Airbnb’s Dane County host community earned a combined $1.5 million in supplemental income while welcoming approximately 7,400 guest arrivals combined on the five biggest guest arrival weekends in 2019, including UW–Madison football weekends, Labor Day, and commencement weekend, according to data released by Airbnb.
The largest weekend in terms of both guest arrivals (1,600) and total host income ($337,000) took place Sept. 20–22, when the Wisconsin football team hosted Big 10 rival Michigan.
“2019 was a great year for Airbnb hosts in the Madison area, as more residents than ever before embraced the economic opportunity and helped grow the accommodation capacity for the region’s largest events and weekends,” says Kelley Gossett, head of Midwest public policy for Airbnb. “As 2020 begins, we hope these insights will help local residents who are looking to open up their home as a short-term rental in identifying some of the best times of the year to do so.”
Since May 2017, Airbnb has had a tax agreement with the city of Madison which allows the platform to collect and remit the room tax. In the first year of the agreement, Airbnb remitted over $324,000 to the city. In the second year of the agreement, Airbnb surpassed $500,000 in remitted taxes.
The five biggest weekends of 2019 for Airbnb hosts in Dane County were:
