Hanoi.
|
In the annual Top City Destinations Ranking report issued early last month at the World Travel Market event in London, Hanoi, the 1,000-year-old city, ranks 52nd among the world’s 100 leading cities in terms of international tourist arrivals as this year it looks to welcome 4.3 million foreign travelers, up 7.5 percent.
The central city of Da Nang which hosted the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week in November and the annual international fireworks festival in April is seen attracting nearly 2.3 million international tourists in all of 2017, up a around 37 percent compared to a year ago, according to the Da Nang City’s Tourism Department.
Airbnb is an online marketplace and hospitality service, enabling people to lease or rent short-term lodging including vacation rentals, apartment rentals, homestays, hostel beds, or hotel rooms. The company does not own any lodging; it is merely a broker and receives percentage service fees (commissions) from both guests and hosts in conjunction with every booking. It has over 3,000,000 lodging listings in 65,000 cities and 191 countries, and the cost of lodging is set by the host.
Airbnb has received bookings for the first half of 2018 and it is pinning hopes that 2018 would be the booming year for the booking service. Airbnb can be accessed via either the Airbnb websites or mobile applications for iOS, Apple Watch, and Android. Registration and account creation is free. On each booking, the company charges guests a 6 to 12 percent guest services fee and charges hosts a 3 to 5 percent host service fee. Hosts can also offer "experiences", such as excursions, to guests for an additional charge, of which Airbnb takes 20 percent as a commission.
Users can search for lodging using a variety of filters including lodging type, dates, location, and price. Before booking, users must provide a valid name, email address, telephone number, photo, payment information, and, if required by the host, a scan of a government-issued ID. Guests also are required to agree to any house rules of the host.
