Mr. Chesky rapidly switched Airbnb’s technique. Large cities visited by vacationers had been Airbnb’s power, however it could now concentrate on native stays. By June, the corporate had redesigned its web site and app so its algorithm would present potential vacationers all the pieces from cabins to lavish seaside homes close to the place they lived.

On July 8, visitors booked stays on the charge they had been simply earlier than the pandemic introduced journey and tourism to a halt. In August, greater than half of bookings made had been for stays inside 300 miles of the visitor’s location, in keeping with the corporate.

It was a fortunate break, and Airbnb was in place to capitalize on it. The CEO made extra adjustments, together with chopping advertising and marketing, placing many noncore initiatives on maintain and laying off a quarter of the staff.

“I didn’t know that I’d make 10 years’ price of selections in 10 weeks,” Mr. Chesky mentioned in an interview.

The upswing has put the home-sharing large on a path to go public and report a third-quarter revenue this 12 months, in keeping with traders, one thing that appeared all however unattainable months in the past.

The corporate declined to touch upon its funds or any particulars of its IPO plans.

Airbnb is expected to list shares in late November or December at a valuation of $30 billion or extra, practically twice as a lot as its valuation simply six months in the past when it sought a capital injection, in keeping with individuals acquainted with its plans. The corporate will debut within the hottest IPO market in years, wherein the inventory costs of newly public corporations have soared and are on observe to hit a document for {dollars} raised.

Whereas enterprise this 12 months will probably be nowhere near pre-pandemic ranges, and the way forward for journey is unsure, a few of Mr. Chesky’s critics and observers mentioned he received them over with fast pondering and daring strikes.

“What impressed me was how rapidly he did it,” mentioned

Michael Seibel, the chief govt of Y Combinator, the Silicon Valley accelerator that mentored and spawned corporations like Dropbox Inc.,

DoorDash Inc. and Airbnb. “Airbnb isn’t a small group anymore. He may’ve waited it out.”

The pandemic has reinvented journey, presumably in lasting methods, as many companies make distant work a everlasting fixture. Whereas some individuals will transfer to the suburbs, Mr. Chesky mentioned, others will change into globe-trotting nomads. Even people who return to work may have extra flexibility, leaving room to journey domestically.

“The road between journey and dealing is blurring,” he mentioned.

Shifting rapidly to maintain up with a altering trade was lesson No. 1 of the pandemic. Over the months, Mr. Chesky would notch just a few extra: Don’t overextend spending on advertising and marketing, staffing or noncore initiatives. And take heed to your prospects—in Airbnb’s case, each vacationers and property house owners.

The 39-year-old had his share of critics and challenges earlier than Covid-19. Mr. Chesky had toyed with going public for years however stopped in need of pulling the set off. Some investors were frustrated they couldn’t cash out when Wall Avenue was extra hospitable to money-losing startups.

Others frightened he was spending an excessive amount of on forays into areas reminiscent of tv reveals that had little to do with the corporate’s core enterprise. Final 12 months’s web loss was better than the losses of the earlier two years mixed.

The post-pandemic Airbnb appears to be like much more like the corporate Mr. Chesky and his two co-founders began of their San Francisco residence greater than 10 years in the past.

Mr. Chesky mentioned the pandemic forced him to go “back to our roots.” He refocused on dwelling leases and scaled again efforts to change into a broader journey behemoth.

Questions stay on whether or not the expansion in income and bookings is sustainable, or whether or not Airbnb is solely the principle beneficiary of a battered trade. Mr. Chesky’s skeptics additionally surprise how lengthy he can maintain prices down and follow the core enterprise.

Airbnb should additionally deal with cities weighing zoning restrictions on short-term leases. Some persistent challenges, reminiscent of the corporate’s battle to police crime and security on its listings, are anticipated to return underneath extra scrutiny as Airbnb sells its shares to the general public.

It was a wildly totally different story in March, when the principle query about Airbnb was if it could make it in any respect. Bookings had been in free fall in Europe, down 80% year-over-year within the second week of the month. The U.S. was starting to close down.

The stats “hit my inbox like a bomb,” Mr. Chesky mentioned. “I had by no means seen numbers like this earlier than.” He referred to as an emergency board assembly over the weekend.

Companions from venture-capital corporations together with Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz dialed into Zoom for the primary of what would change into many Sunday board conferences.

With bookings worn out, Airbnb was burning via its reserves and wanted a swift infusion of money.

“That is going to be larger than 9/11 and 2008 mixed,” board member and former American Categorical Co. Chief Govt Kenneth Chenault remembers saying. “That is your defining second as a frontrunner,” he mentioned to Mr. Chesky.