Home-sharing platform Airbnb needs to “localize” its platform if it is going to be successful in China, according to Tao Peng, president of Airbnb China.
The San Francisco-headquartered tech firm, which is set to IPO next year, has built a customized app in China and rebranded itself to “Aibiying” as part of an effort to appeal to more Chinese consumers.
“Eastern culture is very different from Western culture,” Peng said Tuesday at CNBC’s East Tech West conference in the Nansha district of Guangzhou, China.
“We devote a lot of resources to localize,” he said, adding that Airbnb has more than doubled its headcount in Beijing to 500 staff during 2019.
In order to convince China’s 1.4 billion people to use its platform, Airbnb is trying to ensure that Airbnb China is built by “Chinese engineers for Chinese people,” Peng told CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa.
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