Although a large number of Airbnb hosts have invested heavily in renovating their properties in preparation for the World Cup, booking demand is currently very weak. Mae Stewart has been preparing for two years to rent out her Atlanta home for this summer's World Cup. The design consultant re-laid the floors throughout the house, renovated the lighting throughout the house, replaced the bathroom sinks, and installed new kitchen countertops and faucets. She also studies the pricing strategies of competing properties and insists on taking orders frequently to accumulate high ratings and praise.
In order to attract World Cup fans, Mae Stewart invested approximately US$60,000 in renovating her home.
Stewart spent a total of about $60,000 renovating the three-bedroom home, hoping to attract World Cup fans willing to pay top dollar. A one-week stay in mid-July during the tournament is priced at about $4,500, which is about three times the daily rent after the World Cup.
Now, she can only wait quietly for customers to place orders.
With less than two months until the World Cup kicks off, Stewart is one of thousands of Airbnb hosts hoping to rush bookings. The low willingness of tourists to book is due to the soaring ticket prices and the sharp increase in air ticket prices on the one hand. On the other hand, many foreign fans have given up the idea of going to the United States due to the political atmosphere and increasingly cumbersome entry procedures in the United States.
Airbnb officials reassure hosts that there is no need to panic: bookings for major events tend to be concentrated on the eve of the opening.
Juan David Borrero, Airbnb's head of global cooperation, said that many fans will not book accommodation for subsequent matches until it is confirmed that the team they support has advanced to the next round.
"As the competition gradually starts, the demand for bookings will definitely increase. This is the normal rule of World Cup bookings." He said.
But this wait requires a lot of patience for landlords who have been looking forward to it for months, or even years, hoping to make a lot of money. Currently, the vast majority of World Cup properties on Airbnb and vacation rental platform Vrbo are still unavailable.
Data from AirDNA, a short-term rental data agency, shows that the booking rate for available short-term rental properties during the Philadelphia World Cup group stage was only 42%; although it was higher than the 29% for the same period last year, most properties are still vacant for rent. Boston is the only city that’s more than half booked, about 55%.
Stewart admitted: "I no longer expect to make as much money as I originally thought."
A report commissioned by Airbnb and Deloitte previously predicted that the World Cup short-term rental accommodation will see a boom in demand, mainly because large-scale events tend to push up hotel room prices.
But the actual demand for accommodation is very deserted. Some hotels have taken the initiative to cut prices. Jan Freitag, an analyst at real estate data company Costa Hotel, said that many hotels have also relaxed the minimum stay limit. Hotel bookings in some event host cities were even lower than the same period last year.
Freitag said bluntly: "How can there be any excitement like the World Cup?"
At the same time, Airbnb is ramping up marketing and promotion of the World Cup. According to Deloitte analysis, this one-month World Cup (June-July) is expected to generate more than US$200 million in revenue for platform landlords. The platform also launched a $750 cash reward for new users.
The platform has launched a revenue calculator to estimate the landlord's revenue based on market demand: taking a three-bedroom apartment in Philadelphia rented out for a full month as an example, it is expected to generate more than $8,000 in revenue.
Some cities have also cooperated with Airbnb and introduced favorable policies. For example, Kansas City reduced the license fees for homestays during the World Cup. However, the strict short-term rental regulatory policies in cities such as New York have directly discouraged a large number of potential landlords.
Borrero said that Airbnb is holding offline sharing sessions for hosts in 16 host cities in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, and participation is soaring.
Jamie Lane, chief economist at AirDNA, pointed out: The prices of properties that are not yet rented out are generally much higher than those that have been sold. Many tourists are accustomed to waiting until the last minute to place orders and are willing to accept high prices; however, many landlords are too optimistic in their pricing.
“There are always some idealistic landlords who think they can make $2,000, $5,000 a night,” Lane said.
There are also landlords who insist not to lower prices, believing that there will be a wave of bookings in the future.
Carter Longoria owns an apartment downstairs from his home in Houston, and only one-third of it is currently rented out during the World Cup. When this property was purchased, the main selling point was that it was “suitable for an Airbnb B&B”.
Longoria had a bad experience as a B&B owner, when a tenant threw a party and left the house in a mess. But she still sees the World Cup as an opportunity to increase her income. Her pricing is slightly lower than that of local hotels, and she always pays close attention to the price adjustments of competing products and is determined not to lower the price.
"There aren't many options on the market, and I have no intention of lowering the price," Longoria said.
The platform’s $750 newbie reward didn’t impress everyone either.
Zach McKennie lives in a three-bedroom townhouse in Seattle, just 20 minutes away from the U.S. game against Australia in mid-June. He saw an ad for Airbnb but was still wondering whether it was worth it to earn thousands of dollars by renting out his house to strangers.
"It's really tempting if you can rent it for more than $500 a day. We can go camping and make a net profit of $2,000," he admitted.
However, he made a rough calculation and found that it would cost nearly US$1,000 just to store the belongings at home and tidy up the house. Taking into account risks such as damage to the house, the attractiveness of this business was greatly reduced.
Airbnb officials stated that it is rare for property to be damaged during a stay in a B&B, and the platform has a special protection plan to compensate for damage to the property and items.
Even so, McEnany is still worried: "We just bought a very nice set of bunk beds for our children, and we are really worried about them being damaged."