Airbnb has unveiled its Chinese alter ego, named Aibiying.
The Chinese brand name for Airbnb loosely translates as ‘welcome each other with love’, and the company hopes a distinct Chinese identity will help it crack the market.
To support this Airbnb plans a major marketing campaign to raise awareness of the new name.
During a presentation in Shanghai, Airbnb CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky said it will ramp up investment in China and hopes to triple the size of its local team,
Airbnb has about 80,000 listings in China while its main rival in the home sharing market Tujia boasts more than 400,000.
It also launched its ‘Trips’ in-destination experience programme in China, which offers locally hosted tours and activities.
“There’s a whole new generation of Chinese travellers who want to see the world in a different way. We hope that Aibiying and our Trips product strikes a chord with them and inspires them,” Chesky said.
“I’m really excited about our future here.”
Airbnb has already adopted the all-important payment app Alipay for bookings and has integrated WeChat for Mandarin language customer service.
It hopes to fare much better than fellow Silicon Valley unicorn Uber, which eventually pulled out of the market after failing to beat off the challenge of dominant ride sharing competitor Didi Chuxing.
