Airbnb shutters Beijing rentals this month 爱彼迎本月将暂时关闭北京房源
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U.S. short-term rental service Airbnb Inc has removed listings in Beijing as the capital prepares to host Party Congress this month, the most important event on China’s political calendar during which security is at its highest.
A search on Wednesday of Airbnb listings in the city’s center yielded “zero” results for all of October. Listings were present as recently as Tuesday evening for periods including the congress dates of October 18 to 31.
“Due to external circumstances, homes in certain areas in Beijing are unavailable through October 31,” Airbnb said in an email.
“EXTERNAL CIRCUMSTANCES”
Four Airbnb hosts in the capital said they had received notices from the U.S. firm late on Tuesday, which said properties in certain areas of the city would be removed from its website until the end of the month due to “external circumstances”.
“Similar to action taken by other hospitality companies, Airbnb listings in certain areas in Beijing will be temporarily unavailable throughout October,” said the company in a statement.
Short-term rentals were also unavailable during the same period via local services Xiaozhu.com and Tujia.com. Neither firm responded to requests for comment.
爱彼迎本月将暂时关闭北京房源
全球最大住宿共享平台爱彼迎(Airbnb)取消了10月剩下时间北京市中心的房源预定。
爱彼迎在没有给出任何解释的情况下表示，截至11月初，北京市六环路以内的房源将无法预定。这意味着，天安门广场方圆20公里以内的所有预定都被取消。
根据爱彼迎网站的数据，本月剩余时间该网站在北京的可预订房源只剩下1%。房东周二收到了短信通知。
“其他平台也采取了类似的措施，整个10月爱彼迎在北京部分地区的房源将暂时关闭，”爱彼迎表示，“在这段时期预定的客人将获得全额退款。”
北京2100万居民中，超过四分之三生活在六环路以内。
途家(Tujia)也证实，“截至11月初的北京大部分房源已无法预定”。
在10月剩下时间里，小猪短租(Xiaozhu)的平台上也没有了北京市中心以内的房源。