A number of businesses are hoping to cash in on India’s growing online consumer base. Online accommodation aggregator Airbnb is one such player, which is seeing huge uptake in its India operations. BusinessLine met with Amanpreet Bajaj, Country Manager, Airbnb India, and Mike Orgill, Director of Public Policy - Asia Pacific, Airbnb, to know how the company is planning to leverage the India opportunity.

How has the journey so far been in the Indian market?

Bajaj: We have had a great momentum built up in India. The community in India has grown organically with people sharing their experiences with each other while travelling abroad. Over the past two years, the business has seen tremendous growth. Now, we have over 20,000 listings across 100 cities in India, and this number is growing 125 per cent year-on-year and this growth is coming from across Tier I, II and III cities. Over the last year, we have signed few MoUs with some State governments to help build the ecosystem around homestays and alternative stays in the country.

How are these MoUs helping?

Bajaj: When we notice momentum in a particular State, say for example Maharsahtra, where we have over 3,000 listings, we want to share our global best practices with the State Tourism Department. The States have also responded in a positive way because they also want to understand what is the best way to make homestays organised. We are looking at different kind of opportunities in different States. We have three MoUs as of now.

How do you address issues around trust and safety?

Bajaj: Trust and safety is critical to our business globally and we have built tools across the world that are available to both our guests and hosts in India, too. We have a robust review system and also online verification process including Aadhaar card; we also do multiple levels of background checks involving social profiles.

Orgill: We also take strict action against both hosts and guests that includes blacklisting them on the site if they breach our trust and safety standards. We also have a million-dollar guarantee programme to compensate the host for damages to their property caused by guests.

We are living in a highly polarised world. Is that impacting your business?

Orgill: This has come up in a few jurisdictions and recently in the US where there were circumstances related to discrimination. We came out very strongly against that and have a zero-tolerance policy towards such instances. Airbnb is a platform that helps people understand different cultures, race etc.

Internationally, hotel associations are complaining about platforms like Airbnb, regarding non payment of taxes, regulations, etc. How is the scenario in India?

Bajaj: Honestly, our community wants to pay its share of taxes. In fact, the GST will bring that equality.

Orgill: On the regulation front, there is nothing like a one-size-fits-all solution; every market has its own rules and regulations. Even in one country, different States have different rules. We work with different governments and provide them with learnings from across the world and ask them if they want to use those best practices.

In Asia Pacific, is India a difficult market, especially when it comes to getting the right policy?

Orgill: You will be surprised that it is not a uniquely Indian problem. It has happened in the US, too, where we are asked questions like what is a homestay or why would people want to stay in somebody else’s house, and many more such questions. So such issues exist far beyond India.

Are more people opting for homestays?

Bajaj: We clearly see that a lot of people want to have real authentic experiences while travelling. They are moving away from the traditional, old way of travelling. We are creating more choices for people.

Around 230 million millenials are travelling more now and are looking for more experiences, and this is creating a momentum. So everybody should be happy about the overall growth of travel. Every segment, be it domestic travel, air, international — they are all growing. So this is great news. Also Airbnb is not a substitute for a hotel. In fact, the overall growth in travelling has outpaced the growth of hotels.

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