Airbnb has set out plans to make 1,900 staff redundant, about a quarter of its global workforce, as it forecast revenues in 2020 would be half the $4.8bn (£3.9bn) generated in 2019. Brian Chesky, its chief executive and co-founder, described coronavirus as “the most harrowing crisis of our lifetime”. He told staff: “We don’t know exactly when travel will return. When travel does return, it will look different.” Airbnb has employees in 24 countries. Its headquarters are in San Francisco and its European head office is in Dublin, where it employs about 500 people. Some of the deepest job cuts are likely to be in newer areas of the business such as Airbnb “Luxe”, which offers what it describes as upmarket homes and dedicated trip designers. “People will want options that are closer to home, safer, and more affordable,” said Chesky. Airbnb said there were signs of of a mild recovery in some locations, adding that was growing evidence of travellers in Europeans booking properties in their own countries this summer rather than abroad. The accommodation platform told the Financial Times that domestic bookings in Denmark were at about 90% of April 2019 levels, while in the Netherlands it was approaching 80%. Airbnb joins airlines and travel operators cutting staff numbers during the coronavirus pandemic. Last week, British Airways announced 12,000 staff would be made redundant, and on Tuesday Virgin Atlantic said it would cut 3,000 jobs and mothball its Gatwick operations. The collapse in Airbnb’s revenue has thwarted its plans to float on the stock market this year. The projected $40bn-plus flotation would also have earned many of its staff large payouts, as early entrants into the company were partly remunerated in stock options. This year, Airbnb shored up its finances with $2bn in new loans and funding, which according to reports suggested a valuation of about $18bn, much below earlier expectations. Airbnb started life as AirBed & Breakfast in 2008 after Chesky and another co-founder, Joe Gebbia, let out their apartment in San Francisco. The platform has about 150 million users and 7m property listings across the world. In a blogpost detailing the job cuts, Chesky told staff: “I have a deep feeling of love for all of you.” Within hours, those being made redundant received an email invitation for a departure meeting, with US and Canadian tstaff told they would leave by next Monday. But for some campaigners fighting soaring rents in cities with large number of Airbnb hosts, the company’s crisis has a silver living. For example, the number of longer-term rental properties in central Dublin coming on to the market has increased by 71%, as landlords abandoned short-term lets through Airbnb.