The management team of a Chinese start-up called Chin Inc., or CI, sat together to discuss their marketing strategy. CI aims to copy the business concept of Airbnb and to offer its service only in China, thus capturing Chinese consumers traveling within China for business, tourism, or other purposes as well as foreign consumers visiting China. Therefore, CI would offer tough competition and limit Airbnb expansion in China. CI will also compete with all traditional hotels, including luxurious hotels such as Hilton and twostar (low end) hotels. Some of these hotels have already noticed a recent drop in occupancy rate and attributed this drop to Airbnb. Indeed, with its unique distribution model, positioning, and pricing strategies, Airbnb is disrupting the room rental industry as well as related industries. Airbnb is one of the world's largest marketplaces for unique, authentic places to stay and things to do, offering over 7 million accommodations and 40,000 handcrafted activities, all powered by local hosts. An economic empowerment engine, Airbnb has helped millions of hospitality entrepreneurs monetize their spaces and their passions while keeping the financial benefits of tourism in their own communities. With more than half a billion guest arrivals to date, and accessible in 62 languages across 191 countries and regions, Airbnb promotes people-to-people connection, community and trust around the world. Basically, Airbnb is an online community marketplace that connects hosts who want to rent out spaces in their home with guests who are looking for accommodations. Airbnb doesn't own any lodging properties. It is a platform that just brings buyers and providers together and facilitates interactions between them. Bookings and payments are made on the secure interface of Airbnb. For property owners or hosts, all they have to do is register their listing and provide photos and details of the property and decide on the price. For guests, they can search by country, location, size, and price then book based on what they are looking for and other guest reviews. Recently, Airbnb issued the following statement: "Airbnb's mission is to create a world where anyone can belong anywhere through magical travel that provides unique, authentic and local experiences, and we are focused on reimagining travel by building an end-to-end travel platform that combines where you stay, what you do, and how you get there, all in one place. From our origins in a San Francisco apartment, we have grown into a global community with hosts across more than 191 countries and 81,000 cities. Powered by network effects that began with our founding in 2008, today Airbnb is truly a global platform, with more than 5 million listings in over 191 countries. In 2013, there were nine city regions with at least 100,000 Airbnb guest arrivals; in 2018, there were over 350 city regions with at least 100,000 Airbnb guest arrivals. This global growth is increasingly being powered by tourism to destinations in emerging markets. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), travel to emerging economies is expected to increase at twice the rate of travel to advanced economies from now until 2030. By 2030, more than 1 billion travelers will arrive in emerging economies annually. Airbnb is especially well-positioned to be a major driver of this continuing growth. Airbnb's popularity has long been built on a growing desire for authentic, local travel that takes guests off the beaten path, and in recent years the Airbnb community has surged across emerging destinations around the world, especially those in Asia Pacific, Africa, and Latin America. By 2030, Airbnb expects that over 400 million guests will have used the platform to arrive at listings in emerging markets since the company was founded. The Emerging Markets: Powering Airbnb's Global Growth report we prepared outlines the ways in which emerging markets are becoming an increasingly powerful segment of the Airbnb community (alongside the markets in developed countries such as U.S. and Europe), and highlights three themes: (1) The rise of emerging markets in global tourism; (2) Airbnb's surging growth in emerging markets, including the world's fastest-growing large economies: India and China; (3) How Airbnb's infrastructure positions it for continuing success in emerging markets." Noticing this trend, CI is now determined more than ever to specialize in the Chinese market to grab a decent market share of the Chinese hospitality and accommodation business. The founder, Mr. Chin Chang, indicated that "by using the Airbnb business model and adjusting it to better suit the needs and wants of the Chinese consumer, we will be able to compete and succeed. After all, our startup team is all made of Chinese natives. We know about Chinese geography and politics. Actually, we have strong ties to politicians. And, most importantly, we know what the Chinese consumer requires."

Questions:

1. (a) What are the different pricing strategies CI hosts would use? (b) Discuss how this provides a competitive advantage for CI over traditional accommodation service providers such as the Hilton and low end hotels.

2. (a) Why would it be challenging to launch CI service in China and acquire new guests (mention at least three potential challenges)? (b) Are the challenges different to acquire new international guests versus Chinese guests (i.e., is it more difficult to acquire international guests versus Chinese guests)?

3. What are the competitive advantages of CI, and how would they help it compete with Airbnb?

4. For CI to launch its service in China and attract Chinese and foreign customers, discuss the elements CI should implement to its market offering. That is, discuss the CI market offering based on the 4 p's model, and how the elements might differ from those of Airbnb to better appeal to the Chinese consumers as well as foreign consumers visiting China for a short period. Hint: Refer to the places in the "Marketing Management in Asia" book to learn about the particularities of the Chinese consumer and Chinese segments.

5. Suggest a marketing communication strategy (i.e., the marketing communication mix) for CI that would allow the startup to gain market share in China and build a community of travelers. Give concrete examples when possible. Hint: The marketing communication mix should respond to the targeted segments

PLEASE HELP ME TO SOLVE THE ANSWERS.