But more than that, 1,800 guests were welcomed to the state of Mississippi by local Airbnb hosts alone.
Andrea experience as an Airbnb host started five years ago. In those five years, she has hosted over 500 people herself from various walks of life, including interns, doctors from Canada, people doing tours of the South, and some visiting from Chicago on spring break.
Andrea’s own first stay at Airbnb was back in 2013 in Memphis when she was visiting from Kentucky. After numerous personal experiences like this, she realized how easy it would be to host her own Airbnb space.
In her move to Louisiana from Kentucky, Andrea had Airbnb in mind and settled on a house with extra bedrooms. She found one and rented out through Airbnb for the two years she lived there. When she moved to Jackson in 2017, she did the same thing and found a three-bedroom house, two of which she currently rents out.
Now, thanks to the constant bookings, she rarely gets a single night in her own home to herself.
But Andrea does not mind sharing her home. She sees it as an investment, putting the income made from renting back into the historic house in Fondren she lives in. Ultimately, the fact she is providing a spot to stay for someone who needs a place to stay, and in turn, she then has the ability to work on some projects for her home. provides a win for everyone involved.
Andrea believes Airbnb is important to Jackson but especially the Fondren area. Right now, though there are hotels being constructed now, there are currently no hotels in Fondren and those who come visit want to experience that local city feel.
The only way for them to do that right now is to stay in an Airbnb unit. Even after those hotels are built however, Airbnb will still be a more economical option for many.
As long as it has that appeal, Airbnb will continue to provide an additional form of income for local hosts in Jackson and bring to the area millions of dollars in tax revenue a year.