Airbnb rates for NFL draft in Pittsburgh are "coming back to Earth," host says
Airbnb hosts in Pittsburgh are coming to terms with the possibility of earning less money than they expected during the NFL draft.
"There were a lot of people that thought [a year ago] they were going to make $3,000 to $5,000 a night," said Chad Wise, who leads HostWise Stays, which manages 150 Airbnb properties in Pittsburgh. "Now people are being more realistic, of I'm going to make $500 a night, potentially."
It's a product of demand being lower than they expected months ago. Across the city, 55% of short-term rentals have been booked for the draft, Wise said, citing data from PriceLabs, an Airbnb partner.
"A lot of people have been waiting 'till the last minute in the market," Wise said. "So, we're not concerned. It's just a little slower in pace than I would have expected a year ago."
He did add that he's seen a significant uptick in people booking rentals over the past few days. Many people are also first-time Airbnb hosts for the draft.
"There were a lot of rates that were set a little bit too high, too early, and now the rates are coming back to Earth. And people are starting to book here as the draft gets closer and closer," Wise said on Thursday.
The inflated expectations, he said, were fueled by a belief that 500,000-plus people would be coming to a city already with a hotel shortage, leading hosts to feel they could charge whatever they wanted and still get their rentals booked. The projections of 500,000-plus people come from combining the expected draft attendance over all three days of the event.
"Still a lot of people, but half a million people over three days is a different number than half a million people in one day," Wise said.
More people are also expected to drive into the city for the day than Wise expected a year ago. However, he's confident reasonably priced Airbnbs will be sold out, as they often are throughout the year. While rates aren't as high as some expected, they are higher than average, Wise said.
"People are paying more money last minute for properties than they have over the last year," Wise said.
According to Wise, the last-minute nature of booking for the draft — which is free to attend — is that people are making their final decision to come to the event later than they would for something like a Taylor Swift concert, which people have to commit to paying a lot of money ahead of time.
He also said he spoke with hosts in Green Bay, Wisconsin, who said 50% of bookings came in the last 20 days.
Update on hotel room bookings
Amid low booking numbers for hotels in the city, Perry Ivery, the board chair of Visit Pittsburgh, said last week that he expected many bookings to come in the final weeks before the draft. On Thursday, he said in a statement to KDKA that bookings are "progressing as expected."
"At this point, booking activity is progressing as expected based on comparable events, and we're optimistic by how things are shaping up heading into the Draft," Ivery said. "We're honored to welcome so many guests next week and give them a true experience of Pittsburgh's world-class hospitality."
Ivery said more data will be available after the draft.
