Why is the implementation of "airbnb" blocked in China?

China's version of Uber has been worth tens of billions. Why has Airbnb, another representative of the sharing economy, been tepid in China?

Airbnb, known as air accommodation in Chinese, is a short rent platform connecting travelers and potential landlords, with an estimated valuation of $20 billion. For the needs of travel enthusiasts, Airbnb can better experience the local customs and save some money; For the supply of "landlords" with idle houses for rent, Airbnb can use idle houses to increase extra income and make new friends. Everything looks so beautiful, it's a win-win business for both sides, but why doesn't it work in China? The success or failure of a product depends on its user group. Let's look at the problem from the perspective of the landlord and tourists.

Supply end

For the landlord, the author always summarizes three problems: scarcity of housing, lack of trust and cultural concept.

Housing is scarce.

18 to 35 years old are the main internet users in China, and these people generally own 1 hall 1 bathroom two-bedroom commercial housing, which is just suitable for a small family to live in. Many houses in foreign countries are single-family houses, so you can separate rooms for tenants to live in. And China can buy a single-family villa group generally not bad money, do not need to earn extra income through this platform. Airbnb's platform model also requires serving tenants, which is even more impossible for these big bosses who own villas. They just need to wait for the house price to rise and make a lot of money, so the housing that can be supplied in China is a scarce resource compared with European and American countries.

Lack of trust

There is a lack of basic trust between landlords and tenants in China. The landlord doesn't want to share the room with strangers who travel. In European and American countries, the personal credit information system is relatively developed from a macro perspective. Airbnb also shows other social relationships through social accounts such as facebook, giving priority to users who have certain social connections with each other and reducing mutual distrust and distance. Even so, Airbnb had to face security problems in the early days of its establishment in the United States, and the public was worried that criminals would take the opportunity to engage in criminal activities such as theft and robbery.

Short rent Piglet parasitized Alipay's sesame credit system, perhaps to solve the embarrassment that there is no real-name authentication social platform like facebook in China. On the whole, however, due to the imperfection of China's credit information system and the large population mobility, when these factors are put together, the cost of default is extremely low, forcing landlords to use more cautious means to protect their own interests.

Cultural factor

The reasons for Airbnb's success also include the popularity of homestay culture in the United States, Japan and Taiwan Province Province of China, the relatively perfect infrastructure in Europe and America, the relatively good quality of landlords, and the low cost of educating potential landlords. In China, the only offline place that meets the travel and holiday market, short rent may only have farmhouse music.

In addition, China people believe in relatively conservative Confucian culture, and home is a relatively private space for most people. Compared with Americans who advocate independence and heroism, China people are more family-centered. In the eyes of most parents, career success and personal ideals are as important as family harmony and happiness, and home represents a sense of self-belonging. Our generation grew up in this culture. Although the society is progressing, how many people in China are willing to rent their houses to a stranger in their spare time?

Need surface

After reading the supply-side problems, let's look at the dilemma of the demand side. For tourists in China, there are always two major problems: price and habit.

Price problem

For foreign tourists, Airbnb means good quality and low price. Take new york as an example. If you stay near Manhattan in new york at night, the price of an ordinary hotel is at least 100- 150 USD/night. Cheap hotels are generally in the suburbs, even in neighboring New Jersey. Choosing Airbnb for short-term sharing can cost half the price of a city hotel, and living near the city center can save money for tourists and go out at night.

However, in the center of big cities in China, budget hotel chains abound, and the price is generally 200-300 yuan. If you book with Qunar, Ctrip and other apps, 100 yuan can stay for one night. Airbnb has no price advantage for tourists in China.

Habit problem

I read an article about tourists' market survey before, and the question was "If you want to travel to a city for half a month or 1 month, how can you solve the accommodation problem?" The answer of most people in China is to find a hotel directly, and some people stay with relatives and friends. According to the survey, most domestic tourists hardly have the concept of staying in short rent. Low domestic prices will arouse tourists' disgust, and low prices also need to mean dirty and unsafe.

From the above analysis of the supply and demand of "landlords" and tourists, we can easily find the reasons why Airbnb is not acclimatized in China. However, in the long run, Airbnb's * * * mode of enjoying economic housing is not a dead end in China, but it just can't be copied mechanically like Uber, ignoring the cultural, economic and political differences between China and the United States.