Earlier this month, the NFL officially returned to Los Angeles with 91,000 fans packing into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to see the LA Rams defeat the Seattle Seahawks. The fervor for LA Rams football is certainly great news for traditional football mainstays: Ticket scalpers, jersey vendors, and hot wing joints. But one newer cottage industry is also reaping the economic benefits: Airbnb.
The short-term rental website is reporting a 13 percent increase in booking activity during the weekend of the Rams home opener according to the Daily Breeze. Collectively, Airbnb hosts pulled in around $9.9 million in rental fees during the home-opener weekend.
"Roughly 9,400 guests" made Airbnb residences their home September 16 to 18, with more than 363 of those guests coming from Seattle. According to Airbnb, that represents a 25 percent increase in the normal number of visitors coming in from the Emerald City.
Airbnb estimates their guests contributed about $1.8 million in local spending during the Rams opening weekend. Airbnb spokesman Chris Nulty tells the Daily Breeze, their guests "tend to stay longer and spend more money in the neighborhoods where they stay."
Those neighborhoods might not be typical tourist destinations either. Last year, two-thirds of Airbnb’s LA guests "stayed outside of the traditional hotel districts." Sorry, LA Live.
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