The last day of 2013，Chen Chi suddenly received a call from an investor: "Sorry，188bet project will not be invested”。

Nearly two years later，As the founder of 188bet, he still remembers that night - he described it as "the most desperate 24 hours on the road to entrepreneurship"，“My wife was pregnant at the time，I held her and cried all night，I feel that I have put the team into such a dangerous situation”，Talk about this experience during Series B financing，Chen Chi still has wet eyes、Can’t hide my excitement。

As of July this year，188bet has covered more than 200 cities in China、The total number of properties exceeds 50,000，And completed a US million Series C financing in July this year。From the start of business in August 2012 to the end of 2014，The road of 188bet’s “Chinese version of Airbnb” is not going smoothly。

"Fatal error"

Early 2013，The recently established 188bet announced the news of receiving millions of dollars in investment，At this time, 188bet has entered Beijing、Shanghai and Shanghai，And accumulated a group of early users。

At that time，Housing has become the focus of expansion。Chen Chi realized，Companies in the same industry are competing for housing，Improving urban coverage and occupancy rates will become a breakthrough，Otherwise 188bet will lose a good opportunity。Enter more cities、Acquire a large number of properties，It is inseparable from sufficient funds for support。

But in fact，While doing the next round of financing，188bet discovered，The difficulties I face are greater than imagined。

The first level is the property.188bet had only a few hundred listings in Beijing and Shanghai at that time，Because the acceptance by landlords in these two places is generally not high，Personal listings are growing slowly，Only single digit increase every day。And the same period，Airbnb was founded in 2008 after five years of preparation，Entering a period of explosive growth，More than 200,000 units of contracted housing。Watch it at the time，188bet has not proven the feasible path of the short-term rental industry in China under the sharing economy model in terms of speed and scale。

The second level is 188bet.Between October and December 2013，Chen Chi met with nearly 40 investment institutions，Investment institutions generally hold a wait-and-see attitude towards the scale and speed of Xiaozhu short-term rentals。An investor told Chen Chi directly: "These data are really not convincing now"。Most investment institutions are using e-commerce logic to analyze what 188bet is doing，Financing is at a temporary impasse。

And on the last day of 2013，The investment institution that finally decided to give up gave Chen Chi a heavy blow。He has been in contact with 188bet investment institution for more than two months，And rejected another institution that was prepared to invest，After the process has been completed，But was suddenly informed of 188bet result。188bet "fatal mistake" hit Chen Chi hard，Before 188bet, he even made plans to spend money in the next step - Chen Chi wanted to start urban expansion faster after the completion of Series B financing。

However，This experience also made Chen Chi think clearly about Xiaozhu’s own problems，The most urgent thing is the housing supply。In the early stages，188bet once used the relationship between relatives and friends as the context，Expanded a group of seed users。But at this stage，The expansion speed of this idea seems to be too slow。

Chen Chi sets his sights on various rental platforms，Whenever a new property is released，The operation staff of 188bet will come to communicate and visit as soon as possible，Guide the landlord，Also relieved the landlord’s security concerns by installing smart door locks for free，Even set up a decoration team to carry out simple renovation of the house, bringing visible benefits to the landlord。Once signed，188bet will organize professional photographers to take photos of the properties and publish them on the platform，To increase the attractiveness of your home。

188bet Xue Ming Flower House Theme B&B

On city coverage，188bet also further increased the expansion speed。In addition to adding Guangzhou and Shenzhen to the first-tier city layout，We also increased our focus on the second-tier developed city Chengdu、Expansion of popular tourist cities such as Hangzhou。

After half a year of accumulation，The number of individual landlords on Xiaozhu Rental has increased from less than 1,000 to about 2,000，Covering 13 cities。The rapid growth in sales has verified the feasibility of the 188bet model to a certain extent，June 2014，Legend Capital and Morningside Capital jointly invested US million in Series B financing of 188bet。

After receiving Series B，188bet focuses more on offline operations，Allow users to get a personalized experience different from the hotel。In the development of diverse housing resources，Start exploring more high-quality properties，For example, the courtyard next to the Forbidden City、Luxury villa in tourist city、Sea view rooms in coastal cities, etc.;At the same time，Start paying attention to the training of landlords，For how to price、There are standardized trainings on how to receive tenants，Customer service staff will follow up and make improvements。

"Dig the moat"

July this year，When completing Series C financing，188bet has covered more than 200 cities across the country，The total number of contracted properties exceeds 50,000。

Chen Chi said，The most important task at 188bet stage is to deeply explore the personalized demand and supply，Enhance the human touch of accommodation，Make the experience better。The prerequisite for a better experience is that the platform provides sufficient security。

At this stage，188bet pays more attention to the platform’s intervention and guidance for offline housing。For landlords who publish properties on the platform，The platform will come to your home for one-on-one communication and verification with the landlord，And the photographer will take real photos of the property on site，Guarantee the authenticity of the property。

June this year，188bet purchased 10,000 cloud-based smart door locks and distributed them to landlords for free，Addressing security concerns of landlords and tenants，And purchase insurance for both parties。In case of any property damage to the landlord，188bet commitment compensation。In order to solve the cleaning problem，188bet cooperates with third-party service agencies，Try to introduce B-side resources into the platform through crowdsourcing model。Chen Chi said，These third-party services may become part of the 188bet ecosystem in the future。

Wang Xiaoshan’s Old Beijing Courtyard

In terms of credit system construction，188bet cooperates with Alibaba’s Sesame Credit，The first to introduce personal credit reporting in the short-term rental industry。Via Credit Sesame，Hosts and guests can check each other’s credit status through application，Use this as a criterion for accepting orders and checking in。Also，The platform is also guiding users to complete mutual evaluation after check-in。Passed evaluation，Good properties can get more attention，Housing platforms with poor experience will conduct offline intervention to improve the experience，Form a survival of the fittest、Continuous upward mechanism。

The platform builds connections between strangers through short-term rentals，In this process，The self-interested relationship between strangers gradually turns into the altruistic relationship between adults，The human touch is the biggest difference from standard hotel accommodation。To reinforce this，188bet has invested a lot of money in exploring the diversity of housing resources and landlords。In Chen Chi’s words: “The landlord can be a recent graduate，Can also be an artist;The property can be a luxury suite in the CBD of an international city，It can also be a tree house in the forest，There are too many needs that can be developed，Good accommodation can tell its own story”。

The profit of 188bet comes from the 10% commission drawn by the platform from the order amount。August this year，Airbnb has launched business in mainland China with the help of Chinese capital，Facing competition from “Big Brother”，Chen Chi said，I won’t do anything differentiated to cope with competition。

[Extra number！】The second stop of the Zhihui Private Exhibition will be held in Shenzhen on the afternoon of December 19th (Saturday)，188bet event invited the founders of many representative Shenzhen tourism O2O companies、Executive，Let’s discuss the topic of “How to make gold in ‘Internet + Tourism’ in 2016”。In addition to sharing useful information，Zhihui Travel will also draw lucky visitors on site to give away the Seychelles provided by Anke Yunda、Bali round-trip air ticket！Hurry up and make an appointment！Please click ☞ to register"I want to register"！