The biggest boom in travel these days is using Airbnb for lodging.

Believe it or not Rockford has made the list for being in the top 10 for home sharing in Illinois with the company.

Infact, WIFR reports that those who put up their homes or rooms for rent with Airbnb have seen a significant increase in usage, which means money for them. On a whole the "Rockford Airbnb host community earned $300,000 and welcomed approximately 2,200 guests to the city this year."

Wow! Now that's a lot of cash flowing into the Forest City!

Currently, there's "about 30 people in the Rockford area are sharing their homes with Airbnb. About half those hosts simply just share an extra or unused room in their homes."

Really? I had no idea there were that many.

I knew Rockford had some homes listed on Airbnb through a guy I met at a remote this summer that was here on a temporary job for his company.

Now if you're thinking that these homes that are shared through Airbnb are in direct competition with hotels in the area, think again.

It's just the opposite. According to "statewide data, [it] indicates that Airbnb’s appear to be complementing the Illinois hotel industry, rather than competing because the demand for hotel rooms was also up this year."

Well now that's good news.

John Groh, President and CEO of RAVCB, says that "It’s been a strong year for tourism, business travel is up, long-term stays for contract related work is up, tournament traffic and leisure has also been up throughout the year which requires additional hotel stays.”

With travel and tourism being up in Rockford, the addition of homes being shared through Airbnbmeans that it's giving visitors more choices for lodging.

Wow! That's pretty cool.

Honestly, I know this may seem biased against Rockford, but who would have thought Airbnb would have done so well here? Obviously I didn't. I'm pleasantly surprised.

 

 

More From Rockford's New Country Q98.5