Airbnb cancels Great Wall of China contest following backlash

Apparently, renting out a priceless ancient cultural relic as a hotel for a night isn't the best idea. That's what Airbnb learned after it advertised a contest to spend one night atop the Great Wall of China. After backlash from social media, the company has cancelled the contest.

Night at the Great Wall was part of Airbnb's Night At program, which has the tagline "Win the Sleepover of Your Dreams." Previous Night At programs include the top of an Olympic ski jump, a floating house on the River Thames and Ellis Island. For the Great Wall of China contest, Airbnb users had to submit a short response to the question, "Why is it more important now than ever to break down barriers between cultures? How would you want to build new connections?" You can see a video advertising the contest below.

But apparently, the way to build new connections to other cultures isn't a barely disguised publicity stunt that consists of hosting a hotel atop a piece of their cultural heritage. "China is one of our most important markets, where we have built a number of partnerships with local leaders and organizations to promote sustainable, local and authentic travel to China," the Airbnb release about the cancellation says. Clearly Airbnb didn't want to alienate Chinese citizens because of this promotion.

Additionally, Gizmodo reports that China's cultural commission claimed to have no knowledge of this publicity stunt. Further digging revealed that Airbnb may have had a deal with the Beijing Badaling Tourism Company, which is state-owned. While Airbnb does say in its release that "there was an agreement in place that was the basis for the announcement of this event," it's probably best for everyone that it's been cancelled.

Via: Gizmodo

Source: Airbnb



via Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2MhXuWg
RSS Feed

If New feed item from http://www.engadget.com/rss-full.xml, then send me

IFTTT

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Evernote cuts staff as user growth stalls

Image
Note-taking app Evernote has fallen on hard times of late, culminating in its latest spate of job cuts impacting 15 percent of its workforce (54 employees). CEO Chris O' Neil -- an ex-Googler who took the reins in 2015 -- announced the firings at an all-hands meeting earlier today, reports TechCrunch . In a message on the Evernote blog , O' Neill admitted he'd set "incredibly aggressive goals" for the company in 2018. He continued: "Going forward, we are streamlining certain functions, like sales, so we can continue to speed up and scale others, like product development and engineering." The layoffs follow an exec exodus just weeks ago and the company's recent brand refresh (complete with a refined logo and wordmark). But critics are more concerned about its product, especially the free tier, which they claim lacks the perks to...
Read more

The best air conditioner

Image
By Liam McCabe This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter . When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here . After six summers of researching, testing, and recommending window air conditioners, we've learned that quiet and affordable ACs make most people the happiest—and we think the LG LW8016ER will fit the bill in most rooms. This 8,000 Btu unit cools as efficiently and effectively as any model with an equal Btu rating, and runs at a lower volume and deeper pitch than others at this price. Little extra features like a fresh-air vent, two-axis fan blades, and a removable drain plug help set it apart, too. The LG LW8016ER is a top choice for an office or den, and some people will find it quiet enough for a bedroom, too. If our main pic...
Read more

We won't see a 'universal' vape oil cartridge anytime soon

Image
Pre-loaded cartridges of cannabis concentrate are currently among the most popular means of consumption, and for good reason. They're discreet to use and easy to handle, a far cry from the dark days of 2016 when we had to dribble hash oil or load wax into narrow-mouthed vape pens by hand. But, frustratingly, an ever increasing number of oil cartridge manufacturers employ one-off design standards so that their products won't work with those of their competitors, thereby locking customers into proprietary ecosystems. We've already seen this with nicotine vaporizers -- which has a seen a massive rise in "pod systems" in the last few years, each outfitted with a unique canister and battery built to be incompatible with those of their competition. Is it too late for the burgeoning cannabis industry to set a universal standard for their product designs? ...
Read more