Airbnb introduces US$ 10 mn OMG fund to help finance 100 craziest ideas

Airbnb, worldwide accommodation leader announced this week its plan to give away US$ 10 million to help finance 100 of the craziest ideas.

The fund will give 100 people an opportunity to turn their ideas into actual Airbnb OMG! Category listings.
The fund will be rolled out over the next 10 years to organizations that support communities around the world.
The selected applicant will receive US$ 100,000 each to make their creations possible, and ultimately bookable. 
Ideas will be judged by an expert panel for their originality, feasibility, the experience the space will provide guests, and sustainability.  

“We partnered with our Host community, including our Host Advisory Board, as well as our partner, GlobalGiving, to help direct the inaugural round of grants,” said Airbnb in a statement this week.

The fund is shaped in part by the growing trend of flexible living that has emerged in the past two years. As part of this shift, Airbnb guests are craving more unexpected spaces that become the destinations themselves, and Airbnb Categories, which launched last month, provide a new way to search for these spaces. 

More than 30,000 unique listings across the world were added to Airbnb in 2021 and the OMG! Category – which since introduced has been clicked on 2.5M times – showcases the craziest amongst them, making it easy for guests to discover these listings in places they wouldn’t have otherwise looked.  In 2021, the typical host in the US earned over US$ 13,800, an increase of 85 percent over 2019.  Similarly, new hosts in the US also saw an increase in income in 2021, earning over US$ 1.8 billion, up 34 percent from 2019. Additionally, nights booked at unique properties increased globally by over 49 percent from 2019 to 2021.