Airbnb talks World Cup so far in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo.—World Cup travelers to Kansas City caused a boom in bookings for Airbnb Particularly, a lot of people coming from Argentina and Ecuador contributed to the city ranking first for new Airbnb hosts and second in last-minute bookings of all 16 United States host cities.

Airbnb saw the World Cup as an opportunity for growth and worked with locals to make that happen.

“We worked closely with the Kansas City Tourism Department and their mayor's office over the last six months to do seminars for interested Kansas City residents who wanted to share their homes for the first time,” said Vincent Frillici, Public Policy Lead, Airbnb. “We can work with the community to say, ‘why don't you share your home?’ And we've gotten a few new thousand people in Kansas City.”

Airbnb also provided a $750 first time host credit to incentivize perspective first time hosts during the World Cup.

To increase desirability, Airbnb hosts were provided ideas to make their house feel more like home for tourists.

“For example, in Argentina, they drink a special kind of tea every day with a special kind of kettle. It's sort of their Starbucks and so we told hosts about that Argentinian particular need and I think some host added those amenities to their homes to make them more interesting to different types of international travelers.”

He adds that Argentinians are also barbeque fans and played into Kansas City being selected as their host city.

First-time hosts tend to over-price themselves, noted Frillici; which he believes is why some Airbnb hosts further from the stadium weren’t booking as quickly.

“The host controls the price on their house. The host also keeps 85% of what you pay to stay with them. So they control a lot of the of the pricing and I think the pricing has really come down in those outlying areas to really start getting more bookings going on.”

He mentioned that most tourists look to spend $200 per night per bedroom.

Something a bit different in Missouri was the rate of women hosts. Frillici says over 60% of all the Missouri Airbnb hosts were women and they are generating $11,000 to $12,000 a year in supplemental income.

This weekend Airbnb also is using Artificial Intelligence technology to safeguard hosts from bookers seeking a home to throw parties at.