Airbnb Launches $10 Million Fund to Build the 'Craziest Places on Earth'
Airbnb has earmarked $10 million to help turn 100 unique home ideas into bookable listings.
One hundred designers, architects, DIYers, and makers around the globe will receive $100,000 each(Opens in a new window) to create the next boot, UFO, or six-ton potato house for guests to stay in.
Anyone with an out-of-this-world idea can submit an application online(Opens in a new window); an expert panel—including style icon Iris Apfel, architect Koichi Takada, Airbnb Superhost Kristie Wolfe (owner of said six-ton potato house), and the firm's VP of experiential creative product Bruce Vaughn—will judge ideas based on originality, feasibility, the experience the space will provide guests, and sustainability.
"The fund is shaped in part by the growing trend of flexible living that has emerged in the past two years," according to Airbnb, which highlighted guests' hunger for "more unexpected spaces that become destinations themselves."
More than 30,000 unique listings were added to Airbnb in 2021, and the OMG! Category, introduced last month, showcases the most extraordinary among them: a cow shed, top-of-a-crane suite, windmill, snow igloo, yellow submarine, underground bunker, and any number of treehouses.
Airbnb in May added 56 categories, organized by style, location, and proximity to a travel activity. Searches can be narrowed by preference, like amazing views, bed and breakfasts, creative spaces, historical homes, iconic cities, off-the-grid, tiny houses, or, of course, OMG!
The $10 million OMG! Fund closes at 11:59 p.m. ET on July 22. The 100 recipients will be selected by the panel over the next several months; Airbnb aims to complete their newly constructed spaces next year.
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