想在中國成功，AirBnb光有中文名還不夠

Airbnb』s new push in China, which includes a cheerful Chinese name that translates into 「 welcome each other with love,」 a travel service aimed at millennials, and a doubling of investments, was instantly compared to another unicorn』s expansion in the East.

Talk of Uber』s failure to build a top brand in China seemed proof that the odds are steep for Airbnb in a market not known for being hospitable to Pollyannish American startups and already crawling with competitors.

But the view is overly harsh. In China』s rapidly growing travel market, unlike ride-sharing, there might be room for several players, even a foreign 「unicorn」 like Airbnb.

Today, domestic startups dominate China』s tiny home-stay market. They include Xiaozhu and Tujia, with more than 400,000 listings. Airbnb says it doubled its China listings last year, though it still ended up with only 80,000. But unlike its China-centric rivals, which haven』t expanded outside China』s borders, Airbnb is truly a global service, offering 3 million homes in more than 190 countries.

And that's what important for Airbnb's expansion. If it is to succeed in China, Airbnb doesn』t need a huge inventory of Chinese homes as much as it does a huge roll of Chinese users who use its service to travel overseas.

One hundred and twenty two million Chinese traveled overseas last year, according to the country』s tourism administration. If Airbnb』s new 「Aibiying」 brand in China resonates, it can cater to that flood of Chinese visitors, especially the young ones who have no interest in seeing the world through tour bus windows of their parents』 generation. Airbnb says 80% of its Chinese users are younger than 35, the youngest base of any country. Chinese guests using its service rose 146% last year.

This is one reason CEO Brian Chesky made such a big deal about launching the fledgling Trips service in Shanghai. Visitors can use it to book authentic local experiences, like going backstage for a Kun Opera or seeing the 4,000-year-old folk art of crafting dough figurines. If Airbnb follows through on its China push by hiring strong local executives, as is promised, it could be the kind of service that draws in young users who then use it to plan similar escapades in Italy or the U.S.

「They don』t want tour buses. They don』t want tour packages. They don』t want tourist areas. Instead they want local experiences,」 Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia told Bloomberg. 「It couldn』t be more exciting to think about this wave of Chinese millennials that are starting to earn incomes now.」

The dominance of China』s home-share leaders can be misleading too. Tujia』s 450,000 home listings hide the fact that Chinese are skeptical of staying in private residences. Last year, Tujia said it had to take 10,000 properties under its own management to give users a guaranteed experience, which suggested that they couldn』t guarantee nice experiences at its other listings.

For this reason, Airbnb』s 80,000 listing shouldn』t be such a reason for skepticism, nor should the company's slow pace. CEO Chesky said China was a serious priority more than two years ago. Now that it』s finally following through on that statement, Airbnb is making a different calculation than Uber did in China. Instead of expanding quickly for everyone, it is appealing to a smaller segment of users—young, well-off, potentially global travelers. It is fighting asymmetrically against rivals, where Uber ended up going head-to-head in a symmetric battle with rising Didi Chuxing. If Tujia and other local competitors are Airbnb』s rivals, it is doing its best to avoid them.

Airbnb wants to capture the millennials who travel differently than their parents. Capturing them in China before they hop overseas is the first step.

Airbnb開始了在的新一輪推廣，其中包括這個歡快的中文名字，含義是「讓愛彼此相迎」，針對80、90后的服務平台以及提高了一倍的投資。人們立即把這些舉動和另一家獨角獸公司在東方市場的擴張進行了對比。

對於優步未能成為頂尖品牌的探討似乎表明，市場並不以青睞自我感覺良好的美國初創公司而聞名，並且已經擠滿了競爭對手，AirBnb在這裡的機會很小。

但這種觀點過於尖刻。和拼車不同，快速增長的旅遊市場或許可以容納多家公司，甚至是AirBnb這樣的外國「獨角獸」。

目前民宿市場很小，處於主導位置的是小豬短租和途家網等國內企業，出租房屋超過40萬間。AirBnb稱，去年它在提供的出租房屋數量翻了一番，只是總數僅為8萬間。然而，那些以市場為核心的競爭對手尚未跨出國門，和它們不同的是，AirBnb是一家實實在在的全球性企業，在190多個國家和地區提供300萬間出租房屋。

這對AirBnb的擴張來說很重要。要想在市場取得成功，AirBnb最需要的並不是囤積眾多房屋，而是積累眾多通過它的服務到海外旅遊的用戶。

據國家旅遊局介紹，去年的出境遊人數為1.2億人次。如果「愛彼迎」這個名字可以在引起共鳴，該公司就能迎來大量遊客，特別是年輕人，他們不想像父輩那樣通過旅遊大巴窗戶來看這個世界。AirBnb稱，該公司80%的用戶都在35歲以下，是所有國家中最年輕的用戶群體。去年用戶使用AirBnb服務的次數上升了146%。

這正是AirBnb首席執行官布萊恩·切斯基下大力氣在上海推出新Trips平台的原因之一。訪問者可以在這個平台上預訂真正的當地體驗，比如參觀崑曲表演的後台或者有4000年歷史的捏麵人手工藝。如果AirBnb堅持在的推廣策略，並像此前所說的那樣聘請強有力的本地高管，它的服務就有可能吸引年輕用戶，後者則可以通過AirBnb來籌劃類似的義大利或美國「探險」。

AirBnb聯合創始人喬•傑比亞對彭博社表示：「他們不想坐大巴旅行，不想跟團，也不想去景點。相反，他們希望在當地進行體驗。想到的80、90后開始有了收入就讓人無比激動。」

國內民宿服務龍頭的主導位置可能也會帶來誤導。途家網提供45萬出租房屋，但這掩蓋了人對民宿的懷疑態度。去年，途家網表示已將1萬間房屋納入自行管理範疇，以便為用戶提供有保障的體驗。也就是說，他們不能保證其他出租房屋可以帶來理想的體驗。

因此，不應僅僅由於AirBnb只提供8萬間房屋，或者該公司發展緩慢而對它持懷疑態度。CEO切斯基說，市場的重要性真的已經高於兩年之前。現在該公司終於開始把這句話付諸於行動。但AirBnb在盤算和優步不同，它沒有面向所有人進行迅速擴張，而是針對一個較小的群體，也就是年輕、富裕的潛在出境遊客。AirBnb以不對稱的方式和對手競爭，優步則是和正在崛起的滴滴出行展開了勢均力敵的正面對抗。如果說途家網等同行是AirBnb的對手，那麼AirBnb正在竭盡全力地避開它們。

AirBnb希望吸引和父輩旅行方式不同的80、90后，而第一步就是在他們到海外旅遊前把這些用戶抓在手裡。（財富中文網）

作者：Scott Cendrowski

譯者：Charlie

審稿：夏林