【Watch Soul Online】

Airbnb is Watch Soul Onlinemaking a big play for China.

Not only is the home-rental company doubling investments in the country and tripling its local workforce -- it's also got a new name to match.

SEE ALSO: Airbnb continues to push Trips into more Asian countries

Airbnb's Chinese name is Aibiying, meaning to "welcome each other with love."

The company also announced on Tuesday it's bringing Trips to Shanghai.

Trips is an Airbnb feature which allows users to find and book local tours and activities while on holiday. It has recently launched in several Asian cities including Delhi, Singapore and Bangkok.

Some of the activities in Shanghai include dough sculpturing and local cooking classes.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"Overall response has been good so far, even friends of mine are asking if they can sign up!" says Vivian Wong, a Shanghai-based host who is offering an Experience in modern Chinese cooking.

"We are frequent Airbnb users, and...while I am not able to share my accommodation, I was really looking forward to [sharing] my slice of Shanghai with travellers."

But she tells Mashable that Airbnb might still take some time to catch on in China.

Mashable Trend Report Decode what’s viral, what’s next, and what it all means. Sign up for Mashable’s weekly Trend Report newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

"Chinese consumers are still big supporters of traditional accommodation. However the younger generation which are more tech-savvy and bilingual, are definitely more receptive to this concept."

One word: Millennials

Airbnb currently has some 80,000 listings in China, which have hosted some 1.6 million guests.

More than 8 percent of Airbnb's users in China are aged under 35 -- its biggest proportion of millennials globally.

"There's a whole new generation of Chinese travelers who want to see the world in a different way," Brian Chesky, CEO and co-founder of Airbnb said in a statement.

Minimum usage fee is £35 Mandatory Credit: Photo by Cultura/REX/Shutterstock (4820324a) MODEL RELEASED, Tourist couple strolling, The Bund, Shanghai, China VARIOUS Credit: Cultura/REX/Shutterstock

"We hope that Aibiying and our Trips product strikes a chord with them."

And the company is making sure that their product reaches Chinese customers.

It's started to offer popular local payment methods such as Alipay, while letting Chinese users sign up via their WeChat IDs.

And it's no wonder why they're trying so hard -- there are already platforms in China that offer services similar to Airbnb's.

"When Airbnb launched Trips last year, we laughed."

Zhu Bai Jia, a Shenzhen based-start up, not only offers short-term rentals but helps guests plan entire trips, with hosts often acting as part-time tour guides.

"When Airbnb launched Trips last year, we laughed," said the spokesperson of Zhu Bai Jia, according to news outlet SCMP.

“The joke in our sector is that ‘China used to copy Silicon Valley, but now it is Silicon Valley that copies China."

---

Featured Video For You

---

Airbnb Host Rents Rooms From His Apartment, Landlord Gives Him Restraining Order

---

• Shopping
• Science
• Entertainment
• Tech
• Games
• Digital Culture
• Life
• Social Good

• How to quit social media: This Gen Z
• Speculative Tax Fraud: Reading John Hersey’s White Lotus by Matthew Shen Goodman
• Corpsing: On Sex, Death, and Inappropriate Laughter by Nuar Alsadir
• The Other Side of Pleasure: On Leonard Cohen by Daniel Poppick
• Trump's foreign aid freeze halts funding for digital diplomacy bureau
• Best sex toy deals (June 2025)
• Snapchat+ is reportedly introducing an AI Bitmoji pet
• On Prince, Volcanologists, and Forsythe’s Ballets by The Paris Review
• Trump's foreign aid freeze halts funding for digital diplomacy bureau
• On Hannah Black’s Pandemic Novella, Barthelme, and Pessoa by The Paris Review

• China raises threshold on tax
• Amazon appears to retaliate against employee climate change activists
• Shutting down coal plants saved 26,610 American lives over a decade
• Get $60 off eero mesh routers at Amazon
• Subsidiary of New Oriental saw stock price slide nearly 20% after livestream dispute · TechNode
• OpenAI down: 'Too many concurrent requests' ChatGPT error message explained
• How to connect AirPods on Xbox
• Squarespace to go private in $6.9 billion takeover
• Chinese bubble tea chain Heytea enters America · TechNode
• How to connect your AirPods to a computer or laptop

• 11 Tech Products That Were Supposed to Fail... But Didn't
• Netflix is axing its 'Basic' ad
• On Cary Grant, Darryl Pinckney, and Whit Stillman by The Paris Review
• How to check CPU temp
• Best GPU deal: Get the MSI RTX 5080 for $1,249.99 at Best Buy
• For the Record, the Review Has Not Abolished Fiction by The Paris Review
• Netflix is axing its 'Basic' ad
• A Laborer Called a Writer: On Leonard Cohen by Carina del Valle Schorske
• The Best CPU & GPU Purchases of 2017
• Why Write? by Elisa Gabbert

• Wordle today: The answer and hints for January 28, 2025
• Cooking with Dante Alighieri by Valerie Stivers
• Cooking with Cyrano de Bergerac by Valerie Stivers
• Netflix is axing its 'Basic' ad
• GPU Availability and Pricing Update: April 2022
• Bill Gates and group of tech heavyweights announce $1 billion clean energy fund
• How to check CPU temp
• Rick Perry vowed to scrap the Energy Department. Now he may lead it.
• Dallas Mavericks vs. Boston Celtics 2025 livestream: Watch NBA online
• Cambridge Diary, 2014 by J. D. Daniels