Airbnb開始了在中國的新一輪推廣，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后的服務平臺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。

對于優(yōu)步未能成為中國頂尖品牌的探討似乎表明，中國市場并不以青睞自我感覺良好的美國初創(chuàng)公司而聞名，并且已經(jīng)擠滿了競爭對手，AirBnb在這里的機會很小。

但這種觀點過于尖刻。和拼車不同，快速增長的中國旅游市場或許可以容納多家公司，甚至是AirBnb這樣的外國“獨角獸”。

目前中國民宿市場很小，處于主導位置的是小豬短租和途家網(wǎng)等國內(nèi)企業(yè)，出租房屋超過40萬間。AirBnb稱，去年它在中國提供的出租房屋數(shù)量翻了一番，只是總數(shù)僅為8萬間。然而，那些以中國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(yè)，在190多個國家和地區(qū)提供300萬間出租房屋。

這對AirBnb的擴張來說很重要。要想在中國市場取得成功，AirBnb最需要的并不是囤積眾多房屋，而是積累眾多通過它的服務到海外旅游的中國用戶。

據(jù)中國國家旅游局介紹，去年中國的出境游人數(shù)為1.2億人次。如果“愛彼迎”這個名字可以在中國引起共鳴，該公司就能迎來大量中國游客，特別是年輕人，他們不想像父輩那樣通過旅游大巴窗戶來看這個世界。AirBnb稱，該公司80%的中國用戶都在35歲以下，是所有國家中最年輕的用戶群體。去年中國用戶使用AirBnb服務的次數(shù)上升了146%。

這正是AirBnb首席執(zhí)行官布萊恩·切斯基下大力氣在上海推出新Trips平臺的原因之一。訪問者可以在這個平臺上預訂真正的當?shù)伢w驗，比如參觀昆曲表演的后臺或者有4000年歷史的捏面人手工藝。如果AirBnb堅持在中國的推廣策略，并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，后者則可以通過AirBnb來籌劃類似的意大利或美國“探險”。

AirBnb聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人喬?杰比亞對彭博社表示：“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?shù)剡M行體驗。想到中國的80、90后開始有了收入就讓人無比激動?！?/p>

國內(nèi)民宿服務龍頭的主導位置可能也會帶來誤導。途家網(wǎng)提供45萬出租房屋，但這掩蓋了中國人對民宿的懷疑態(tài)度。去年，途家網(wǎng)表示已將1萬間房屋納入自行管理范疇，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，不應僅僅由于AirBnb只提供8萬間房屋，或者該公司發(fā)展緩慢而對它持懷疑態(tài)度。CEO切斯基說，中國市場的重要性真的已經(jīng)高于兩年之前?，F(xiàn)在該公司終于開始把這句話付諸于行動。但AirBnb在中國盤算和優(yōu)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、富裕的潛在出境游客。AirBnb以不對稱的方式和對手競爭，優(yōu)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(wǎng)等中國同行是AirBnb的對手，那么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游前把這些用戶抓在手里。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

作者：Scott Cendrowski

譯者：Charlie

審稿：夏林

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.