Airbnb in Seattle — The Emerald City
Sneak peek into the Airbnb activity in Seattle based on Kaggle’s Seattle Open Data from 2019
Seattle also called as the Emerald City is famous for its lush evergreen forests. Not only that but it is also surrounded by water, mountains, and contains thousands of acres of parkland. There is no shortage of things to do and places to see in this metropolis, from the thriving culinary scene to the iconic Space Needle. One of the city’s most active sightseeing areas is the waterfront and piers, boat tours, recreational spaces, ferry docks, and fun attractions like the Great Ferris Wheel.
Once a rather dull port and industrial center, Seattle has undergone an astonishing transformation into the largest city in Washington State. Driven in part by its flourishing economy, it is today an energetic, forward-looking city at the forefront of innovation. No wonder, Seattle is the “Coffee Capital” of the United States, with an espresso bar on almost every corner.
Tourism in Seattle
All of this makes Seattle a wonderful spot for tourism especially in summers. More than 40 million annual visitors spend $7.8 billion in the city and county each year. The economic power of travel and tourism generates more than 78,000 Seattle area jobs and contributes $806 million in annual state and local tax revenue.
Airbnb for its wide selection, customizable search, services has shown a tremendous growth over the last 10 years. Seattle is no different which makes Airbnb as one of the top choices for people to book their stay while they are on vacation.
To understand more about Airbnb in Seattle, we looked at the Seattle Airbnb 2019 data from Kaggle. Close to 3,800 houses are listed on Airbnb with majority of them being available through out the year.
3 key things, we want to understand from this data set are:
1) How is house price variation throughout year?
2) What is the busiest time in Seattle?
3) What features drive house price?
Airbnb House Price Variation in Seattle
Our findings informed us that listing of the house varies from $30 –$150 with an average price of $137 a night. There are a few houses that are listed within $500 — $1000 a night which are either boat houses or the non-shareable entire house / apartments promising to accommodate 8–16 people. Pricing of the house depends on myriad factors and demand of the house viz. time of the year is one of the key drivers.
Busiest Time in Seattle
Summers being the most popular season in Seattle makes July and August the busiest months of the year and also the most expensive ones. November to April seems to be a slow season with a lot of houses being available to book for the entire month. Interestingly, price is significantly low for these months and minimum in January owing to the chilly and wet weather in Seattle.
Features Driving House Prices in Seattle
Not just time of the year but there are other factors that drive the price for Airbnb listings. Specifically, for Seattle listings, we noticed how the houses were expensive in neighborhoods like ‘Queen Anne’ , ‘Central Business District’, ‘Belltown’, and ‘Magnolia’. Beauty of these areas, easy transit, better reach to restaurants, coffee shops, groceries etc., and abundance of outdoor activities nearby makes these areas one of the most expensive ones.
Hosts with a higher number of listings and longer active period seems to have listed the house higher than the rest. Of course the price also varies by accommodation capacity, number of bedroom, bathroom, and amenities provided.
Lastly, the type of property and room also plays a significant role in defining the house price. Boats are significantly expensive than condominiums, apartments, etc. with an average price of $300 a night and same is for the room type with entire apartment being 2–3 times more expensive than a private or shared rooms.
I hope these insights helped you get a sense of Airbnb activity in Seattle and hopefully by now you would also know which month is best for tourism and which month will save you a few bucks, so
Choose Wisely !
To see more about this analysis, see the link to my GitHub available here.
References
http://www.seattleandsound.com/space-needle/
https://www.planetware.com/tourist-attractions-/seattle-us-wa-s.htm
