Boise is a ‘trending destination’ during pandemic, Airbnb says. What does that mean?

The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way people travel, but Boise is one of the trendiest future travel destinations, a new survey found.

Boise was named a top location for people who want to change their work environments when they can work from home, according to results released Thursday by Airbnb.

“In 2021, work from home could become work from any home, as remote working continues to be a reality for many people,” Airbnb said in a news release.

Of those who took Airbnb’s survey, 83% were in favor of relocating as part of working from home.

“On Airbnb, people who have the opportunity to work from anywhere are actively booking longer stays (2+ week trips) in small-to-mid-size cities with access to immersive natural surroundings and wide-open spaces,” the company said in the news release.

There are 10 “trending destinations” nationwide where people are booking longer stays, and Boise is one of them, Airbnb said. Park City, Utah; Truckee, California; Steamboat Springs, Colorado; and Santa Fe, New Mexico, are the other cities that are “trending destinations” in the West.

Durham, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; Greenville, South Carolina; Indianapolis; and Fort Walton Beach, Florida, are also on the list.

Working from home has given people a chance to relocate to a dream location. Of the people who took Airbnb’s survey, 20% have relocated during the pandemic, either temporarily or permanently.

“From July to September this year, there has been a 128% increase in guest reviews mentioning ‘relocation,’ ‘relocate,’ ‘remote work’ and ‘trying a new neighborhood’ in comparison to the same time frame last year,” Airbnb said.

Airbnb also expects “staycations” to be popular. In May, Boise was named a top city in the U.S. for a “staycation,” the Idaho Statesman reported.

Boise came in at No. 2 in WalletHub’s rankings of 182 U.S. cities to determine the best places to take a staycation — or vacation close to home.

It appears Boise’s dozens of parks and the 25-mile-long Boise Greenbelt may have helped push the city into its position.

“To determine the best places for a fun-filled yet wallet-friendly staycation, WalletHub compared more than 180 cities across 15 key metrics,” the study said. “Our data set ranges from parks per capita to the average home square footage and the idealness of summer weather.”

This story was originally published October 16, 2020 at 2:06 PM.