Home-sharing startup Xiaozhu to launch new verification tech

December 31, 2018

There's a home-sharing site that is planning on releasing face-scan technology for check-ins for 80% of its listings in Chengdu city, China.

China's version of Airbnb, Xiaozhu, is stepping up its game by introducing facial recognition-enabled smart door locks in lieu of the more traditional forms of verification. This identifies the tenants as part of a larger effort to increase safety and security within the country's growing home-sharing industry.

The six-year-old company, which runs one of China’s biggest home-sharing sites, said on Monday it plans to install facial recognition-enabled door locks in 80 per cent of its listings in southwest China’s Chengdu city, its second largest market by revenue, over the next year.

Apart from wider adoption of “face-scan check-in” to verify user’s identities, Xiaozhu announced other measures to upgrade safety and security, including equipping more apartments with smoke detectors, gas alarms and burglar alarms. It is also setting up a blacklist of tenants who misbehave during their stay at hosts’ homes.

“Years ago, what we worried about the most was that people didn’t want to share their homes with strangers. Now, home-sharing has become an industry so we need to do more to address the concerns of all parties involved,” said Kelvin Chen Chi, chief executive of the Beijing-based Xiaozhu.

Read more here

Join us in Bangkok the 19th to the 21st of March for the Property Portal Watch Conference.

Property Portal Watch Bangkok Conference. Mar 19-21, 2019

December 31, 2018

Subscribe to our mailing list to get the famous, free Friday newsletter!

News and analysis to help build better online marketplace businesses, in your inbox, every Friday

Related News

Product Update July4
Product and Services Roundup: Cian, DomClick, Kleinanzeigen, Rightmove, iMyanmarHouse

We'll kick off this week's Product and Services Roundup with some nifty tools coming out of two Russian portals...  ...

Read More
People Roundup 4July 1
People Roundup: REA India, Lifull, REA Group, Rightmove

This week's People Roundup starts with a major C-Suite appointment in India...   Asia: REA India confirms new CEO appointment...

Read More
BCG Generic 2
Baltic Classifieds Group Sees 15% Revenue Growth in Yearly Results

The online classifieds operator Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) has reported 15% revenue growth for the 12 months ended April 30th....

Read More
redfinrocketacq 3
Rocket Companies Completes $1.8Bn Redfin Acquisition

Rocket Companies has finalized its acquisition of Redfin for a reported $1.8 billion, consolidating the most-trafficked brokerage site with the...

Read More

Editor's Pick