Airbnb hosts and guests are gathering in San Francisco this month to learn more about the company's strategy to become a host-led, end-to-end travel platform with a significant expansion to its core homes business.
Airbnb also revealed key metrics on the growth of its community since launching in San Francisco roughly 10 years ago.
There are more than 4.5 million Airbnb listings in 81,000 cities around the world, and hosts have earned US$41 billion (1.28 trillion baht) over the last 10 years, said Brian Chesky, Airbnb co-founder and head of community.
He said on the biggest night of 2008, roughly 100 people stayed at an Airbnb, most of them in one city, Denver, for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. In 2017, some 3 million people stayed at an Airbnb in almost 20,000 cities worldwide.
This is paving the way for Airbnb to grow in the years ahead as the travel industry expands, said Mr Chesky.
While Airbnb has grown substantially, there remain significant opportunities for expansion in China as well as emerging markets such as India, Latin America and Africa in the decade ahead, he said.
For the Thai market, Siew Kum Hong, regional director for Asia-Pacific, said hosts in Thailand earned a combined 4 billion baht in supplemental income in the past 12 months (February 2017-18) with about 1.2 million guests.
There are over 61,400 listings in Thailand on Airbnb, and the median host income averages 67,000 baht annually, Mr Siew said.
Bangkok and Phuket have contributed more than half of host earnings and guest arrivals in the past year alone (February 2017-18). Airbnb hosts in Bangkok earned a combined income of 1.1 billion baht by sharing their homes with 485,000 guests.
In Phuket, the strong vacation rental market generated close to 995 million baht for hosts, and a median typical host income of 108,000 baht.
Mr Siew said the home-sharing business is booming in Thailand as well as in Asia-Pacific. However, the company needs to educate both hosts and policymakers to understand how home-sharing can drive the economy.
He said some countries in Asia, such as Japan, have already revised laws to be more open to the home-sharing business. The Singapore government is reviewing the laws, which are expected to be finalised soon.
Airbnb hopes the Thai government will reconsider laws involving tourism and accommodation.
"The Thai government should consider the future of the home-sharing business, which can help boost the local economy. Our study found Airbnb's guests mostly stay outside cities, implying they contribute income to smaller communities," he said.
Airbnb hosts keep up to 97% of the money they charge for their listing and over 10 years, hosts using Airbnb have earned substantive income by sharing their space.
This year, roughly 30% of Airbnb hosts are expected to be aged 50 or older and 12% aged 60 or older.
In 2008, roughly 400 guests checked in at Airbnb listings for the year.
Now every two minutes, 400 guests check in to Airbnb listings. Every second, three people check in to an Airbnb listing somewhere in the world.
According to Airbnb data, the website supported 730,000 jobs in 2016 and was projected to support 1.3 million jobs in 2017.
Restaurants in particular benefited from the Airbnb boom. During their stay, Airbnb guests spent $6.5 billion in restaurants in 44 cities around the world during September 2016-17.
For 2018, Airbnb aims to ensure 1 billion people use its platform.
The UN World Tourism Organisation (UNTWO) reported earlier overall travel and tourism are responsible for 10% of the global economy.
The global economy is expected to grow at a rate of 2.7% in 2018, but travel and tourism were expected to grow at a greater rate of 4%.
One of the key markets expected to drive the home-sharing business are millennials or young travellers.
Consumers aged 18-49 will make up 76% of key consumers and 50% of all voters by 2025, the UNTWO said.
The organisation also predicts emerging economies will capture more than 50% of the tourism market by 2030. Airbnb has already begun to see this trend, with triple-digit growth in markets in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
For example, Africa counts 100,000 listings, and hosts on Airbnb welcomed more than 1.2 million guests in 2017.
Airbnb co-founders and head of community Brian Chesky