Trump’s Cuba restrictions are a setback for Airbnb
When Airbnb first announced in 2015 that it would operate in Cuba, it was clear the company had lofty ambitions. CEO Brian Chesky appeared alongside President Obama during his visit to the country last year, where the president heralded the company’s business success, adding that there were now “thousands of potential sellers of a great experience here in Cuba.”
Although Cuba isn’t Airbnb’s largest market, it has become its fastest growing one, with Fortune writing last year that the company “made Cuba a priority, jumping through legal and travel-visa hoops, building software work-arounds for web access, and bringing casas particulares [a type of private rental] owners into the Airbnb…