Ascott eyes 2,000 units in new tie-up with China's Airbnb

It targets middle-class travellers.

Ascott, CapitaLand's serviced residence business unit, wants to have 2,000 units under its new Tujia Somerset brand of serviced residences in China by the end of the year.

Tujia Somerset is the product of Ascott's joint venture company with Tujia.com, China’s largest online apartment sharing platform equivalent to Airbnb.

At present, Ascott and Tujia.com have sealed contracts to manage six serviced residences to be operated under Tujia Somerset brand, giving a significant boost of 1,005 units to Ascott’s portfolio in China.

Two of the six Tujia Somerset serviced residences, the 76-unit Tujia Somerset Baiyue Dalian and 355-unit Tujia Somerset Xinhui Shenyang, are in operation. The other four properties are the 154-unit Tujia Somerset West Coast Haikou, 140-unit Tujia Somerset Shining City Wuxi, 102-unit Tujia Somerset Weilian Tianjin and 178-unit Tujia Somerset South Nanjing.