Airbnb

If your idea for the perfect vacation is to spend a week in a potato or a shoe, then you may be a good fit for a new competition by Airbnb. It's spending US$1 million to fund the wildest new home ideas from around the globe.

We cover all kinds of houses, shelters, and cabins here at New Atlas but this is the first time we've reported on a dwelling that looks like a potato.

Airbnb likes to drum up publicity with competitions offering off-the-wall (or even on-the-wall) experiences, like a night spent in BIG's Lego House, for example. Its latest competition offers one winner and their guest a night in Paris' famous Musée du Louvre, complete with private tour.

This train car is over 70 years old and has an interesting history that includes it being used during World War II and the Cold War. Now installed on some rural land in Maryville, Tennessee, it has been painstakingly renovated into a guest house and is available to rent on Airbnb.

Dressmaker and designer Kristie Wolfe previously built a Hawaiian treehouse on a shoestring budget, as well as a hobbit house in Washington State. Her latest project is a fire lookout tower dating back to the 1950s, which she has renovated into an Airbnb rental.

Airbnb has come up with another of its clever marketing stunts that offers competition winners a stay in one-of-a-kind locations. In a similar vein to its underwater bedroom and Lego House experiences, it's now offering the opportunity to spend one night on the Great Wall of China.

Cohesion Studio recently completed the Folly, an attractive rusted retreat that takes its place very well in the rugged desert landscape of Joshua Tree, California. It runs off-the-grid and features a bedroom with a removed roof section that lets visitors fall asleep beneath the night sky.

Airbnb is running a competition offering people the chance to spend a night at the BIG-designed Lego House in Billund, Denmark. The winner and their family will also get a private tour around the brickmaker's flagship building along with other activities.

​In an inspired publicity stunt, Sweden has listed its entire country on Airbnb, advertising the fact that all public land in the country is freely accessible to anyone.

All homes have their quirks and idiosyncrasies, so finding your way around a new Airbnb property can be easier said than done. Product designer Kristian Knobloch has aimed to address this with the creation of Ping, a digital and interactive guidebook for Airbnb guests.

We've all heard of monsters under the bed, but what about sharks? As its latest stunt, the likes of which have previously seen it offer a night in a floating house, Airbnb is offering the chance for three people, each with a friend or partner, to spend a night submerged in a shark tank.​