AIRBNB – 1 EURO HOME
AIRBNB – 1 EURO HOME
AIRBNB – 1 EURO HOME
AIRBNB – 1 EURO HOME

AIRBNB – 1 EURO HOME

24 August 2022

The contest to live one year in Sambuca di Sicilia as digital nomad

THE PROJECT


Assisted by AIGO, Airbnb searched all over the world for a person willing to move and live for free with his family for a year, becoming the host of a historic ‘1 euro house’. The house has been completely renovated and transformed into a design home in Sambuca di Sicilia, the picturesque village famous for being the first to launch the ‘1 euro houses’ campaign in 2019 to combat depopulation and enhance the real estate assets of the villages.

 

DEVELOPMENT


AIGO coordinated the parties involved in the architectural renovation of the house and its inside elements.
Thanks to the involvement of numerous partners and the work signed by Studio Didea, the architecture studio in Palermo commissioned by Airbnb, the historic abandoned mansion – a few steps from the Sambuca belvedere – has been transformed into an elegant design home, which combines the new needs of contemporary living with the charm of Sicilian architecture, in full respect of the structural, material and chromatic pre-existing elements typical of the Sicilian village. The building is spread over three floors and consists of multiple spaces, structured in such a way as to allow the rental of one of the rooms on Airbnb, while maintaining the privacy of the inhabitants of the house.

AIGO has also supported Airbnb with the choice of the candidates. Top criteria: in addition to being of age, the candidates had to demonstrate their willingness to move to Sambuca for at least 3 consecutive months starting from 30 June 2022 and the willingness to rent a room in the house on Airbnb.

Over the time, AIGO has disseminated the project to the media; from the launch of the competition, to the discovery of the house, to the announcement of the winner.

 

RESULTS


Airbnb got almost 100,000 applications (22% of which came from residents of the United States, 15% from Argentina, 10% from India, 8% from Mexico and 5% from France and the United Kingdom). Among these the winner: Eva, Airbnb Superhost resident in the Bordeaux area in France, psychiatrist and yoga teacher, eager to embark on a digital nomad experience with her family, consisting of her husband Mathieu and children Iba, Jeanne and Pierre.

80 million people came across 250 press articles.

 

KEY FACTORS

  • Project linked to the slow tourism trend and the return to rural areas
  • Real people with stories of great impact and interest for local newspapers and media
  • Trasversal themes that involved media related to design, tourism and lifestyle as well as local and national media
  • Different phases of communication contributed to make the media coverage continuous and wide

 

Photo: Claudia Zalla