Airbnb could cooperate with Chinese rival

Airbnb is in talks with Chinese home-sharing company Xiaozhu, regarding a potential collaboration.

The state-run China Daily reported Chen Chi, CEO of Xiaozhu, as saying that the two companies are discussing several areas of cooperation, including data and resource sharing.

The move comes as the Chinese company seeks to establish a presence in international markets including Japan, South Korea and other Asian countries.

“Different from the car-hailing sector, where Chinese player Didi Chuxing competed fiercely against its US rival Uber… we are more willing to cooperate with each other to grow the industry,” Chen told China Daily in an interview. He denied however, that Airbnb could acquire Xiaozhu.

“We want to operate independently. After all, the Chinese market is so huge and we want to get deeply involved in the industry and come up with new innovations,” Chen said.

Xiaozhu, which has about 150,000 accommodation listings across China In November, raised US$65 million in its most recent fundraising drive. It has already started to expand in Japan, with approximately 1,000 listings in the country at present.

Airbnb recently revealed significant plans to target the Chinese market. Last month it revealed its new Chinese name, “Aibiying”, and plans to double its investment in the country and triple its local workforce. Last year the company doubled its accommodation listings in the country to 80,000.