{"id":12378,"date":"2014-05-28T10:26:04","date_gmt":"2014-05-28T02:26:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=12378"},"modified":"2014-05-28T10:28:31","modified_gmt":"2014-05-28T02:28:31","slug":"airbnb-providing-budget-lodging-solutions-promoting-local-culture-and-hospitality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/05\/28\/airbnb-providing-budget-lodging-solutions-promoting-local-culture-and-hospitality\/","title":{"rendered":"Airbnb: providing budget lodging solutions, promoting local culture and hospitality"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"Airbnb<\/a>
Airbnb logo (Wikipedia photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA, Philippines \u2013 With over over 500,000 listings in 33,000 cities in 192 countries all over the world, home and apartment rental site Airbnb is definitely making it easier for travelers on a budget to find a place to stay.<\/p>\n

But not only does Airbnb provide cost-friendly alternative lodging in cities around the globe, the company also strives to promote these cities and the hospitality of its people.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we set up our [Southeast Asia] office, it\u2019s really much more about people getting here, it\u2019s about showcasing Southeast Asia and Philippine hospitality to the rest of the world,\u201d Jia Jih Chai, head of Airbnb’s Southeast Asia and India operations, said in an interview on ANC\u2019s \u201cInside Business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chai explained that renting out at a home, a bedroom, or an apartment unit in a foreign city allows travelers to have a unique experience they won\u2019t find when staying at a hotel..<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives a real flavor of what the place actually is. It\u2019s one thing to be in a city and say, \u2018<\/p>\n

“Everything is great, this is Manila,\u2019 but actually staying in an apartment you\u2019ll feel how it is to part of Manila,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The opportunity offers the hosts, on the other hand, a chance to showcase their \u201cpersonal touch\u201d of hospitality, while earning from the rental.<\/p>\n

At last week\u2019s World Economic Forum on East Asia, Chai said that most of the hosts in Asia \u201cgo the extra mile\u201d to give tourists a pleasurable experinece.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy last two stays in Manila, the last host actually baked me dinner cookies, had a handwritten note that said, \u2018Welcome to the Philippines,\u2019\u201d Chai shared.<\/p>\n

He likewise added that for the World Economic Forum, he – as well as some of the forum\u2019s participants \u2013 chose to use the Airbnb service instead of booking at the prominent hotel in which the forum was held.<\/p>\n

Chai pointed out, however, that the service isn’t mainstream, and possibly caters more to the \u201ccreative class\u201d on a visit to a city for the experience rather than business purposes.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost businessmen on travel have very specific needs, like checking in at a certain time and so on. There\u2019s a class of business people who will use Airbnb, particularly around the creative class\u2014freelance photographers and writers, the creative people who can be everywhere around the world. They draw inspiration when they travel on Airbnb,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Although Airbnb has been criticized for disrupting the traditional lodging industry, Chai believes that Airbnb and other services like it target a different market. He noted that hotel occupancy rates \u201care high as ever,\u201d and clarified that \u201cthe segment that we target is quite different [from hotels].\u201d<\/p>\n

Chai highlighted the trend among more and more Asian travelers for \u201cindependent traveling,\u201d which means booking a trip without organized tours or travel agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the trend that are seeing right now and we are benefiting from that because people are saying, \u2018Hey, we don\u2019t need to sign up and have a fixed time, I can just do my own travel, book a budget airline, and use Airbnb or other apps to find places to stay,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The company forecasts a 200 percent to 300 percent yearly growth in number of Airbnb travelers in the Philippines, according to Chai.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  MANILA, Philippines \u2013 With over over 500,000 listings in 33,000 cities in 192 countries all over the world, home …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":12381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[4175,4174,631,4177,4176,2558,4179,4178,4180,337,4090],"class_list":["post-12378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-travel","tag-accommodations","tag-airbnb","tag-budget","tag-cheap","tag-cost-saving","tag-hotel","tag-lodging","tag-stay","tag-tour","tag-travel-2","tag-vacation","mauthors-angie-duarte","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}