Posted December 29, 2017 12:02 am
By jake.martin@staugustine.com
By jake.martin@staugustine.com
Local Airbnb hosts bring in $8.8M in 2017, company says
Airbnb Florida says hosts in St. Johns County brought in $8.8 million in 2017. Roughly 64,800 guest arrivals this year placed the county just outside the top 10 most-booked Florida counties, in the 12th slot.
Altogether, the state’s Airbnb hosts earned $450 million from 2.7 million guests.
The 2.7 million guests counted by the California-based homesharing giant represents a 75 percent increase over last year’s guest count.
Six counties welcomed more than 100,000 Airbnb guests — and tens of millions of their dollars.
Miami-Dade County, where hosts made $134.6 million, saw the highest number of guest arrivals in 2017, at 667,200. Osceola County, where hosts made $39.6 million, saw the second highest number of arrivals, at 358,400. Broward County hosts attracted the state’s third-highest number of guest arrivals, 239,600, but made $45.7 million.
According to the company, there are now nearly 40,000 Floridians sharing their homes or vacation rentals through Airbnb, with hosts earning an average of $6,700 annually.
Airbnb is authorized to collect and pay the state sales tax on all bookings in Florida. The company also collects and pays local bed taxes in 39 counties.
In 2017 alone, Airbnb secured new tax agreements with six counties: Miami-Dade, Broward, Sarasota, Polk, Hillsborough and Leon. St. Johns County on Thursday confirmed it has not entered into an agreement regarding the collection of bed taxes.
In counties with agreements, hosts collect and pay nothing and Airbnb collects and remits the taxes, paid by guests as part of their reservation, on their behalf. Hosts in counties not covered by an agreement are still legally obligated to pay their local tax.
Airbnb says the “vacation rental community” of which it is a part is complementing, rather than competing with, the hotel industry. The company cited Gov. Rick Scott’s announcement in November that a record 88.2 million visitors had come to Florida in the first nine months of 2017.
According to Visit Florida, the number of hotel rooms sold in Florida during the third quarter of 2017 grew by 4.7 percent compared to the same period in 2016. During the same period, Florida’s average daily room rate increased by 3 percent and occupancy by 2.9 percent.
A search on Airbnb’s website for two guests, anytime, in St. Johns County yields 300-plus results, which include entire homes and apartments, or private rooms and suites. The average nightly price is $162, with options well below and above that price point.
No comments:
Post a Comment