Airbnb Expects 10,000 Guests In D.C. for The Inauguration

According to a report released yesterday, Airbnb doesn't think it will be as expensive as you might think to find a place during the weekend of the Presidential Inauguration on Jan. 20.

Last month, DC Inno reported that the average cost for an Airbnb was about $671 per night, based on a search for Airbnbs in the area for the weekend of Jan. 20. Based on the same search, the average cost is $961 per night for two guests, as of Tuesday afternoon.

But Airbnb offered a different number, according to their internal measurement. In their report, the San Francisco-based startup company says that the average cost will be $125 per night, but that's based on the median cost.

Airbnb spokesperson Crystal Davis told DC Inno the company prefers that metric because it's more inclusive of the kinds of listings found on Airbnb. The cost for an entire house or luxury listing might be unfairly altering the average price found on the site, Davis said.

"While we did see a larger price point for some of the listings, they weren’t even the majority of the listings," Davis said.

Which may or may not make sense when you look at the median price by listing time. Airbnb tells DC Inno that the median price in the DMV for an entire home is $230 per night while the median price for a private room is $69 per night.

Still, it's fair to say that the cost for an Airbnb—whatever the cost—will most likely be cheaper than the area's hotels. When you search Expedia for a hotel for the nights of Jan. 19-Jan. 22, the average cost per night is $1,006, as of Tuesday.

Airbnb's report also yielded a few other interesting findings:

Airbnb says they expect to see the same sort of results as they did in San Francisco for the Super Bowl, which brought about 15,000 guests to the Bay Area and generated $21 million in economic activity for the area.

Image used under public domain — credit Clindberg