It’s the Super Bowl of short-term rentals — and one team has taken the lead
Kansas City Chiefs fans are leading the charge when it comes to booking short-term rentals in Las Vegas for the Super Bowl.
Airbnb statistics provided to the Las Vegas Review-Journal show the Missouri-based team’s fans were making three times more searches for local Airbnbs during the week of the game (Feb. 5-12) than people based in and around the San Francisco Bay Area.
Searches for Airbnb rentals in the Las Vegas Valley for the week of the game increased 65 percent from the same week last year.
However AirDNA, which scrapes Airbnb and Vrbo data, said Las Vegas’ short-term rental market is still falling a bit short when compared to last year’s Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona.
“Las Vegas has yet to experience the drastic increase in listings that Phoenix did,” the report stated. “Where Phoenix had an additional 2,688 properties listed for the Super Bowl than it did the weekend prior — a 17.3 percent increase — Las Vegas so far has about the same number of listings.”
Airbnb rentals and daily rates for Feb. 9-11 have both increased 87 percent from a year earlier. The average listing runs approximately $437 a night for both Airbnb and Vrbo.
Phoenix residents listed their properties just for the Super Bowl at a much higher rate compared to Las Vegas, but many of the properties in Phoenix went unbooked, according to AirDNA.
Searches for Las Vegas rentals on Airbnb return more than 1,000 results. One of the most expensive listings, “Entire home in Las Vegas, Nevada,” runs $4,023 a night and offers 16 bedrooms with 27 beds and seven bathrooms. The listing features three buildings spread over 5,000 square feet in a gated compound with a pool, outdoor terrace, game room and bar.
The Metropolitan Police Department has already put out a call to the community to help report parties at short-term rentals during the Super Bowl. The city of Las Vegas recently fined a homeowner $180,000 for an unlicensed Airbnb rental.
The Super Bowl also brings the issue of short-term rentals in Clark County — where the Strip is located — back into the spotlight. State legislation passed last year forced Clark County to start issuing licenses in unincorporated areas for short-term rentals.
Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas have legalized short-term rentals for registered hosts who have the proper permits.
Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.