Airbnb: PGA Championship at Bethpage Black should boost Nassau rentals

Airbnb hosts in Nassau County stand to reap a windfall from the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, according to data from the home-sharing company.

Hosts in the county are expected to make about $245,000 during the event, which runs from Monday through May 19, more than double the $117,000 recorded for the same period last year, according to bookings as of Tuesday morning.

The average daily rate for that period is $102 per night.

About 1,100 guests are booked for Nassau during the event, the San Francisco-based company said, a 41 percent increase from the 780 bookings at the same time in 2018.

An Airbnb spokeswoman said that annual events like college graduations and singular events like the 2019 PGA Championship and last year's U.S. Open Championship at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton drive Long Island Airbnb bookings, particularly at times when there is a shortage of hotel rooms.

"Our community excels in these big moments," she said. "Our hosts step in and provide that supply."

Guests from 43 U.S. states are expected at Nassau properties, with the largest numbers coming from elsewhere in New York, as well as Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Texas. Ontario, Canada, is the top foreign province.

Guests report they come from 365 cities, with the highest representation from New York City, Rochester, Albany, Chicago and Toronto.

Twenty-one percent of Airbnb's Nassau County hosts reported that they are older than 60 and 59 percent said they are women, according to Airbnb data.

Long Island has a patchwork of laws governing short-term rentals, with some municipalities seeking to curtail home-sharing companies, and the hotel industry calling for Airbnb to be governed by regulations similar to the ones it must comply with.

In 2018, Airbnb hosts boarded about 140,000 guests on Long Island, earning almost $50 million, according to company data.

Suffolk County accounted for 114,200 guest arrivals and $42.1 million in income, while Nassau had 25,000 guests and host income of $5.3 million.

Airbnb Inc., founded in 2008, is expected to stage an initial public offering later this year at a valuation of tens of billions of dollars. 

The Bethpage Black course, measuring 7,486 yards, hosted the 2002 and 2009 U.S. Opens and the 2012 Barclays Championship. The 83-year-old course designed by A.W. Tillinghast is also scheduled to host the 45th Ryder Cup in 2024.

By Ken Schachter

kenneth.schachter@newsday.comkschach

Ken Schachter covers corporate news, including technology and aerospace, and other business topics for Newsday. He has also worked at The Miami Herald and The Jerusalem Post.