Florida’s Airbnb surged 75% over the year

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Airbnb is witnessing a promising growth given the latest guest numbers that it has revealed. In Florida, this California-based hospitality giant registered more than 2.7 million guests which is about 75 percent increase over last year’s guest pool.

According to the figures received, the 40,000 Airbnb hosts in Florida generated about a combined $450 million over the year. The homesharing company said that the hosts typically make $6,700 annually. Pinellas County accounted for $24.5 million and 140,200 guests, while Hillsborough County made up $10.4 million with 78,700 guests.

Hillsborough is one of six counties in the state that inked tax agreements with Airbnb this year to collect and pay bed and sales taxes on bookings. Other counties include Polk, Sarasota, Miami-Dade, Broward and Leon.

This wide expansion is causing a major threat to the local bed and breakfasts who took this issue seriously stating that the mega company is pushing them away from the competition which might eventually cause them to shut down.

Airbnb, however, says their offerings complement the hotel industry, citing occupancy rate growth and revenue over the year.

The company said in a release, referring to “those who desire to stay in neighborhoods or cities that lack hotels, and families who prefer to vacation together under one roof” that this suggests that vacation rentals on Airbnb and other platforms are opening up the state to a new demographic of tourists by catering to travelers who are less able to afford hotels.

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