Marriott Unveils New Home-Rentals Brand

Main Photo: A typical lounge at Marriott’s new Homes & Villas offering

Date: April 2019

Location: 100 destinations throughout the United States, Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America.

Name: Homes & Villas by Marriott International

No. of Keys: 2,000

Who and What: The world’s largest hotel company now has a home-rentals brand, with Marriott International launching its new Homes & Villas by Marriott International. The initiative currently contains more than 2,000 offerings in 100 destinations that it terms “premium and luxury homes.”

Starting next week when the offering launches, members of Marriott Bonvoy can earn and redeem points at these highly-curated homes, providing even more choice of accommodations that suit a range of travel needs around the world.

“The launch of Homes & Villas by Marriott International reflects our ongoing commitment to innovation as consumer travel needs evolve,” said Stephanie Linnartz, Global Chief Commercial Officer, Marriott International. “What started out as a pilot a year ago is now a global offering, providing our guests with the space and amenities of a home backed by a trusted travel company”.

Marriott’s expansion into home rentals was developed as a result of the 2018 pilot under the brand extension Tribute Portfolio Homes. Of the guests who booked a home during the pilot, which was only available in select European cities, nearly 90 percent were members of Marriott Bonvoy and over three-quarters were travelling for leisure with family and friends.

During the pilot, the average guest stay was more than triple the typical hotel stay. These insights, along with Marriott’s commitment to providing travellers with unique and different accommodations including spacious homes with one or more bedrooms, large kitchens, in-unit laundry and more, played an important role in guiding the selection of luxury and premium homes, as well as the key leisure markets available at launch that complement the core offerings of Marriott’s hotel portfolio.

The introduction of Homes & Villas by Marriott International adds nearly 40 new leisure destinations for Marriott Bonvoy members to earn and redeem points, including Sorrento, Italy and the Amalfi Coast, Italy; North Lake Tahoe, California; and St. Barts in the Caribbean.

This curated selection of homes aims to connect travellers to thousands of rental properties around the world and sets the stage for guests’ most treasured travel moments – home-cooked dinners with extended family, lawn games in the backyard or celebrating a milestone birthday with family and friends. Homes include:

– A four-bedroom cottage on six private acres of California wine country.
– A six bedroom villa in Sorrento, Italy with an infinity pool overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and a wood-fire pizza oven.
– An oceanfront villa in Anguilla with private beach and a personal butler and house staff.
– A 18th century Irish Castle that sleeps 17 and features a private lake for boating and fishing.
– A six-bedroom townhouse in London with a children’s playroom and climbing wall.

Marriott is launching Homes & Villas by Marriott International with select property management companies that are already managing these homes.

These property management companies provide guests a professionally cleaned home with 24/7 support, high speed Wi-Fi, premium linens and amenities, and family-friendly conveniences upon request.

At launch, the property management companies selected by Marriott include TurnKey Vacation Rentals, LaCure, Loyd & Townsend Rose, Veeve, London Residents Club as well as current hotel owners and operators like Mainsail Lodging, and Reserva Conchal.

Over time, Marriott expects to introduce Homes & Villas by Marriott International in additional markets as well as increase the number of homes offered in these launch destinations.

“Our approach to home rentals allows us to curate an incredible collection of homes that deliver an elevated travel experience,” said Jennifer Hsieh, Vice President, Homes & Villas by Marriott International.

“By working with a select group of professional management companies that understand and operate in this dynamic landscape, we are able to focus on what we do best – selecting a breadth of homes in inspiring destinations, setting standards for responsive service and designing a seamless booking experience that helps our guests navigate an increasingly complex and uncertain set of home rental choices.”

Travellers can book at www.homesandvillasbymarriott.com. Travellers searching on Marriott.com for accommodations for three-plus nights in markets where home inventory exists will see links to Homes & Villas by Marriott International, promoting home rentals as an offering to meet their needs.

Marriott is in the process of determining how it will sell Homes & Villas by Marriott International through other channels, including the Marriott Bonvoy app and travel advisors, and will provide an update in the near future.

Airbnb, the world’s largest home-rental platform, boasts as many as 6 million rentals globally.

THPT Comment: Marriott take on Airbnb….Interesting times. They conducted their pilot, in which it rented 340 properties, in Paris, Rome, Lisbon and London.

Hyatt and Hilton greeted the news of Marriott International’s move deeper into homesharing by commenting that they would not be following suit……yet!

First Seen: Hotel News Now

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