Hoisted by a crane, this house features over 8,000 colorful balloons and is an extremely detailed replica of Ellie’s adventure book to the furniture to Carl’s glasses. Requests to book for this property close at 11:59 PM PT on May 13, 2024.

This house is just one of the many unveiled in a new listing category from Airbnb, Icons — a new batch of epic stays and experiences. Bringing visitors’ imaginations to life, Airbnb recently unveiled the first group of 11 offerings. 

On July 26, 2024, guests can book a one-night stay in a room behind the Musée d’Orsay’s famed clock face for the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. From the private balcony, guests will have an amazing view of the event and eventually sleep behind the resting place of the Olympic torch. 

Marvel fans can stay in a Westchester, New York, estate at the X-Men’97’s Xavier Institute complete with a Danger Room Training Session. Another offering is staying at Prince’s Purple Rain Minneapolis home and listening to rare tracks. 

Racing car fans can spend a night at the Ferrari Museum in Maranello, Italy, in a bed crafted from the same leather as Ferrari car seats. Your car bed will be surrounded by eight Formula 1 cars.

Other offerings include celebrity experiences such as a gaming experience with Khaby Lame in Milan and a private and tequila tasting with Kevin Hart. 

Designed by Airbnb’s custom team, each stay and experience were curated to bring the extraordinary to life and offer Airbnb’s exclusive access to once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

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In addition to the excitement of sleeping somewhere wild, tourists are interested in experiences they might not be able to have at home. Farmstays, where you can enjoy goat yoga or help out in the garden as an alternative to a more traditional vacation, are an excellent example. Whether your goal is to get up close and personal in nature or snooze in an otherworldly ambiance on a visit to your favorite city, nearly 200,000 unique short-term rental properties exist on Airbnb. The trick is finding the perfect place to delight and inspire you. Luckily, popular online marketplaces for short-term rentals have picked up on the trend and have offered some user-friendly search features to help you book the perfect unique lodging during your next vacation. If you’re looking for the best ways to find exceptional rental options, we’ve got you covered with the best tips and tricks to finding weird and wonderful lodging around the world. 

How to score the coolest vacation rentals 

The best way to ensure you’ll find the coolest vacation digs is to be flexible with your dates and destinations. If you’re open to traveling anywhere, you’re guaranteed to find some incredible places to stay, and you might stumble upon your new favorite hidden-gem vacation spot. Amazing short-term rentals can be found worldwide; many fall outside your typical tourist hot spots, so be open to traveling off the beaten path. 

Unique rentals have become so popular that Airbnb added a new “flexible destinations” feature in 2021, allowing users to search for their desired accommodation type all over the world. To access this feature, click “destinations” and select “I’m flexible.” Discovering one-of-a-kind rentals is easier than ever with Airbnb Categories. There are more than 60 categories to choose from, including treehouses, caves, houseboats, and many more. Categories are now listed at the very top of the Airbnb home page, right below the search bar. Protip – Click on the “OMG!” category for some of the most thrilling options!

Vrbo has also realized the importance of showcasing unique rentals. To find a funky and fun place to stay on Vrbo, visit https://www.vrbo.com/vacation-ideas. On the top right of the page, click “Categories,” then select “Vacation Rentals” followed by “Unique” from the drop-down menu.

(Cover Image: Exclusive & Private Island Resort: Floral Island)

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With an effort to “prioritize the privacy of our community,” Airbnb is creating new rules to ensure privacy and comfort for guests. Previously cameras were allowed to be placed in common areas (living room, hallways, etc.) but made it a policy to disclose such on the listing page. 

Hosts will now be required to disclose the location of any outdoor cameras as well as the presence of noise decibel monitors on the listing page. The revised policy for indoor and outdoor monitoring takes effect on April 30. 

This policy change comes into effect following the investigation of hidden cameras being found in Airbnb locations in Canada and Malaysia. These instances caused much consternation due to the invasive nature of the offenses. 

A girl’s birthday trip went sour while staying at an Airbnb in British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast as one of the women on the trip claimed she found a hidden camera in each of the two bathrooms. A few days later after their stay in mid-March, she reported the findings to the police who began to investigate. 

Much to Airbnb’s dismay, this event went viral on TikTok with millions of views but turned out to be false. Authorities were able to confirm that the areas of concern were actually just electrical outlets.

Around the same time, however, this instance was in London (CA), police were contacted in July as a couple staying at an Airbnb noticed a hidden camera in a bedroom, which is against Airbnb policy. As noted above, cameras were previously allowed in common areas but not private quarters. 

The subsequent search by the police “located video evidence of voyeurism” which led to charging one man with one count of voyeurism. 

Both of these incidents were isolated local instances but a skit on the primetime show Saturday Night Live which aired in early March put the company in the national limelight. The skit made jokes about cameras in the toilet of an Airbnb listing. 

Due to these and other incidents, Airbnb’s goal is to now “create new, clear rules that provide our community with greater clarity about what to expect on Airbnb.” Hosts have until April 30 to make the appropriate changes and if they don’t, they will face consequences including listing or account removal on the platform.

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