Kickoffs and ‘Karma’ have Airbnb fawning over Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Sold-out stadiums of different sorts have vaulted Indiana to the top of a new list. Airbnb says Indianapolis and South Bend are among the Top Trending Winter Domestic Destinations.
Said simply, more people are looking for places to stay in Marion and St. Joseph counties than almost anywhere else in the country.
According to the short-term rental facilitator, big events are the clear cause of all the interest.
South Bend has a built-in advantage every year: The University of Notre Dame annually hosts several sold-out games at one of the largest college football stadiums in the nation. An Irish football game can nearly double the city’s population.
The appearance of Indianapolis on the list is more of an outlier; although the city has NFL games to count on each fall, even a venue as large as Lucas Oil Stadium pales in maximum capacity compared to the top college home fields. As a major metropolitan city, Indianapolis also has a relatively strong hotel room-to-visitor ratio, which can make for a less-active short-term rental market.
But, as she often seems to do, Taylor Swift can change everything.
The star’s series of sold-out shows gives the city the equivalent of back-to-back-to-back football games, each one with different fans. Many of the concertgoers will be from out of town, so rooms of any sort are at a premium.
A check of Airbnb offers at this writing shows only three rental offers left in the entire Mile Square for Friday, Nov. 1, the night of the first of Swift’s three concerts. Each property is priced well above $1,000 once fees and taxes are factored in.
Night No. 2, Saturday, Nov. 2, shows a similar shortage, while the market eases up a bit on Sunday’s closing night — with several more offers available, and at lower prices.
Airbnb’s full list of trending towns is heavy on college football and concerts. Here are the Top Ten – and what Airbnb sees as the key driver for each.
- Indianapolis, Indiana (Taylor Swift)
- South Bend, Indiana (Notre Dame)
- Blacksburg, Virginia (Virginia Tech)
- Oxford, Mississippi (Ole Miss)
- Auburn, Alabama (Auburn)
- Iowa City, Iowa (Iowa)
- Indio, California (Coachella valley concerts)
- State College, Pennsylvania (Penn State)
- Tacoma, Washington (Outdoor activities)
- Lubbock, Texas (Texas Tech)