Airbnb’s Voyage Into Asia (Startup Asia Preview)

Ole Ruch’s on the right. via flickr.com

Airbnb is one of my favorite startups out of the Silicon Valley because I think it’s one of the leaders in collaborative consumption and is disrupting the foundations of many economies across the world. Airbnb, of course, disrupts the hotel industry.

In terms of Asia, Airbnb has been getting more serious as of late last year. With a new office in Australia and plans for offices in Thailand and Indonesia, that makes for Airbnb’s 11th office and a serious move into the world’s biggest continent. It has helped over four million people book rooms worldwide and is now valued at $2 billion.

According to The Next Web, Asia bookings have quadrupled in the past year. The site currently hosts over 20,000 locations across Asia. Opening an office, of course, allows them to better manage customer service and focus more on growing their numbers of hosts and guests.

Why am I telling you about this awesome company? We’re getting an exclusive interview onstage with Ole Ruch, the managing director at Airbnb Asia-Pacific and northern Europe on April 5th – that’s during the second day of our upcoming Startup Asia Singapore conference. In fact, it’ll be me interviewing. I’ll be covering Airbnb’s path into Asia.

In terms of competitors, Ibilik, Roomorama, and Travelmob are already here in Asia, but there have been no hints to acquire them like the acquisition of Crashpadder in the UK. We’ll be covering that growth and more at Startup Asia, so come join me and Ole Ruch as we take a closer look at Airbnb’s Asian dreams.

And of course, don’t miss any of the other speakers at Startup Asia Singapore 2013 either. That list includes:

• Sirgoo Lee (CEO at Kakao Corporation)
• Steve Melhuish (co-founder at PropertyGuru)
• Stefan Jung (Co-Founder and Managing Director SEA, Rocket Internet)
• Daphne Lee (international business director at Taobao)
• Darius Cheung (co-founder at BillPin)
• Evan Spytma (Regional Director at Popcap Games)

If you haven’t grabbed your tickets, do so today. We will see you at Startup Asia Singapore on April 4 and 5.