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At Airbnb, hopes were sky-high three years ago when the company reached deep into its pockets for $500 million to sign on as a major Olympic sponsor, placing itself in the rare company of such gilded brand names as Coca-Cola, Visa, and Procter & Gamble. Airbnb executives were not only enamored at the opportunity to join the exclusive club of top sponsors, but eager to bring their emerging hospitality brand to the forefront at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games and the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.

But those hopes were quickly dampened. First, the pandemic—which left its unwelcome impr…