The Taylor Swift surge in business includes European and US Airbnb bookings
The Taylor Swift travel effect is driving more than high hotel rates and airfare. The pop music diva is also driving a booming business at Airbnb through the end of this year.
Searches for Airbnb listings by Americans looking for stays during the European dates of Swift's "The Eras Tour" are up 70%, the company reported this week. Americans also account for nearly a third of European Airbnb bookings during this summer's European leg of the tour. But it's more than just European Airbnbs seeing a Swift bump this year.
Search volume for Airbnbs in the remaining North American cities on the tour — Miami, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Toronto and Vancouver — is up more than 1,300%.
"This wave of 'event-cations' is a major trend driving travel this summer, showcasing the powerful connection between cultural moments and building travel plans around big events," reads the Airbnb report. "It also highlights the potential power of Taylornomics before the tour returns to North America later this year. Last year alone, more than a quarter of a million guests checked in to Airbnb listings during her US tour concert dates."
Airbnb searches tripled for listings in London once tickets for Swift's tour dates in the U.K. city went on sale ("The Eras Tour" will return for two stints in August after wrapping a first appearance this past weekend). Bookings by Americans for Airbnb stays in Paris during the Swift concert dates in May were up 60% from a year ago.
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Those still looking for a place to stay during the remaining North American leg of "The Eras Tour" should book fast: Searches for Airbnb stays during the October arc of the tour in Miami are up more than 500%. It's a more than 1,200% spike in search volume during the Toronto tour dates, and search volume is up a whopping more than 3,000% for the Vancouver dates — the last three nights of the entire tour.
The surge in Airbnb bookings amid "The Eras Tour" isn't exactly a shock: The U.S. Travel Association estimated last fall that the tour's entire economic impact on the U.S. likely surpassed $10 billion.
Hotel executives around the world noted the concert was a major draw for travelers and helped boost business.
"The Taylor Swift model is absolutely factored in. It's the new line item in revenue management," Dimitris Manikis — Wyndham's president of Europe, the Middle East, Eurasia and Africa — told TPG last fall. "How do we actually maximize it? It was always sports events, but now it's not just sports anymore. It's everything. Airlines are now factoring it. Cities are factoring it."
"Our hotels have seen huge surges in demand and [average daily rates] during Taylor Swift's 'The Eras Tour' with a city's [hotel performance] nearly doubling during her concert dates," Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano said last year during a company analyst meeting. "Customers want to be at these events and enjoy these experiences in person."
The question that remains, however, is what will happen to hotel rates next summer if there isn't a Swift concert to drive all this international travel?
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