Since the beginning of the pandemic, people who have become AirBNB hosts for the very first time have earned over 1 billion dollars world-wide. Christopher Nulty, AirBNB head of global public affairs says one of the things they’ve heard from guests over the last year is that they just feel safer being in a home, in a private space verses maybe being in a hotel where there a lot of other guests and other people moving around.
According Nulty the typical new host in the United States earned about $3,900 since the beginning of the pandemic. He says they talked to those hosts and three in ten are using those dollars to pay their mortgage; one in four are using those dollars to pay down debt and it is creating an important economic opportunity at a time when so many are facing challenging times.
Genevieve Dudzik is the host of The Chalet Maramont and is listed on AirBNB as the Pink Snow Palace in Ellicottville. Dudzik says they are pretty much booked solid; every weekend in the winter, every holiday and in the summer, she says about 87% capacity.
Hosting is not just about a place for people to lay their head. She says she loves creating memories and it is so nice to create space for people to enjoy themselves.
Off the success of this location she and her husband just launched a new rental down the road and it a 60’s themed home away from home. Her message to those who may see this story and are considering renting a room or an entire house on AirBNB is that you have to be available incase something goes wrong like someone can’t figure out how to turn something on or something simple like that. You have to be available to answer their questions and be there for them. She says having the 24/7 support of AirBNB helps a lot.
For safety AirBNB runs background checks on both hosts and guests. They have a two-way review system meaning guests review homes and hosts and hosts in turn reviews guests. AirBNB handles all the payment processing plus there is a host insurance program included in every transaction.
