotel market. But what happens when a pandemic disrupts the disrupter? This article analyzes how the Silicon Valley-based “startup” adapted its business model to the COVID-19 outbreak and why some of its actions can be of use to hotel managers.

For most hoteliers, Airbnb represents more of a threat than a role model. In its twelve years of existence, the Californian company has reshaped the world of travel like no one ever before. Indeed, by introducing a new type of accommodation, namely short-term rentals from person to person, the co-founders of Airbnb have challenged some of the age-old principles of the hotel business. By reversing this paradigm, they have sent a shockwave through the hospitality sector that has forced even the sturdiest establishments to second guess their entire strategies.

Airbnb bookings are increasing as the hotel industry, overall, continues to lag behind due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The home rental platform experienced huge demand for its bookings amid the pandemic, seeing an average 32% week-over-week growth from April 27 to the beginning to June, Edison Trends reports.

Billionaire Airbnb Co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky told Yahoo Finance that the coronavirus outbreak has permanently altered travel preferences across the globe in ways that will shape the hospitality industry going forward.

“Travel has changed forever,” says Chesky, whose company suffered hundreds of millions in losses and laid off a quarter of its staff in the aftermath of the outbreak. “The world of travel as we knew it in January is never coming back.”