Floridians use Airbnb‘s popularity in the state as hosts and guests.
In a recent report by Airbnb, an online vacation rental marketplace, Florida ranked second among states for new host revenue in 2021, after California.
Statewide, new hosts brought in $265 million, including $28 million in Jacksonville, in 2021, according to Haven Thorn, an Airbnb spokesperson.
For Adam Guillette, the possibility of earning money through Airbnb was enough to justify the purchase of a second home. And then a third.
Guillette, from Jacksonville, moved to the area permanently in 2004. While he chose to live closer to the beach, he said he and his wife had always loved everything Riverside had to offer, and that having a place to stay closer to town for the evenings was well worth it.
“There are no hotels in Riverside, and that frustrated us endlessly,” he said, “so we thought, ‘Damn, what if we buy a second home?'”
To help pay the mortgage, the couple started using home like airbnb stay in 2020, and they ended up booking it so often that they ended up buying a third place.
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Similar to Guillette, many travelers who stay with Airbnbs in Jacksonville come from Jacksonville, Thorn said.
Of the top 10 cities customers come from when visiting Jacksonville, the top is actually Jacksonville, followed by Orlando, Miami, Atlanta, Tampa, Tallahassee, Charlotte, Gainesville, New York, and Chicago.
“Coming out of the pandemic, one trend we’ve seen at Airbnb is people are rediscovering everything new and local and traveling within 120 miles and seeing things close to them,” Thorn said. “Jacksonville ranked as the 10th most booked city in Florida in 2021.”
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Jacksonville also ranked as the 44th most visited US city in terms of nights booked, Thorn said, with recurring major events and holidays being the most popular times for booking.
Although he started hosting during the COVID-19 pandemic, Guillette said his bookings haven’t suffered the way he thought.
“What we found was that people were afraid to stay in a hotel and interact with others,” he said. “Airbnb was perfect for that. People liked the privacy.
The growing popularity of “stayaways” or vacations in your own town during the pandemic has also led people to use Airbnb’s “experience” options to learn more about Jacksonville.
Some of Jacksonville’s best local experiences booked, Thorn said, included kayaking and paddleboarding tours, sunset yoga and learning to surf at Jacksonville Beach and cooking classes to make paella and spanish sangria.
Guillette said her favorite thing to recommend to people staying at her Airbnb is Sun Ray Cinemaa historic two-screen Riverside movie theater that opened in 1927.
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“Travelers wouldn’t think of looking for an independent cinema, but it’s such a unique experience,” he said. “I think people love him as much as we do.”
Guillette said her Airbnb income varies, but hosting is more of a hobby than a full-time job for her family.
“I’ve been to all 50 states twice,” Guillette said. “And throughout my travels, I feel like a Jacksonville evangelist. I love Northeast Florida and love telling people how great our area is. The opportunity to share things that we like in this region with travelers has always attracted me.
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