Creative, sustainable hotels: Airbnb to give away US$1 million for unique home ideas, like the Big Idaho Potato

The Unique Airbnb Fund is a programme designed to help finance the most unconventional liveable spaces, and is open for proposals until April 16

Ten winners will each get US$100,000; proposals will be judged on their creativity, feasibility, sustainability and social good

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A treehouse home in Raray, France. Airbnb is inviting people to make their dream accommodation a reality through a programme that will give away US$1 million to the most creative proposals submitted to them. Photo: Airbnb

Published: 2:00am, 17 Mar 2020Updated: 6:19pm, 18 Mar 2020

What is the most unusual place you have ever stayed in? Maybe it was a treehouse in the jungle – or could it have been a spaceship, or even a giant potato in the middle of Idaho?

While travellers around the world have seen their holiday plans hindered by the coronavirus outbreak, online home-sharing giant Airbnb is giving people something to dream about, offering US$1 million to anyone wanting to build a unique home to share on its platform.

Its “Unique Airbnb Fund” is a US$1 million programme designed to find and help finance the most unconventional and unusual liveable spaces on the planet. Open now for proposals at airbnb.com/uniquefund through April 16, a panel of judges will select 10 winners by mid-May.

Among the judges are actor Billy Porter, architecture firm MVRDV, and Airbnb “superhost” Kristie Wolfe who runs the Big Idaho Potato in Boise, Idaho, a US state famous for growing potatoes.

A glamping pod shaped like a space capsule in the Mackenzie Dark Sky Reserve in Pukaki, New Zealand. Unique homes like this will be built for an Airbnb programme. Photo: Airbnb

A total of 10 people will get US$100,000 each to build the most unconventional Airbnb they can dream up. Proposals – which can be upgrades and existing creative projects that need funding, as well as all-new, start-from-scratch ideas – will be judged on their creativity, feasibility, sustainability and social good.