Hosting during NRL festival a great earning opportunity for Brisbane locals

Rugby League’s Magic Round returns to Brisbane next weekend, and Airbnb is encouraging residents to share their home or a spare room to help handle the increased demand for accommodation across the city.

Returning for a third year in a row, the weekend of 5-7 May will see the entire competition descend on Queensland’s home of rugby league for a festival of football like no other. 

There has never been a better time to consider becoming a Host with visitor numbers likely to surge by over 30,000, supporting $28 million in economic impact¹.

“Hosts collectively earned more than $1.2m² by Hosting during Magic Round last year with individual Hosts earning a median of over $500³ over the three days. 

“Hosting on Airbnb is a great way to help showcase Brisbane’s incredible world-class events and diverse and exciting experiences the city has to offer.

“Airbnb offers a unique opportunity for new and existing Hosts in Brisbane to be a part of this incredible weekend of football and the many upcoming events the city will host in 2023, while also creating an opportunity to earn extra income to combat rising cost of living. 

“Home sharing helps cities use existing homes to scale up their capacity where there isn’t enough space in traditional forms of accommodation. It also empowers locals to provide sustainable and affordable options across the city which benefits the local economy.

“Hosts on Airbnb play a valuable role in making guests feel extremely welcome, and our Brisbane Hosts are no exception as they help to point guests in the direction of the best hidden gems and local businesses to support. 

“Brisbane has such a solid event calendar which attracts visitors from near and far, and includes the State of Origin game II and the FIFA Women’s Football World Cup in July.”

Susan Wheeldon, Airbnb Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand

South Australia has also recently enjoyed the influx of visitors from the major sporting events held in Adelaide and surrounding areas including the LIV golf tournament and AFL Gather Round where all nine games hosted over the weekend were sold out with over 220,000 fans attending matches and 60,000 interstate visitors to the region⁴. 

With an estimated 780,800 spare bedrooms sitting empty in Brisbane⁵, home sharing presents a unique opportunity for new Hosts to generate some much needed income during the current cost of living crisis, while also helping out those looking for more affordable accommodation.

Marisa Vecchio is a private room Host who has opened her historic home, Hanworth House to guests for various major events including football matches, international concert series and many guests who stay for the Great Southern Rail adventure  and highly recommends the experience to other potential Hosts. 

“I love Hosting on Airbnb and being able to showcase the incredible city of Brisbane and all it has to offer.

“We enjoy meeting the diverse group of people that Hosting during major events brings and find that our guests are searching for something more unique but still close to all the major Brisbane attractions.

“We have guests that come from across Australia and tend to book about a month in advance, with most of our visitors staying specifically for an event.”

Marisa Vechhio, Host

From the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Townsville hosting its first ever interstate footy fixture, Adelaide’s major events for the AFL and golf, the world cycling championships in Wollongong or last year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Airbnb Hosts have a long history of helping cities accommodate big events, while generating benefits for local families and communities. Home sharing allows cities to flexibly increase the number of guests they can accommodate without expensive building and infrastructure projects, providing a more sustainable way of accommodating a surge in visitors.

In a survey*, more than a third of Australian Hosts said one of the reasons they host is to earn money to help cover the rising cost of living, while almost four in 10 said that hosting income has helped them stay in their home. Many Hosts also do not use their property for short-stay accommodation all-year round – with many doing so on an ad-hoc basis to help meet their mortgage repayments, pay bills or save for their retirement.

With the event fast approaching, we encourage those who are thinking about Hosting to start getting their property and listing ready. Last year, Airbnb made it even easier to Airbnb your home through Airbnb Setup, featuring one-to-one guidance from a Superhost, the opportunity to host an experienced guest as your first guest, as well as one-tap access to specially-trained Community support agents. Together with even more AirCover for Hosts, which tripled damage protection to $3 million and expanded guest identity verification, among other top protections for both inside and outside your home, it’s a great time to become a Host and start earning.