Hi @Kevin1133
Shanghai is my hometown. It’s really a vivid metropolis that I hope you will enjoy. However, sorry that you may not be able to find many useful information here since not so many people speak English there, and, actually Chinese people has their native bnb platforms other than ABB, e.g. xiaozhu, tujia, zhenguo... So bnb renting has been a highly competitive market for these years.
Here’s my answer to your questions,
1 Yes
2 Yes, and actually there’re many agents or hosts doing this already.
3 I’m sorry but I have to say, the biggest problem is that the renting market has never been regulated. It’s a jungle full of scams and sub-lessors. Ask your employer to assist your settling down, otherwise I assume it would be quite a challenge for you.
Moreover, actually I personally doubt the prospect of bnb business in China. I’m now residing in Sydney. Here 4-star hotel costs more than $200 while mid-end bnb entire place apartment for 2 is usually less than half of this price. However, in Shanghai, a 4-star hotel stay costs you only like $80-100 while bnb is like $45-80. I don’t see very big expense difference between regular hotel and bnb, do you really wish to risk yourself staying in a place provided by a sub-lessor, even without any cover from insurance or local laws?
I personally don’t recommend any foreigners to do this business, as the renting market is yet far from transparent. Maybe you check with more guys on Reddit, I remember there’re subs where western migrants are sharing information for working and living in China.
Hope this helps!
Yang
