Homeowners in Twin Cities Cash In on Super Bowl

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Airbnb listings in the Twin Cities area are soaring in advance of the Super Bowl despite new regulations that Minneapolis and St. Paul adopted requiring new compliance procedures for hosts of Airbnb and similar services.

The world’s largest online home sharing service said in a written statement that it currently has 2,650 “active hosts” in the Twin Cities combined, up from 1,000 in February. “It is increasingly realistic that the Airbnb host community will end up tripling to 3,000” by Feb. 4, game day for Super Bowl LII at U.S. Bank Stadium, the statement said.

This fall, Minneapolis and St. Paul joined other cities throughout the world in passing rules regulating home sharing. New regulations include licensing fees and building inspections.

“It’s about as light a regulation as you can probably get,” said St. Paul Council Member Chris Tolbert. “It puts a basic regulatory framework around it for the public safety of both residents and visitors who are using it.”

Members of the local hotel industry in the Twin Cities advocated regulating home sharing, but the measures were opposed by Airbnb, which claimed they included provisions that violated federal communications law. Airbnb has also grappled with other cities that have passed rules regulating home sharing.

In anticipation of big Super Bowl crowds, Airbnb in February announced a new push to sign up hosts that it named Project 612, after the region’s area code. The goal was 2,000, which “seemed like an audacious goal at the time,” the firm said in its statement.

Many hotels in the region, especially those near the stadium, already are booked up. Airbnb pointed out in its statement that its hosts “will allow more visitors to stay within the corporate limits of Minneapolis and St. Paul and support the local merchant community.”

Listings on Airbnb’s site include a 3,000 square foot home for $5,000 a night that is advertised as “perfect for a group of people who want a unique and private Super Bowl experience” and a bungalow 2 miles from the stadium for $1,000 a night. “Our cats MoonPie and LadyBird will be home during the rental period,” the posting states. “Low hassle. Easy going.”

Airbnb at one point indicated it might take the Twin Cities to court. But the firm is now taking a more conciliatory tone.

“While we remain concerned about potential violations of federal statute…we look forward to continuing to work with both cities on finding common sense solutions,” a spokesman said in an email.

Super Bowls typically produce big windfalls for local hotel industries. For Super Bowl LI in Houston last February, revenue per available room skyrocketed 851% in the city’s central business district, according to an analysis by STR’s Consulting & Analytics division.

Council Member Tolbert said he called on the city to explore regulating the home sharing industry in 2016. “It’s the modern economy. I said it’s coming to us. Let’s look and see whether we need a regulatory framework.”

St. Paul didn’t adopt the rules because of the Super Bowl. But its approach “gave a sense of urgency to do it,” he said.

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