Airbnb Demand Skyrocketing In Buncombe County

BPR News | By Matt Bush

Published September 7, 2017 at 2:37 PM EDT

Bookings through Airbnb skyrocketed in the past year in Buncombe County. A study commissioned by the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority showed demand for rentals through the site increased 105% in the past year. Hotel room bookings grew only 3% during the same time. The growth in Airbnb demand comes despite its murky legal status in Asheville. Airbnb rentals are legal in "commercial" parts of the city, but illegal in "residential" parts. Whether to expand or contract Airbnb availability will be a major campaign issue during this fall's Asheville city council and mayoral elections. Jason Sandford of AshVegas.com has been writing extensively about this issue. He joined BPR's Matt Bush to discuss the latest.

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Matt Bush

Matt Bush joined Blue Ridge Public Radio as news director in August 2016. Excited at the opportunity the build up the news service for both stations as well as help launch BPR News, Matt made the jump to Western North Carolina from Washington D.C. For the 8 years prior to coming to Asheville, he worked at the NPR member station in the nation's capital as a reporter and anchor. Matt primarily covered the state of Maryland, including 6 years of covering the statehouse in Annapolis. Prior to that, he worked at WMAL in Washington and Metro Networks in Pittsburgh, the city he was born and raised in.

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