Parin Mehta steps down from APAC MD role at Airbnb

Parin Mehta is leaving his role as managing director, APAC, at Airbnb. In a statement on LinkedIn, Mehta said that he would be "graduating from Airbnb in September". "I feel really proud of our APAC team for growing our business and community across various countries and categories. I have also loved meeting thousands of Hosts (as well as becoming one myself!) over the years in many different countries and figuring out how we can work together," the statement said.  He also hinted on his next role and that it would involve the combination of areas surrounding venture building, investing, coaching and blockchain.

At Airbnb, Mehta was responsible for the long-term growth across the region and leading Airbnb's country teams across six regional hubs. He is also focused on category and marketplace expansion in partnership with Airbnb's Host community. Mehta helmed the role of APAC MD for almost two years, and was with the company for over six years. He joined as its director for host and community operations in APAC back in 2016, progressing to director, Airbnb experiences, APAC, after over a year, where he was responsible for launching and scaling new categories and geographies for a new product segment. He also led EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) businesses in addition to APAC for an interim period before being promoted to APAC MD. 

Before joining Airbnb, Mehta was with Google for over nine years. His most recent role with Google was as its general manager, strategic partnerships, for the Southeast Asia region, based in Singapore. Prior to that, he was based in San Francisco as its partner manager, new business development, Americas. He started off as an industry analyst, advertising sales, UK/Ireland in Google where he was based in London. Mehta also has experience working with Accenture in the past. 

Separately, in June, Airbnb teamed up with Tinder to launch a month-long Pride campaign in Thailand titled "Connect with Pride" to spotlight the Thai LGBTQIA+ community. As part of the campaign, three members of the Thai LGBTQIA+ community hosted one-off Airbnb Experiences throughout June which aimed to celebrate diversity and connect with pride.

In May, Airbnb was reportedly ceasing its domestic business in China after six years of operation in the country to focus on outbound travel. The company switched its focus to offering listings for Chinese travellers who are traveling abroad.

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