Airbnb embarks on China push with more employees, local name

US short- term rental giant Airbnb Inc will triple its China staff this year as it targets the country’s millennial consumers, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

Co- founder and CEO Brian Chesky said that China is a key market for the company to achieve its global ambitions. He spoke at an event in Shanghai to launch the brand’s Chinese name Aibiying ( welcome each other with love).

“Chinese millennials, they are a huge market – nearly half a billion people, 400 million Chinese millennials and they represent 80 percent of our business here in China,” he said.

“Our idea is to bring people together from every country in the world and that must start from the biggest country on Earth, right here in China,” he said.

The company, valued at $ 30 billion in a round of fundraising last year, has seen strong growth from Chinese tourists, with outbound travelers from the country staying at its properties globally growing 142 percent last year.

Within China, the government has been increasing pressure on foreign technology companies. Airbnb told Chinese users in November it would store their personal data locally and announced agreements with local authorities including Shanghai, Chongqing and Shenzhen and Guangzhou in South China’s Guangdong Province.

Airbnb also faces highly funded local rivals, including Tujia. com and Xiaozhu. com, often dubbed China’s Airbnb clone.

Chesky said that Airbnb looked closely at the successes and failures of other companies operating in the country. Many international companies, especially in technology, have faced hurdles in China from ride- hailing company Uber Technologies Inc to Microsoft Corp.

“To get things right in China we’ve tried to learn from other companies, what they did right and what they did wrong,” he said.

Airbnb has about 80,000 homes listed in China, a number growing at more than 160 percent year- on- year.