No Vacancy: Woke Airbnb to Close Business in China Due to Fierce Competition

Lodging rental company Airbnb, which has been a stalwart supporter of Communist China and a sponsor of the Genocide Games, is reportedly set to close its business in China, according to multiple sources. The woke Silicon Valley giant was already facing fierce competition from local companies, and its business has reportedly become more difficult to run during the coronavirus pandemic.

CNBC reports that online lodging rental company Airbnb plans to shut down its domestic business in China as early as this week, according to two sources. All mainland Chinese listings will reportedly be taken down by this summer.

(Photo by LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP via Getty Images)

The company launched its business in mainland China in 2016 and has since faced heavy competition from domestic rivals. According to sources, the market segment was already expensive and complex to operate within, but the pandemic worsened issues significantly.

Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk has helmed efforts to promote the business in China, but despite this push, bookings in China on the platform only account for around one percent of revenue in recent years.

Chinese outbound travel has reportedly been a bigger opportunity for Airbnb according to sources, and the company plans to refocus on providing listings for Chinese travelers going abroad. According to one source, the overlap between Airbnb’s outbound and domestic businesses was not strong. Another source alleged that Airbnb still plans to maintain an office in Beijing where it will employ hundreds.

Airbnb shares have fallen in value by more than 30 percent this year, affected by a broader selloff in tech stocks. However, Airbnb shares are still trading well above their 2020 IPO price of $68.

Breitbart News previously reported on Airbnb’s efforts to gain loyalty in China, including offering over a dozen homes for rent in the Xinjiang region of China where many Uyghur Muslims have been forced from their homes into concentration camps and sold to both Chinese and foreign corporations as slaves. The company was a major sponsor of the Genocide Games as well.

In 2019, Sean Joyce, the former chief trust officer at Airbnb, resigned from his position over concerns about the company sharing user data in China. Joyce alleged that the company shared data with the Chinese government without user consent.

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