Airbnb is in talks to acquire China’s Xiaozhu.com to expand in the nation’s home rental sharing market, according to a Bloomberg report.
While Airbnb is the biggest platform for people to rent their homes to travelers globally, it’s grappling with more established local rivals Xiaozhu and Tujia.com in China.
China’s online holiday rental market could reach RMB 10.3 billion (USD 1.5 billion) in transaction volume by 2017, up from an estimated RMB 6.78 billion this year, according to IResearch.
Xiaozhu would give Airbnb an instant boost in the world’s second largest economy. The Chinese startup, which was founded in 2012, this month said it raised USD 65 million of new funding.
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