VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

CASE STUDY REPORT

The status of Airbnb business in Viet Nam under the impact of the COVID-19
pandemic and the potential in the future

Name : Le Thi Minh Trang

Class : 20E6
Student’s number : 20041251
Course’s number : ENG3070-08

Ha Noi, October 2022

 1. The growth of Airbnb in Viet Nam before COVID-19
The Airbnb model first emerged in Viet Nam in 2015. With over a thousand listings as a starting
point, Vietnam has quickly become the destination with the leading growth of
apartments/rooms for rent. According to Airbnb's announcement in 2018, Vietnam is the
destination with the highest growth in the number of international tourists entering the region,
recording a remarkable increase in bookings in Hanoi (212%) and Da Nang (225%). At the
beginning of 2019, the number of listings on Airbnb grew by more than 40 times in only four
years, from 1,000 in 2015 to over 40,000 in 2019.

2. Airbnb business in Viet Nam during COVID-19

The COVID-19 Pandemic, in the 2019-2020 period, had a significant impact on Vietnam's
tourist and lodging industries. In the report of the General Statistics Office in June 2021, the
number of foreign tourists to Vietnam declined by 97.6% in the first six months of 2021 when
compared to the same time the previous year. This draws on the challenge of the sharing
economy model in the sphere of lodging services. Airbnb, the world's most popular and first
trendy sharing economy model, was forced to reduce its workforce by 25% and reported a loss
of hundreds of millions of dollars in 2020. Airbnb had issues in Vietnam as well, and it had to
give a range of policies, and customer support to whom has made a reservation. Luxstay, an
Airbnb-like service, also used this time to restructure and plan for post-pandemic development
strategies.
The onset of COVID-19 did not affect the Airbnb business in Vietnam initially when the listing
number reached more than 80,000 units, then progressively decreased to 57,000 units until June
2020.
Because of the disease's extended and persistent spread in Hanoi, the number of bookings fell
from 94% in mid-January to 3% in mid-April. With different phases of the epidemic, booking
rates increased again, reaching 51.2% in June 2020 before falling down to 13.1% in August
2020.

The scenario in Ho Chi Minh City was similar, falling from roughly 105% in mid-January 2020
to 9.6% in April when Vietnam applied social distancing measures. However, there are hints
of development from May to early August, although only at the higher levels.

Due to the severe impacts of COVID-19 on Airbnb in Viet Nam, many hosts must sell up their
assets. However, in an attempt to combat COVID-19, several other hosts diversify their
businesses. Some hosts list Airbnb as well as a variety of other rental OTA (Online Travel
Agency) services such as Agoda and Booking.com, They also began to join several Facebook
groups and forums in order to advertise and find more domestic visitors. Currently, Vietnam
has numerous well-known groups concerning Airbnb in Vietnam, including Homestay - Airbnb
Hosts in Viet Nam (47,800 members), Airbnb Hosts in Saigon (HCMC) - Vietnam (76,200
members), etc.
3. The potential of Airbnb business in Viet Nam post-pandemic
In the middle of 2020, Airbnb was in an unprecedented crisis, when it suffered a loss of more
than $200 million because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Airbnb has had a spectacular
turnaround with its strongest Q3 revenue growth ever and is aiming to dominate the global
market after 2022. Along with the complete opening of international routes to and from
Vietnam from March 15, and the lifting of the requirement for COVID-19 testing for people
entering the country from May 15, the aviation industry is expected to reach 70-80 million
passengers in 2022. This can be considered as a hopeful situation for Airbnb in Viet Nam, as
well as the tourism industry to thrive again.
4. Further recommendations
Faced with the complicated situation of COVID-19, both government and Airbnb hosts are
considering the actions of some countries in the region and around the world to adopt
appropriate measures for Vietnam Airbnb to minimize the economic costs associated with the
current health crisis. In addition to the support from the government, “Staycation” should also
be promoted as it is becoming one of the trends for sustainable tourism, and it is a solution for
tourism development, especially Airbnb growth in the big cities in Viet Nam after the
pandemic.

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