Iconic Vacation Destination: Airbnb Offers Pop Culture Homes, Museums, Tour Buses and More – With a ‘Golden Ticket’
Have you ever wanted to wake up in the floating house from Up? The X-Men mansion? Sleep on a bed made of seat leather in the Ferrari Museum in Italy? On the off chance you have, you may want to head over to airbnb.com for a chance to spend your next vacation in the home, part of its “Icons” properties.
Airbnb announced Wednesday that it was opening up 11 new pop-culture (or just cultural) vacation destinations in a staggered release that will only make a few available at any one time. Currently, the offerings you can sign up for now include a chance to: drift off in the house from Up, suspended precipitously over Abiquiu, New Mexico (it’s held up by a crane); stay at the X-Mansion (pictured above) in New York state, or head to Milan to stay with TikTok sensation Khaby Lame in his one-of-a-kind gaming loft.
More vacation possibilities, like a stay in the Musee d’Orsay, Prince’s Purple Rain house, the Ferrari Museum, or a chance to hang out with Kevin Hart, lose a week on a tour bus with Reggaeton superstar Feid, or attend a private recording session with Doja Cat, will be available at posted dates throughout the summer. The website has all the details.
While it costs less per person to book these homes than it does, say, a cottage in Little Rock, Arkansas, there’s a reason for that. Booking the reservation is only the first step. Here’s how the Airbnb website breaks it down. Step one: ‘Choose your dates, add your guests, then answer a question about why you want to go.’ Steps two, three and four: – Selection Process: ‘First, we’ll randomly choose a set of potential guests. Next, we’ll review their answers for unique perspectives and connections to the icon. Then, we’ll invite selected guests to book.’
That invitation is the so-called ‘Golden Ticket’ that will allow a select few the chance to stay there. Potential guests must have an active Airbnb account and use the app, and must be a resident of an eligible country or region. Some properties cost nothing per guest, if you get invited, and all are under $100 a night. Travel costs aren’t included, and there is no cost to attempt to book the property.
This is not a new Airbnb feature; the company has previous offered vacays in Barbie’s Malibu Dream House, Shrek’s swamp, the last Blockbuster store and the Home Alone house (presumably without Kevin McAllister’s usual welcome ceremony.)
More expensive, but less chancy, are other unusual types of homes for rent: treehouses, yurts, castles, and the Titan II Nuclear Missile Complex near Little Rock, Arkansas – all available, with Golden Ticket required.