Airbnb, which seemed at one point to effortlessly sweep the board for short-term vacation rentals has finally found a market it doesn’t like very much: China.
Rentals in China, even before the pandemic, were a very small piece of Airbnb’s business; the Skift travel industry site estimates less than 3%. Several strong Chinese competitors, backed by financial giants such as Alibaba and Tencent, have taken the lion’s share of the in-country rentals market. Rentals to visitors from western countries have not been strong because hotels take most of that market.
The Airbnb decision includes dropping their tours and experiences offerings in China as well; the company will now concentrate on finding short-term rentals in other countries for Chinese outbound travelers.
