에어비앤비는 당신의 정보를 중국당국에 넘기기로 했다

30일 홍콩 사우스차이나모닝포스트(SCMP)에 따르면 에어비앤비는 숙소 주인(호스트)들에게 보낸 통지에서 이날부터 숙소 이용자들의 여권과 예약 날짜 등 정보를 중국 당국에 제공할 것이라고 밝혔다.
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에어비앤비는 "중국에서 운영되는 모든 사업체처럼 에어비앤비 중국법인도 현지 법과 규정을 준수해야 한다"며 "우리가 수집하는 정보는 중국 내 호텔들이 수십 년간 수집한 정보와 유사하다"고 설명했다. 이전에는 투숙객의 여권 등 정보를 당국에 제공하는 것이 숙소 주인들의 책임이었다.

중국에서 현지인 숙소에 머무는 외국인은 도착 후 72시간 내 임시 주숙등기(住宿登记)증을 여권이나 신분증과 함께 현지 공안에 제출해야 한다. 도시에서는 24시간 내 주숙등기를 해야 한다.

중국인도 호텔에 묵을 경우 프런트를 통해 주숙등기를 해야 한다.

IDC 차이나의 키티 포크 이사는 에어비앤비가 이용객 정보를 중국 당국에 제공키로 한 데 대해 중국 당국이 공유 경제 산업의 합법화를 추진하는 데 따른 것이라며 "많은 공유 경제 기업들이 이전에 회색 지대에서 운영됐지만 현재는 중국 규정을 따르기만 하면 합법적으로 운영될 수 있다"고 말했다.

포크 이사는 "에어비앤비 같은 외국 기업이 (중국 규정을) 따르지 않으면 현지 업체와 경쟁하거나 생존하기 어려울 것"이라며 "애플 같은 기업도 중국 현지 데이터 저장법에 따라야 한다"고 강조했다.

애플은 중국 새 법에 따라 중국 이용자의 아이클라우드 계정 정보를 구이저우(贵州) 성에 있는 중국 데이터 센터로 이관했다.

그러나 에어비앤비 이용자들은 중국 당국에 개인정보가 이관되는 것을 우려할 것으로 관측된다.

숙소 주인들도 투숙 정보 공개로 세금이 부과될 수 있는 점을 우려하고 있다고 SCMP가 전했다.
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한편, 3월 29일부터 에어비앤비는 방문 평가를 거치는 고급 숙소 제공 서비스인 '에어비앤비 플러스'를 중국 최초로 상하이(上海)에서 개시할 것이라고 밝혔다.

에어비앤비에 등록된 중국 내 숙소는 15만 개에 달하며 중국 진출 후 3년여간 330만 명이 이용했다.

Airbnb complies with China law to hand over guest details as listings double
Airbnb’s compliance with Chinese regulations requiring foreigners to register their accommodation with local police within 24 hours brings it in line with hotels and guest houses.
Meng Jing Zen Soo
UPDATED : Thursday, 29 Mar 2018, 11:22PM

Airbnb, the sharing portal that connects homeowners with renters for short-term leases, will begin to submit guest details to Chinese authorities from Friday, bringing it in compliance with local regulations requiring foreigners to register their accommodation with the police.

In a notice sent to homeowners, or hosts in Airbnb parlance, the San Francisco-based company said it will hand over the details of people who stay at its properties to the Chinese government from March 30. The company provided a click-through button for hosts to remove their listings from Airbnb.

“Like all businesses operating in China, Airbnb China must comply with local laws and regulations,” Airbnb said in a statement. “We’re committed to doing all we can to keep our hosts and guests informed about our work in China and we recently updated our hosts about our requirements under the law. The information we collect is similar to information hotels in China have collected for decades.”


Foreigners staying at the homes of Chinese residents, in cities and towns, must submit the temporary residence registration form to the local Public Security Bureau together with their passport or identification information within 24 hours of arrival. In rural areas, this must be done within 72 hours, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

At hotels and registered guest houses, this submission is handled by the reception, which will require registration details and scan or photocopy the guests’ passports. Chinese citizens also have to register when they stay in hotels.

This move takes place as Airbnb steps up its expansion in China, its fastest-growing domestic market. The company’s listings in China have almost doubled in the last year, with more than 3.3 million guest arrivals by local travellers alone. Airbnb competes with local apartment-sharing portals such as Xiaozhu, which began testing smart locks that can be opened by scanning tenants’ faces and satisfy laws requiring identify verification.

Airbnb's move comes as the Chinese government looks to legalise the sharing economy industry in China as part of its Internet Plus initiative, according to Kitty Fok, managing director for IDC China. The government's Internet Plus initiative aims to connect industries in China to the Internet.

"Many of these sharing economy companies were previously operating in a grey area but now they can operate legally as long as they play by China's rules," Fok said. "Especially for foreign companies like Airbnb, if they do not comply it will be hard to survive and compete with local rivals. Even companies like Apple have to acquiesce to China's local data storage laws."

Apple moved its Chinese users’ iCloud accounts to a new Chinese data centre in Guizhou to comply with new laws.

The way technology companies handle and safeguard the personal data of consumers has come under intense scrutiny in the wake of a global data harvesting scandal involving Facebook. The social networking giant has lost tens of billions of dollars in market value after Cambridge Analytica, a British data firm with ties to US President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign, was accused of illegally harvesting information from around 50 million users without their knowledge.

Airbnb on Thursday introduced a number of initiatives, including a premium tier of homes for rent that have been vetted for cleanliness, design and comfort. Shanghai will be the first city in China to have this higher bracket of listings, called Airbnb Plus. The company also launched an academy to provide training for property owners to be better hosts.

Airbnb, founded in 2008, has a goal of 1 billion guests by 2028, which cannot be achieved without its community of hosts in China, according to Nathan Blecharczyk, Airbnb’s co-founder, chief strategy officer and China chairman.

“China is a critical part to Airbnb’s mission of creating a world where anyone can belong anywhere,” he said in a release. “By 2020, more Airbnb guests will come from China than any other country. We will continue to deepen our commitment with the goal of bringing authentic magical travel experience to Chinese travellers.”

While foreign guests may have concerns about sharing their personal details with the government, the property owners that rent out their apartments have another concern: taxation.

Min Jie, a 32-year-old Airbnb host in Beijing, said he is not worried about the information Airbnb is going to share with the government, but he does have concern that the move may lead to taxation of the rent in the future.

“I have been renting this small apartment of mine for almost two years without paying any tax for the income I have made, because apartment sharing is not a regulated territory in China,” he said, adding he makes about 4,000 yuan (US$640) a month from leasing out the place. “But by sharing all the booking information with the government, I am afraid that the day for taxation will come soon.”

About half of Min’s guests are overseas guests who visits Beijing for travel or for education. “Only a handful of them ask my help to do police registration as it is a complicated procedure requiring the accompaniment of local hosts,” he said.