The sleek mansion in the hills overlooking Las Vegas could have been featured on MTV’s “Cribs.” But the highlight of Aubrey Garza’s weekend stay there wasn’t the palatial rooms or the marble fireplace. It was meeting her Airbnb host: Christina Aguilera.
“It just felt like a dream,” Ms. Garza, 26, said. When she was growing up, her bedroom was decorated with posters of the pop star. Ms. Garza had nabbed one of the “once-in-a-lifetime” promotional stays that Airbnb has occasionally listed in recent years.
The popular, if rare, listings have included not only private hangouts with celebrities but also stays in a Barbie mansion modeled on the one from the hit movie and a replica of Shrek’s swamp dwelling in the Scottish Highlands.
On Wednesday, Airbnb announced that it was expanding stunt promotions like these under a new permanent category called “Icons,” featuring unusual and ambitious partnerships with brands and celebrities
At a news conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Brian Chesky, Airbnb’s chief executive, introduced the inaugural slate of Icons listings.
It was headlined by a replica of the floating house from “Up,” the 2009 animated Pixar film, balloons and all. With the help of a giant crane, the house will be suspended high in the air over the New Mexico desert.
Asked whether the house, which does not appear to be connected to the ground by pipes or wiring, had plumbing and electricity, the company said it was “fully functional.” Asked for details, the company said the house ”is connected to a generator and other utilities that will be disconnected and reconnected before and after flying.”
Other listings include a recreation of the mansion from the “X-Men ‘97” cartoon, built to appear two-dimensional.
Only a few people have been able to stay in Airbnb’s previous fantastical listings, but the company said it expected roughly 4,000 customers to book stays in Icons listings in 2024.
Another 10 listings are slated to go up by the end of the year. Booking periods will vary. Dates for the “Up” house are open through mid-September.
With Icons, Airbnb is hoping to capitalize on the success that earlier listings have achieved as promotional tools, ready-made for Instagram selfies and eye-catching headlines, Mr. Chesky said. (Yes, we fell for it.)
He pointed to the success of Airbnb’s collaboration with Mattel last summer, which brought the Malibu DreamHouse to life ahead of the release of the blockbuster…
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