ONE POTATO, TWO POTATO: Airbnb fund seeks wildest home ideas

Big Idaho, Potato Hotel, Boise, Idaho

If by chance you live in a potato, Airbnb has an offer you may not be able to refuse. The online marketplace for home sharing and tourism experiences is searching for the world’s wildest home ideas – and has launched a $1-million fund to make them a reality.

The Unique Airbnb Fund is the company’s first-ever $1 million program designed to find and help finance the most unconventional and unusual livable spaces on the planet and 10 recipients will be selected by a panel of experts including Airbnb “superhost” Kristie Wolfe, of the famed Big Idaho Potato Hotel.

Design enthusiasts are invited to submit their proposals at airbnb.com/uniquefund before April 15 where entries will be scored against criteria based on creativity, feasibility, sustainability and social good.

Sheep Wagon at Shash Dine and Big Idaho, Potato Hotel, Boise, Idaho

Inspired by the entrepreneurial spirit of the company’s three co-founders, the Unique Airbnb Fund is meant to enable anyone with an extraordinary house idea to design and build it into a reality and share it with travellers all over the world.

“The Unique Airbnb Fund is a great initiative that makes hospitality exciting. It will empower people to create new spaces with daring, imaginative and fantastic architecture,” says selection panelist Fokke Moerel. “Personal wunderkammers will be created for guests to appreciate and be inspired by.”

Searches for unexpected and unique spaces – such as shepherds huts, windmills and tiny houses – have increased by nearly 70 percent over last year on Airbnb, says the company. Some of the most booked listings of all time include domes, RVs, treehouses, and yurts across the world.

Lake trailer and The Boot – Fairytale Accomodation, Nelson, NZ