Airbnb China Announces Winners of Bélo Awards
On December 9, Peng Tao, president of Airbnb China, announced the 2019 winners of the Bélo Awards, namely, Best Housing Design Award, Best Hospitality Award, Best Community Contribution Award, and Best Entrepreneurship Award. In the past two months, hosts from over 90 cities in China took part in the competition.
“2019 was the year when Airbnb fully penetrated into the Chinese market,” said Peng Tao, at the online lodging platform’s media event. “Data shows that from January to October this year, the average monthly active users of the Airbnb app continued to run first in China, among all other short-stay rental platforms. We have been digging deep into five areas: branding, products, quality, trust and security, as well as community building, and we are committed to creating an authentic travel experience for more travelers.”
Airbnb also released the “Airbnb China Host Community Report”. According to the report, in 2019, the number of Airbnb China’s superhosts increased by 2.6 times. The number of hosts tripled, and the number of Plus hosts increased nine times (Airbnb Plus refers to a higher-end tier of Airbnb.) Among the Airbnb China host cohort, the proportion of hosts that are 40 years old or younger is nearly 70%, and nearly 90% of Chinese hosts have a job aside from hosting people using Airbnb. They are generally highly educated, and 87% of the hosts are college graduates. One-fifth of Chinese hosts come from creative industries. Meanwhile, the proportion of Chinese hosts in second and third-tier cities and holiday resorts is gradually increasing.
The report points out that Airbnb and the International Olympic Committee have recently reached a nine-year global partnership that covers the next five summer and winter Olympics. The upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022 will bring huge development potential to Airbnb’s business.
Shi Yanxin, head of technology at Airbnb China, said, “Airbnb advocates technology for the greater good, and through our ‘community-driven’ business model, we open up more possibilities for the development of the tourism industry. Much to our delight, a great number of Chinese hosts now choose the Airbnb platform, where they would not only gain sincere connection and goodwill between people, but also welcome the world into our homes. At the same time, the considerable economic income creates social and economic benefits for the communities.”
