KNOXVILLE - Airbnb, the world’s leading community-driven hospitality company, announced today that Knoxville hosts earned over $153,000 in income while welcoming an additional 1,800 guests to the city last weekend during the University of Tennessee commencement (May 9-11).

This represented the third largest surge of guests to Knoxville in the history of Airbnb’s platform (behind a couple football weekends from 2018).

Big events associated with the university have long been known to fill Knoxville hotels to peak occupancy, even with higher rates. Home sharing and vacation rentals have allowed cities like Knoxville to utilize pre-existing resources - people’s homes - to expand lodging capacity and retain as many visitors as possible.

“Our Knoxville host community continues to step up and help the city take full economic advantage of major events like commencement and football weekends,” said Laura Spanjian, senior policy director for Airbnb.

Additionally, Airbnb collects and remits the Knoxville occupancy tax thanks to a tax agreement with the city. This means the surge in guests represented a boost in tax revenue as well.

Airbnb previously announced that Knox County hosts earned $5.1 million in supplemental income in 2018 while welcoming 50,000 guest arrivals.