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Airbnb Plus program poised for Chinese expansion
Reading Time: 3 minutesChina: Airbnb’s Plus program is poised to expand in China, as home-sharing grows in popularity for independent travellers seeking out local authentic experiences and more personal touches. State Information Center has published a report which reveals that the trade size of home-sharing listings in China reached approximately US$2.4 billion in 2018, representing a 37.5 per […]
Airbnb partners with Shiji to boost Chinese presence
Reading Time: < 1 minuteChina: Airbnb has partnered with accommodation provider Shiji Distribution Solutions to boost its hotel inventory and grow its presence further in China. The agreement will provide hotels in China with the opportunity to distribute their content on Airbnb since it broadened its offering officially into non-private accommodation early last year. However, Airbnb will know that […]
Tujia exceeds 1.4m global listings ahead of IPO
Reading Time: 2 minutesChina: Chinese home-sharing platform Tujia has announced it has exceeded 1.4 million global listings and expects to break even in the second half of this year, according to 36Kr. The news comes as it is being rumoured that Tujia will go in for an initial public offering, perhaps as early as this year. The company, […]
Airbnb plans “aggressive investments” in China and India
Reading Time: 2 minutesChina / India: Airbnb will be making “aggressive investments” in emerging markets like China and India after a huge spike in guests and listing numbers in both countries from 2017 to 2018. The homesharing platform’s reasoning for last year’s 131 per cent growth in guests in China, and 65 per cent in India, was a […]
Cozystay adds first properties in China with acquisition
Reading Time: < 1 minuteChina: Cozystay, a vacation rental platform for Chinese travellers, has added its first properties in China after acquiring Oak Properties. Oak Properties, which will continue to operate under that name, manages around 300 private rentals in China in cities including Taiyuan, Tianjin and Suzhou. CEO of Vancouver-based Cozystay, Galen Cheng, said: “We’ve had an incredible […]
China’s Xiaozhu planning to adopt facial recognition in Chengdu
Reading Time: < 1 minuteChina: The Chinese version of Airbnb, Xiaozhu, is set to start using facial recognition to deliver more secure access to its guests and properties. The China-based home-sharing company is planning to add facial recognition-enabled door locks to 80 per cent of its listings in the central city of Chengdu, according to Quartz. Chengdu serves as […]
China Airbnb rival Xiaozhu reveals funding of nearly $300 million led by Jack Ma
Reading Time: < 1 minuteChina: Chinese short-term rental firm Xiaozhu.com has revealed it has raised almost $300 million in a funding round led by Jack Ma’s Yunfeng Capital, amid competition from Airbnb and Tujia.com. The company did not disclose its new valuation but said it was worth more than $1 billion last November after clinching a $120 million round, […]
Airbnb’s Chinese rival in talks to raise over $200 million in funding
Reading Time: 2 minutesChina: One of Airbnb’s biggest Chinese rivals is in talks with Singapore’s wealth fund to secure $200 million in funding to take on the American vacation rental platform. Beijing-based Xiaozhu.com, who were reportedly almost acquired by Airbnb in 2016, lets its users rent out homes and apartments across China and it is now targeting the […]
China’s answer to Airbnb, Tujia Sweetome, invests in Cozy Holding Corp.
Reading Time: 2 minutesChina: Cozy Holding Corp., renowned for its vacation rental platform, Cozystay, has announced its property management company, Cozy Living has secured investment from Tujia Sweetome. Sweetome is a China-based online vacation rental provider Tujia’s offline property management group. Tujia itself is China’s largest short-term rental firm and is widely considered as the country’s answer to […]
Chinese rental start up secures $620 million funding
Reading Time: < 1 minuteChina: Rental start-up Ziroom has secured $620 million of investment led by private equity firm Warburg Pincus. Other participating investors include Tencent, Sequoia Capital China, China Renaissance, Principal Investment, Sunac Capital, GA Capital, H Capital, Source Code Capital, Haixia Asset and New Hope. Ziroom CEO Xiong Lin said, the proceeds will be used to expand […]