of its model; the Company’s plans and goals with respect to serving all of its stakeholders; and the Company’s business strategy, plans, and objectives for future operations. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as “may,” “will,” “appears,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “could,” “outlook,” “intends,” “target,” “projects,” “contemplates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” or “continue,” or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions that concern our expectations, strategy, plans, or intentions. Such statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that may cause the Company’s actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from results expressed or implied in this letter. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements, and reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance.
Risks that contribute to the uncertain nature of the forward-looking statements include, among others, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company’s business, the travel industry, travel trends, and the global economy generally; the declining trend of the Company’s Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow; the slowing of the Company’s revenue growth rate; the Company’s ability to retain existing Hosts and guests and add new Hosts and guests; any further and continued decline or disruption in the travel and hospitality industries or economic downturn; the Company’s ability to compete successfully; changes to the laws and regulations that may limit the Company’s Hosts’ ability and willingness to provide their listings, and/or result in significant fines, liabilities and penalties to the Company; the effect of extensive regulation and oversight, litigation and other proceedings related to the Company’s business in a variety of areas; the Company’s ability to maintain its brand and reputation, and effectively drive traffic to its platform; the effectiveness of the Company’s strategy and business initiatives, including measures to improve trust and safety; the Company’s operations in international markets; the Company’s substantial level of indebtedness; and changes in political, business, and economic conditions; as well as other risks listed or described from time to time in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, which will be on file with the SEC and available on the investor relations page of the Company’s website. All forward looking statements are based on information and estimates available to the Company at the time of this letter and are not guarantees of future performance. Except as required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to update any of the statements in this letter.
The information that can be accessed through hyperlinks or website addresses included herein is deemed not to be incorporated in or part of this letter.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
In addition to our results determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”), we review financial measures that are not calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP (“non-GAAP financial measures”). We believe our non-GAAP financial measures are useful in evaluating our operating performance. We use the following non-GAAP financial information, collectively, to evaluate our ongoing operations and for internal planning and forecasting purposes. We believe that non-GAAP financial information, when taken collectively, may be helpful to investors because it provides consistency and comparability with past financial performance, and assists in comparisons with other companies, some of which use similar non-GAAP financial information to supplement their GAAP results. Investors are encouraged to review the related GAAP financial measures and the reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.
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