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Airbnb to provide accommodation for Rio Games

Xinhua, March 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

The organizers of Rio Olympics said Wednesday they have signed a deal with online accommodation provider Airbnb, who will provide 20,000 rooms for thousands of fans during the Games.

It would be the first arrangement of its kind at a Games -- organizers additionally have traditional large-scale accommodation in place with hotels.

But the linkup with Airbnb takes the pressure off after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) expressed fears over Rio's ability to free up 40,000 hotel rooms in time for the Games, which start August 5 next year.

Many of those rooms are at hotels still under construction.

Airbnb, which boasts 17 million users worldwide, is already popular with Brazilians and foreign visitors who wish to rent a room in an owner's house, undercutting the price of a hotel room. Endi