From January to June of this year, Airbnb saw more bookings for long-term stays in Florida than any other time in the company's history. Tomas Martinelli is the company's public policy director for Florida. He says at the height of the pandemic, people were afraid to travel. Then, in late spring and early summer of last year, Airbnb began seeing people search for rentals less than 500 miles away.
"There was almost like a new phenomenon and a new demand that we ended up being a big contributor and a big service provider to that market," Martinelli says.
Martinelli says that's because Airbnb allows people to stay anywhere. And he says Florida, being a top tourist destination, attracted many people with its sandy beaches and state parks. As a result, his company saw many people begin booking stays longer than 30 days starting this year.
"There is so much flexibility in the way that we are all living now, and that forms the hypothesis for what we believe will be the change in travel that's yet to really come to fruition," Martinelli says.
Airbnb says people are captivated by the prospect of travel blurring with living.
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