CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Airbnb announced this week that its Clarksville host community earned a combined $353,000 in supplemental income while welcoming approximately 3,000 guest arrivals to the city in 2017.
Those 3,000 guest arrivals reflect an extraordinary 1,096% year-over-year growth. About 200 Clarksville homeowners shared their homes to travelers via Airbnb in 2017. About half simply shared an extra, unused room in their home (i.e. empty nester) and over two-thirds were female. The typical Clarksville host earns about $2,400 annually in supplemental income through the Airbnb platform.
Statewide data indicates that Airbnb and its host community appear to be complementing — rather than competing with — the Tennessee hotel industry. A late 2017 report from Marcus & Millichap concludes that Tennessee hotels outside of Nashville are demonstrating strong revenue growth.
By far the largest surge of guests to Clarksville in the history of Airbnb’s platform occurred in in late August 2017, as the city took center stage in the heart of the solar eclipse’s path of totality.
The second highest surge to Clarksville came the weekend of October 20, which was APSU Homecoming. Airbnb also experienced large surges of family travelers to Clarksville during Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Thanks to a recent tax agreement between Airbnb and the Tennessee Department of Revenue, Clarksville will be able to capitalize further on home sharing revenue. Last month, Airbnb announced the agreement which will allow the platform to collect and remit both the state sales tax (7%) and local sales taxes (1.5%-2.75% depending on the local jurisdiction) on behalf of its hosts. In Clarksville, the local sales tax is 2.5%.
Additionally, Houston County and Stewart County welcomed their first guests via the Airbnb platform last year. In 2017, Houston County welcomed 80 Airbnb guests, with the typical Houston County host earning $5,300 in supplemental income. And Stewart County welcomed 110 Airbnb guests, with the typical Stewart County host earning $2,200 in supplemental income.