Screenshot of Airbnb’s website homepage

INTERNATIONAL news media have descended upon Airbnb this week as the largest short-term accommodations rental company in the world contends with mounting accusations of racial discrimination, pending regulatory impasse and a legal suit.

As the sharing economy platform continues to grow globally, segments of the travel community have begun to take issue with the way its business is being conducted. Most recently, Airbnb was forced to take action to address a public outcry of racial discrimination levied against them.

It first started when US citizen Gregory Selden sued the San Francisco-based company after a host supposedly rejected his reservation request because he is black. After futile attempts to address his frustrations with an Airbnb employee, the man then aired his complaints on social media with a hashtag #AirbnbWhileBlack, which has now become viral.

Selden’s case is one of many in recent months. Besides members of the public, government officials and even a Harvard Business School research have pointed out how sharing economy providers like Airbnb have allowed racial discrimination to fester unchecked.

While racist behaviours were conducted by third-party hosts, arguments have pointed out that Airbnb should still be obligated for the treatment of guests, especially since the platform holds vetting powers and the authority to ban users.

Airbnb is not resting on its laurels this time however, with a meeting set to be held today in Washington D.C. to address these allegations of racism. Its CEO Brian Chesky had also recently voiced his concerns, saying he hopes to find a solution, whether by a redesign of the website or via technology.

Meanwhile, other problems have beset the company, such as a lawsuit filed this week by a charitable foundation representing the legacy of celebrity chef Julia Child.

The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts is seeking redress after Airbnb used the celebrity’s name without consent for commercial purposes. Even after the non-profit told Airbnb that the Julia Child endorsement cannot be used, the company went ahead to run a contest online promoting how participants can possibly win a free stay at the celebrity’s former home.

Airbnb’s problems are, of course, not isolated to the company and are tied to the sharing economy at large, which is facing a gamut of policy issues as governments figure out how best to regulate the emerging industry.

Over in Asia, Airbnb is also fighting battles with associations and local tour operators for various issues, including the legality of their operations and growing concerns over safetyand security.

In Thailand, where the private home rental market is prevalent, agents are also lamenting over the inconveniences posed by not having a central accommodations operator to contact in cases of emergency.

Airbnb was contacted for comment but did not respond as of press time.

Screenshot of Wanghongs.net

A NEW B2B platform, Wanghongs.net, has recently stepped out of its home market of South Korea and aims to more efficiently connect brands around the world with China’s biggest social media influencers.

While companies usually approach public relations agencies for such services, a big differentiating factor lies in the technology used by Wanghongs.net, which uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to help clients determine the right influencer to maximise their outreach effectiveness.

Essentially, the web-based platform offers intelligent matchups based on their algorithm and evolving data, explained Jungwook Son, co-founder and CTO of Wanghongs.net.

While the platform does cater to brands of all kinds, almost 90 per cent of clients have been travel brands like airlines and hotels “paying big money” to utilise the platform, revealed Son.

Their advantage also lies in being able to connect their platform with Chinese social media APIs such as Weibo, a difficult feat, as unlike American companies like Facebook and Twitter, their APIs are not publicly accessible.

“We have to pay roughly US$10,000 to contract with Weibo in order to use their APIs,” he said.

It has been about a year since Wanghongs.net was first developed in South Korea, where it garnered clients the likes of Yanolja (South Korea’s Airbnb), Korean Air and Korea Tourism Organization (KTO).

KTO, arguably their biggest client to date, engaged Wanghongs.net to boost awareness of its Korea Grand Sale event.

Commenting on the success of that project, Kei Chun, co-founder and CEO of Wanghongs.net, said: “KTO wanted to make shopping a major attraction for travellers and we worked with them to bring their content onto Chinese social media. Within 2.5 months, we got 71 million reach in China on Weibo and 1.8 million online coupon sales.”

The coupons allow for discounted shopping at over 1,000 duty free shops in South Korea.

When asked how they make money out of the technology, Chun said: “Basically the business model is when clients pay for advertisements with the influencers, we get some of that. We also charge for analytics for clients to gain insight into their content.”

The two founders have further plans to spread the word of their product at trade shows, while at the same time rely on the name of their platform, Wanghongs, which they say is a naturally hot keyword for search, thus boosting their organic online reach.

VISA Malaysia and Mitra Kembara, a Malaysian travel agency, recently launched a travel platform, exclusively for Visa credit and debit cardholders, to provide tours and services for Halal travellers.

“With the launch, we can now focus on promoting travel-related products catered specifically for Muslim travellers in Malaysia and around the world,” said Ng Kong Boon, Malaysia country manager at Visa.

“We are particularly glad to be partnering with Mitra Kembara, one of the largest bumiputra travel agencies to provide such benefits.”

President of Mitra group, Tunku Iskandar, said the partnership with Visa means cardholders will also be entitled to special discounts on some products.

He added: “This includes an exclusive Umrah plus Ziarah package and Muslim-friendly and Shariah-compliant tours to Australia, India and Uzbekistan as well as, in the future, to Japan, South Korea, Macau and other destinations.”