Women Airbnb Hosts: The Future of Real Estate Investing
Home buyer profiles typically consist of married couples looking for their first property. In 2017, the National Association of Realtors reported that 65% of recent home buyers were indeed, wedded partners. However, there’s a new profile of home buyers emerging that you may not be aware of.
Single women are currently one of the fastest-growing demographics in the housing market. As of 2021, 19% of recent buyers were single females, whereas single males made up only 9% of the buyers’ market.
The NAR report reveals that many of these female buyers are caregivers or single mothers looking to live in the homes they are purchasing. However, another subgroup of these female homeowners are buying properties for a very different reason—to join the shared, vacation rental economy provided by Airbnb.
Female Airbnb Hosts by the Numbers
Airbnb has a long track record of attracting and retaining female hosts. In 2017 the vacation rental company published Women Hosts and Airbnb: Building a Global Community. The 37-page report describes how hosting on Airbnb helps women proactively address the gender pay equity gap.
Since the company’s inception in 2008, women have made an estimated $10 billion in profit by hosting. While women participate in the workforce at about 68% of the the rate that men participate—women host on Airbnb at an astounding 120% of the rate that men host. This means that women are a lot more likely to host on Airbnb than their male counterparts.
The report also highlights how hosting on the platform provides financial empowerment opportunities to women all across the globe. An average of 50,000 of these female hosts use the money they earn on Airbnb to fund their entrepreneurial pursuits every year.
An estimated one million women were hosting on the vacation rental website in 2017. Currently, 55% of Airbnb’s 4 million active hosts identify as women, bringing the total number of female hosts to 2.2 million. Not only are a number of women hosting, but they are doing it extremely well. 60% of Airbnb’s Superhosts are female.
Why Are Women Turning to Airbnb?
Although hosting on Airbnb has always been a popular business venture among women, it’s truly taken off since the pandemic. Airbnb estimates that women earned more than $600 million on the platform from March of 2020 to March of 2021, most of which were new hosts on the platform.
It’s not a bad start for those curious about real estate investing for beginners. We’ll have to wait and see what the numbers are for March of this year, but it’s likely female hosts closed out Women’s History Month 2022 with equally as impressive earnings, if not more.
Global Head of Hosting, Catherine Powell, believes the pandemic has disproportionately affected the female population, and that hosting has given a much-needed lifeline to women looking to provide for themselves and their families.“Hosting has been appealing to women, it has been an important source of income,” she says.
Employees all across the country started to quit their jobs en masse during the Great Resignation of 2021. What many don’t realize is that the vast majority of these workforce exits were women. A study conducted by McKinsey found that those most inclined to leave the workforce were working mothers, women in senior management, and Black women.
What do these three segments of female workers all have in common? The need for flexibility, stability, and community—principles they’ve been able to integrate into their work lives while hosting on Airbnb.
Flexibility
The ability to set your own work hours is appealing to many, but is often crucial for women who juggle multiple societal responsibilities. Having a flexible schedule allows women to invest in other areas of their lives, as well as care for loved ones such as aging parents and young children.
Angie Moody says many of the women who left the workforce sought out alternative forms of revenue, one of which could have been Airbnb. Moody is the Head of Ruby Money, a tax management platform for independent professionals. She’s also been an Airbnb host herself.
“[Women] realized that they weren’t in control of their work schedule, so they’re trying to take that control back and find new income streams,” says Moody.
This may be why more women are active on platforms such as Shopify and Upwork. Both websites provide users flexibility in their work schedules, allowing women to make money on their own time.
Stability
Those new to the vacation rental industry may be surprised to hear that hosting can be a full-time gig. Although there’s no way to guarantee your Airbnb or Vrbo properties will be booked year-round, there are many hosts who earn a stable income on either platform every month. Hosting has also proven to be one of the easiest ways to break into passive real estate investing.
Dani Braun, a divorced mother of two, has been hosting on Airbnb for four years. In her third year as a host she decided to allocate a large bonus check towards her Airbnb ventures and move into a new home. She started renting out her old house on a long-term basis and started making enough money from that first property to cover the mortgage for the new one.
“We went in there, cleaned it up, and moved in as a family. We rented our other house for the whole summer and covered our mortgage for a year. It was awesome,” she says.
For hosts who rent out various properties on a long-term basis, income potential is much greater. In 2021, the average Airbnb host in the U.S made $44,235 in host earnings. That’s more than double the year prior, where hosts profited an average of $25,553. Superhosts typically have their spaces booked at a 80% occupancy, allowing them to easily reach six-figure incomes strictly from hosting.
Community
Lastly, women are able to strengthen their local community on the platform. Hosts have the option of going a step further for their guests by hosting unique Airbnb Experiences in their city. A wide range of experiences are offered on the platform including classes, workshops, concerts, and site seeing.
Throughout these outings, guests are able to experience the city they’re visiting from a local’s perspective, allowing them to form a genuine connection with the area. Not only does this enhance the guest experience at the time of their visit, but it also increases the chances they will return! This could potentially translate into repeat business for you as a host.
Alicia Butler hosts Celebrate Women: Women, Words, & Wine, an NYC walking tour highlighting the stories of women who seldom received the credit they deserved for their contributions to local history.
“ “I started thinking about this tour a little over a year ago. Like a lot of women, I really wanted to brainstorm ways to elevate other women around me, women who’ve inspired me,” ”
Butler’s tour celebrates the hidden history of New York City’s most influential female politicians, innovators, and reformers. The tour begins at the Brooklyn Bridge and ends in the Lower East Side. In addition to narrated history, tourists also enjoy local food and drink along the way.
Women are Dominating the Hosting Industry
When all is said and done, women are some of the most powerful players in the Airbnb game. How the vacation rental business will grow in light of the economic and societal changes of 2020 is still up in the air. However, whether or not women will be at the forefront of this growth isn’t up for debate.
Creative and diligent in their methods, female hosts will continue to provide guests with unforgettable stays, regardless of the direction the industry takes. It’s the same philosophy we abide by here at MB Experiences, a full-service vacation rental management company unlike any other in LA.
Call us today to learn more about what we do for our clients and how we can help you grow your short-term rental business successfully. We look forward to hearing from you!
