Airbnb recently confirmed its entry into the Chinese market, enabling users to easily find a variety of suitable short-term rental accommodations in China. Furthermore, all usage information for the Airbnb service in China will be stored within China and will adhere to user guidelines tailored to the needs of the Chinese market.
According to Airbnb's announcement, in addition to confirming its official entry into the Chinese market, it is expected to start accepting user and other information for storage from December 12th. At the same time, the terms of use further state that all information used to provide services in China will be stored within China. At the same time, the terms of use will also be designed to be suitable for domestic Chinese laws and regulations, which is different from the situation where other regions share Airbnb's terms of use in Ireland.
In this case, Airbnb will adopt the same model as Uber. The established Airbnb China will operate independently, and may have slight differences from the Airbnb service terms implemented in other regions around the world, and will mainly correspond to domestic laws and regulations in China.
However, it is not yet possible to confirm whether Airbnb will trigger a boycott by hoteliers in the New York area after it officially enters the Chinese market, or whether it will adjust its service model to comply with local Chinese laws.
Airbnb's ambition to enter China was actually brewing long before its founding. Since establishing a strategic partnership with Qyer in 2014, it has been actively planning to target China's massive economic market. It officially confirmed its entry into China in 2015, but it remained relatively quiet for a while until recently when it made any significant development moves.
However, in China's relatively special market, there are actually many short-term rental services similar to Airbnb, such as Mu Niao Short-term Rental, Xiaozhu Short-term Rental, or Tujia. These services also focus on convenient short-term rental matching of vacant rooms, have even received a lot of investment funds, and are even planning to enter the international market. It is actually difficult to say whether Airbnb China will be able to strengthen its competition in the Chinese market in the future with its own advantages.
