LONDON--Airbnb, the online peer-to-peer housing rental platform, has hired Edelman as its PR firm in Central and Eastern Europe.

The appointment completes the company’s eight-strong PR lineup across North America and Europe. Airbnb’s other retained firms are MBooth in the US, Freud in the UK, Schwartz PR (Germany), Agence Elan (France), Text 100 (Spain), MSLGroup (Nordics), and Connexia (Italy).

Airbnb EMEA director of marketing and communications Christopher Lukezic, who recently relocated to London from the company’s Bay Area HQ, confirmed the roster of firms.

Lukezic declined to provide further details of Airbnb’s PR strategy, but it is understood that agencies have been primarily tasked with handling media outreach. In 2011, Airbnb grew by around 500 percent in terms of nights booked, but has also faced some high-profile issues.

To better handle its surging growth, Airbnb is opening numerous new international offices, including Barcelona, Copenhagen, Milan, Moscow, Paris, and São Paulo. The company raised an additional $112 million last July, at a $1.3bn valuation, bringing its total funding to $119m.