Florida tourism gets $387M boost from Airbnb, intensifying local hotel rivalry
by Karris Harmon
WEAR
ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. — Airbnb is making a billion dollar impact around the globe.
This month, the company announced it collected and remitted more than $10 billion in tourism-related taxes.
The company says Florida is contributing the most to that number — $387 million to be exact, which isn’t surprising for our area considering how many tourists travel here during peak beach season.
But what does that mean for hotels?
A board member on the Escambia Tourism Development Council says there’s enough room for both.
“Here we are in March, it’s beautiful weather, we’ve got a beautiful beach, we’ve got a great place,” said Tourism Development Council board member Jeff Bergosh.
Which was one of the reasons why he decided to become an Airbnb and Vrbo host.
“They have them everywhere. It’s really driven by customer demand,” Bergosh said. “What do you want to do? Do you want to go up in the mountains? You can get a cabin in the mountains or a beach condo for a week. So it opens up another possibility for tourists.”
But with Airbnb’s seemingly becoming a popular option, there’s some competition with hotels.
“I like the competition between hotels and Airbnbs,” Bergosh said. “I stay in both. When I went to Copenhagen, I stayed in an Airbnb. When I go down to Disney, I stay in a hotel. Consumers should have a choice.”
Bergosh compares the rivalry between hotels and Airbnb’s to taxis versus ridesharing apps.
“Some people would never ride an Uber because they want a trusted name on the side of the taxi,” he said. “It gives consumers more choice and I think as technology continues to grow, we’re gonna have more options for consumers.”
A variety of hotels popping up in our area keep the hotels market competitive.
“More hotels, more Airbnb options, I think gives the consumer more choice,” Bergosh said. “And I think having more inventory, that puts pressure on pricing, right? So hoteliers probably don’t like that. But again, that’s where the consumers win.”
Airbnb says the state of Florida contributed $68 million more than the entire country of Canada, which contributed $319 million in tourism taxes.
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