The move is part of an expansion plan into the region announced by co-founder Brian Chesky late last year when it opened an office in Hong Kong.

The company has been a runaway success since its launch in September 2008 by Chesky and his classmate Joe Gebbia.

Listed in “The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies in 2012” by Fast Company, thepost read, “Airbnb has enabled more than 4.5 million bookings on 100,000 active listings in 192 countries, facilitating a reported $500 million in transactions in 2011, on which it charged up to a 15% fee.

“Along the way, Airbnb has become a disruptive force in the stagnant hotel industry, a major driver behind what’s now called the sharing economy, and, perhaps most significantly, proof of the value of design in the engineering-centric tech world.”

At the time of the announced expansion into Asia, Chesky said to CNNGo, “In Asia, and Hong Kong in particular, there is a huge, untapped market for AirBnB. Westerners are innately curious and intrigued by the culture and people of Asia, and what better way to unlock those mysteries than to experience travel through local experiences among local hosts?”

AirBnB, which is tipped to exceed Hilton Hotels in number of rooms this year (600,000), allows strangers to stay in each other’s homes. It achieved five million room nights in February 2012.

According to AirBnB data, it now gets 75% of its business from outside the US (that is, guest, host or both are from outside US).

Speaking at the Google ThinkTravel event in Singapore recently, Juney Ham, chief marketing office of AirBnB, on his first visit to the city in 20 years, said the site now has 120,000 properties and the choice of accommodation has expanded to treehouses, boats and igloos.

“It allows people to travel like a local,” he said.

What has also worked is the AirBnB professional photography programme where the company sends in professionals to take photos of accommodation. “We’ve found listings with professional photography get two-three times more bookings than the market average,” Ham said.

Some users have however argued that they should be allowed to post their photographs on the site after a few stayed in places which did not live up to the promise of the images.

Ham said AirBnB was tapping into what he calls “the changing nature of traveller intent”.

Ham, who came from working in search in Expedia, said, “Dreaming, planning and booking can blend and search intent does not necessarily delineate behaviours.

“Traveller search behaviour is changing and people are not sticking to standard search paradigms. Images are a good way of paving the way to bookings.”

Questions remain of course as to whether the model can work in Asia and whether home owners would open their private spaces to strangers and if Asian customers would want to stay in other people’s homes – but the growing number of copycat models in the region would seem to indicate a belief that there is a huge market to be tapped. Issues of safety and security have also been raised of course.

When he announced the expansion into Asia, Chesky said, “The great thing about Airbnb is that we are still a nimble company that believes in working with our local communities and users as we iterate and innovate the product.

“Our approach to Asia will be integrated with a deep respect for local traditions and cultural hesitations as we learn from our users through educational meet-ups and showcases.”

And obviously now through its own operations in South-east Asia.