The value of food wasted by U.S. short-term rental lodgers

Food waste is a growing concern, particularly as temporary lifestyles and consumption patterns during travel can exacerbate waste. We investigate food wasted by travelers using short-term peer-to-peer rental accommodations. Using data collected via an online survey of 502 U.S. travelers, we use regression analysis to explore food waste patterns across different accommodation and traveler characteristics. The average traveler reports that about $12 of food is purchased but not consumed by their travel party per night of lodging, which equates to about 5.1 % of nightly lodging costs and to $2.3 billion annually spent on groceries, takeout, and restaurant leftovers that are not consumed prior to the end of the trip. This value of uneaten food is significantly positively associated with the nightly cost of lodging and the number of children on the trip. More is wasted during January through March and among travelers 25 years and younger. The length and region of stay and the purpose of travel (leisure vs work) is not significantly associated with daily waste. Only 21 % of lodging hosts provided information about handling uneaten food, while most respondents would find information about how to donate or compost uneaten food at the end of a stay and how to save on groceries during travel to be helpful. This gap between the information provided and deemed helpful by guests indicates potential policy interventions such as providing short-term rental hosts with information inserts listing location-specific food donation and composting options to be shared in rental unit guidebooks.