On Same Day As 50th Airbnb Stay, Blue Wahoos Win MILB Golden Bobblehead Award For Concept

That novel idea the Pensacola Blue Wahoos formulated to convert their home team clubhouse into an Airbnb experience led to receiving an ultimate award in Minor League Baseball.

The team won the 2020 Golden Bobblehead Award for Best Overall Promotion among the nation’s 160 minor league teams, announced Wednesday at the 10th annual MILB Innovators Summit.

The Blue Wahoos Airbnb, which opened in late May as the first of its kind at a sports stadium in the U.S. and attracted world-wide media attention, also won the MILB award for Best Non Game-Day Promotion.

It was the first time in the team’s nine-history to win either award at MILB’s annual end of year gathering. This year’s event was held in virtual format due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. There were two other award categories leading into the grand award for Best Overall Promotion.

“It is a huge honor for the Blue Wahoos to win two Golden Bobbleheads this year,” said team president Jonathan Griffith. “In our nine seasons, we’ve never taken home a Golden Bobblehead, so we couldn’t be more proud of all the staff that worked so hard to make the Airbnb successful.

“The other part of winning it, the Airbnb enabled us to help keep jobs among our staff throughout the year and bring in some kind of revenue. More importantly, it has brought us so much great attention and tourists to the city of Pensacola.”

Ironically, the award’s announcement occurred on the same day the Blue Wahoos welcomed their 50th group stay. A 10-member group traveled to Pensacola from Seattle, Washington and made their Airbnb stay part of a vacation fishing trip on the Gulf Coast.

“I think winning this award in this particular situation that we find ourselves in here in 2020, really helps boosts everyone’s emotions and spirits,” said Bailie Tate, the Blue Wahoos group sales manager, who has managed the Airbnb since it was launched.

“When you think about it, 2020 has just been a damper on everybody for not having minor league baseball, not having a Blue Wahoos home season,” said Tate, a Pace High and University of West Florida graduate. “And it led us to finding new ways to essentially make money and stay connected to the community as well as keep our jobs.”

Mallory Studer, daughter of Blue Wahoos co-owners Quint and Rishy Studer, first suggested the Airbnb concept during a casual conversation in April with her parents and Griffith.

From that point, Griffith started developing a way the Blue Wahoos could make it happen. An area inside the clubhouse, which was originally set to be a players’ dining room, was changed into a bedroom area with two queen beds and four sets of bunk beds to sleep 10 guests.

In February, the Blue Wahoos finished $500,000 worth of clubhouse renovations that included new wood lockers, new chairs, new flat-screen televisions, a ping-pong table, plus a new trainer’s room and video room area.

The rooms were all repainted as well and the dining area was created. All of the work was prior to the shutdown of spring training in mid-March that ultimately led to the entire minor league season being cancelled, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I knew the clubhouse had been remodeled and I just thought it would be a shame to not have it used all summer,” Mallory Studer said. “So I just said, ‘Why not have it as an Airbnb?’ It’s been great to see the attention it has gotten.”

In July, the Blue Wahoos followed by converting the visitors clubhouse into an Airbnb with four more sets of bunk beds and two queen beds. That enables large groups, or youth league teams to utilize the entire experience, highlighted by exclusive access to the field and the indoor batting cage.

The Blue Wahoos Airbnb has been rated as a five-star experience in reviews on the Airbnb website, including comments about it being a “once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

“What made this special is we didn’t hire anyone from the outside,” said Tate, who led a group of front office staff members in helping clean, wash bedding, greet overnight guests, work in concierge roles and to help constantly turn around the clubhouse for next guests.

“We took one or two people from each department and put us together and basically we were able to birth the whole idea from the ground up,” she said. “So we truly know the ins and outs of the Airbnb.”