[imagesource: Airbnb]

Care to stay in a potato-shaped abode? How about lodgings that resemble giant shoes? Okay, you like music, perhaps a stay in a guitar will suit you?

All of this is possible to find in Airbnb’s OMG! category, which is the platform’s new hunting ground for some of the most unusual and outright strange accommodations.

In 2021, the platform took on more than 30 000 wacky listings from across the world, but all of these options haven’t seemed to satiate travellers’ hunger for the weird.

Now the company is keen to foot the bill to build more of them, reported Forbes.

There’s a special $10 million fund set aside to inspire and pay for the creation of the weird and wonderful:

Bloomberg has the details:

The vacation-rental site will offer 100 people $100,000 to create unforgettable stays, like a “livable donut in the desert,” according to the application form.

Designs must possess a wow factor, consider the environment, and be completable by August 2023. A panel of judges, including American designer Iris Apfel and Sydney-based architect Koichi Takada, will evaluate submissions and select the projects.

Winning entrants will be required to rent the new space on Airbnb only, and cannot list the property on competing short-term rental platforms (like Expedia and Booking.com) for a year.

Turning your crazy ideas into actual, working revenue streams suddenly seems doable:

No idea is too quirky for Airbnb entrepreneurs. Consider the surprising success of Kristie Wolfe, who spent $32,000 transforming a six-ton spud prop salvaged from the Idaho Potato Commission into Boise’s Big Idaho Potato Hotel, one of Airbnb’s most famous listings.

Since 2019, Wolfe has earned over $208,000, which allowed her to bootstrap her way to four more Airbnb properties in the OMG! category.

Other successful Airbnbs from around the globe include the $14 000 converted old grain silo, which is now a Yellow Submarine:

Image: Airbnb

Plus the $36 000 change from turning a retro double-decker bus into a superbly outfitted bi-level mini home:

Image: Airbnb

Don’t forget about that Cape getaway that was featured recently in Airbnb’s OMG category.

Go on and get that side-hustle on.

Might as well.

[source:forbes&bloomberg]