Tujia.com, which is often dubbed the AirBNB of China, announced Wednesday that it has entered into a strategic agreement with Ctrip and Qunar to merge vocation home rental businesses of the two Chinese online travel services. It represents another strategic move by Tujia after its purchase of the short-term rental platform Mayi.com this June.
Through this acquisition, the homestay channels of both Ctrip and Qunar’s web sites and Apps, along with their operation teams and the entire business will be merged into Tujia, according to the company. Upon the completion of the deal, Tujia will receive a wide range of benefits from Ctrip and Qunar, including inventory, traffic, branding and operations support.
Justin Luo, co-founder and CEO of the company, said that the company would focus on the fusion of the various online brands in the future, unify the management of inventory, improve the whole industrial chain. Any possible future merger will be considered in the context of completing the ecosystem and industry chain, he added.
After five years of development, Tujia has become a leading accommodation sharing platform in China, delivering integrated solutions to guests, real estate developers and individual hosts. Tujia has expanded its overseas business with offices operating in Japan, South Korea, Singapore and the Taiwan region.
Justin Luo also announced Tujia’s launch of its next five-year plan, which will focus on two dimensions – continuing to build the ecosystem and set apart Tujia’s online and offline businesses.
Like on-demand and O2O sectors, Chinese tech startup scene has recorded a continuing spate of consolidations partly because China’s accommodation sharing economy is moving into growth state, partly to the fact that startups needs to consolidate their positions in a more risk-averse investment environment.
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