Airbnb: Madison Airbnb hosts earned over $555,000 during UW games

Contact: Ben Breit, Airbnb Midwest
(847) 274-5456
benjamin.breit@airbnb.com

Madison, Wisconsin – Airbnb announced today that the Madison Airbnb host community welcomed 4,940 guest arrivals and earned $555,000 in supplemental income during University of Wisconsin home football weekends, helping the city significantly expand lodging capacity and welcome the surge in visitors as hotels reached peak capacity.

This includes a projected 830 guest arrivals and $90,000 in supplemental income for this coming weekend’s Senior Day game versus Michigan. This weekend will mark the largest surge of travelers to Madison in the history of Airbnb’s platform.

About 50% of Madison’s Airbnb hosts simply sharing an extra, unused room in their homes (i.e. empty nesters). In the past year, Airbnb has finalized tax agreements to collect and remit both the Wisconsin state sales tax and the Madison room tax on behalf of its hosts, meaning this weekend will infuse significant tax revenue for both the state and city.

With local hotels achieving peak occupancy during UW games, the growth of home sharing in Madison has allowed the city to host thousands of extra visitors and take full advantage of the unique economic opportunity presented by Badger football. This benefits the local merchant community by keeping visitors’ food and shopping dollars within Madison’s corporate limits.

At a broader level, Madison’s hotels have enjoyed steadily increasing occupancy rates and revenues, illustrating the value to the city as short-term rentals expand lodging capacity during popular events and open up the market to families less able to afford hotels.