Marriott has just announced that it is entering the apartment and home rental business through its new brand:
Homes & Villas
. A way to compete in its own way with airbnb? Full details.
Homes & Villas by Marriott
Beginning in early May 2019, Marriott International will launch its new brand: Homes & Villas.
These are not hotels, but apartments and houses! And this concerns no less than 100 destinations (in the United States, Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America).
As part of the launch, there will be over 2,000 units posted.
In fact, this is the official launch after a test phase in 2018 via its“Tribute Portfolio Homes” brand that proved to be very successful:
- 90% of the customers were Marriott Bonvoy members
- 75% were traveling for tourism with family or friends
- stays were generally 3 times longer than those in hotels
Marriott’s objective: to walk on the lands of Airbnb or Sonder by offering accommodations including one or more bedrooms, real kitchens, appliances…. located in tourist destinations and/or in the heart of cities.
A high-end offer
As part of the launch of its Homes & Villas brand, Marriott will tackle the upscale market and include more than 40 new destinations, further expanding its global presence.
So, here are some new destinations sought after by travelers:
- Sorrento, Italy
- The Amalfi Coast, Italy
- North Lake Tahoe, California
- St Barthélémy, Caribbean
Within its offer, Marriott Homes & Villas will propose in addition to the lodgings, activities to decorate the stay. This is reminiscent of what airbnb has been offering for some time!
The goal is clearly to suit families: many homes will include, for example, playrooms and useful accessories for parents!
Services
Unlike Airbnb where the client is generally left to his own devices, but closer to Sonder, Marriott Homes & Villas will offer personalized service.
Thus, there will be:
- a cleaning service on demand
- guaranteed high-speed Wi-Fi
- quality furniture
- accessories for children on request (high chair, cot…)
- 24/7 support
To guarantee this quality service, Marriott has surrounded itself with professionals in the sector (notably concierge services) such as TurnKey Vacation Rentals, LaCure, Loyd & Townsend Rose…
How to book?
Starting May 6, it will be possible to book
on the Marriott Homes & Villas website
.
In addition, people looking for accommodations for 3 nights & more on Marriott’s website will be offeredHomes & Villas.
Marriott Bonvoy with Homes & Villas
Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program members will be able to earn and use points for Homes & Villas.
Here are some benefits for Marriott Bonvoy members:
- the opportunity to earn 5 points/$ on stays at Homes & Villas
- these stays will be eligible for bonus points
- Elite members will be offered an arrival gift as well as other benefits and/or points
Those who use a credit card like the Marriott BonvoyTM American ExpressMD Card will earn 5 points/$ on their Homes & Villas stays.
It will be very interesting to see how Homes & Villas will fit in with the current 8 rate categories of the Marriott Bonvoy program!
| Category | Off peak | Standard | Peak |
| 1 | 5,000 | 7,500 | 10,000 |
| 2 | 10,000 | 12,500 | 15,000 |
| 3 | 15,000 | 17,500 | 20,000 |
| 4 | 20,000 | 25,000 | 30,000 |
| 5 | 30,000 | 35,000 | 40,000 |
| 6 | 40,000 | 50,000 | 60,000 |
| 7 | 50,000 | 60,000 | 70,000 |
| 8 | 70,000 | 85,000 | 100,000 |
A quick search on the Tribute Portolio Homes website already gives us an idea of the cost of these homes, which are obviously not included in the price list. We hope it will be different for Homes & Villas.
Here is a search in London:
The possibility of using points for apartment rentals via Homes & Villas is quite interesting! This can avoid using other types of points as we do today with airbnb via Scotia Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards.
All the more reason to continue earning Marriott Bonvoy points via the three cards below:
airbnb vs Sonder ?
With Homes & Villas, Marriott is getting its foot in the door of apartment and house rentals.
2,000 accommodations worldwide – all the more upscale – is still tiny compared to the 5 million accommodations on airbnb.
The airbnb platform alone contains more accommodations than the 5 largest hotel chains (Marriott, Hilton, IHG, Wyndham, Accor).
However, it is a sign that the hotel industry is trying to fight in its own way the problem of choosing between an apartment and a hotel… especially for families.
So Marriott is not attacking airbnb as a whole, but rather its“Airbnb Plus” branch (airbnb handpicked accommodations)…
…or to companies that have undertaken to modernize the concept of hotel and apartment rentals… like Sonder.
It will be interesting to see what happens next, and especially the response of the other big players in the sector such as Hilton, Hyatt or IHG.
