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Is Airbnb's CEO running for president of the world?
Like Mark Zuckerberg, Brian Chesky will embark on a tour to meet the people who use his service. While Zuckerberg's 2017 tour was domestic, renewing rumors of his political aspirations, Chesky's will be international.
Chesky will travel to six cities over the next two weeks to meet Airbnb hosts in different parts of the world. Chesky announced the project at his first stop, which didn't exactly require going too far — a meeting with San Francisco Airbnb hosts at the company's headquarters.
Chesky will stop in London, New York, Cape Town, New Delhi, Beijing and Shanghai, an Airbnb spokesperson said. Airbnb is under a lot of pressure in New York, where lawmakers are trying to counter Airbnb's growth in the city. Meanwhile, the home-rental company is growing fast in China.
Airbnb hosts listings in more than 65,000 cities in more than 190 countries, so quite a few cities didn't make the cut for the two-week trip.
The CEO will also add "head of community" to his title, and promised to invite Airbnb hosts to one board meeting a year, offer quarterly live chats with hosts from different parts of the world, expand a host advisory council and create 1,000 host clubs. Those clubs have so far been used by hosts to exchange tips and organize in cities where anti-Airbnb sentiment prompts it.
The company has been trying to build a more supportive base of users, since customers who stay in Airbnbs aren't exactly too helpful when it comes time to lobby legislators who only care about their own constituents.
Time for vacation!
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