Marriott Muscles into Home Sharing Space — Should Airbnb Worry?

More than likely, Airbnb saw it coming: a major hotel chain taking the plunge into the home sharing market.

For Marriott International, it’s a plan that’s been in the works for some time, and now other majors like Hyatt and Hilton are considering the same move.

Like the boutique hotel model, which started as a startup strategy and then was coopted by corporate giants, Airbnb laid the foundation for revolutionizing traditional hospitality models, and operators like Marriott have had plenty of time to study the start up’s business strategy. Which markets are the most lucrative and what kinds of properties are the most desirable?

Like Airbnb, Homes and Villas by Marriott allows consumers to drill down preferences by price, neighborhood, amenities, and a robust emphasis on interior styling.

Still, one might wonder if Marriott can able to handle the considerable task of vetting private properties and meeting the much stricter safety guidelines that hotel operators need to adhere to.

In fact, they’re not doing any of it. Marriott is “curating” the properties and setting the standards – it’s regional property management companies, chosen by Marriott, who are doing the heavy lifting.

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Twelve percent of major hotel customers booked with Airbnb last year. And out of all US consumer lodging spending last year, Airbnb made up nearly 20 percent of all accomodation reservations.

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Homes and Villas by Marriott is already live online and taking reservations, and while there will be plenty of travelers who aren’t ready to stray far from a standard Marriott property (Marriott International also includes Sheraton, Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, and Starwood, among others), the company is also hoping this unconventional turn will simultaneously help relaunch and boost their new rewards program called BonVoy – and not a moment too soon.

A home in Palm Springs targets a consumer that seeks both style and pedigree.

It was only last year that Marriott publicly acknowledged that their Starwood rewards program was the victim of a massive cyberattack that compromised up to 500 million members, one of the largest data breaches in history.

So, their new chipper and cheerful BonVoy rewards program will (hopefully) erase all memory of that ugly moment.

Is Marriott a threat to Airbnb? Probably not.

According to Second Measure, a company that analyzes billions of anonymized credit card and debit purchases, twelve percent of major hotel customers booked with Airbnb last year, up from one percent in 2013.

Earlier this year Marriott introduced BonVoy, a product that puts both its hotels and  homesharing under one umbrella.

And out of all US consumer lodging spending last year, Airbnb made up nearly 20 percent of all accomodation reservations (HomeAway, its home-sharing competitor owned by the travel booking site Expedia, brought in 11 percent.)

The larger question is whether the traveler staying in such properties will accept some of the vast differences in the quality of accommodations.

With an ordinary hotel, one already knows what to expect when you open the door to your room. With home sharing, there are a lot more moving parts: furniture and carpets, for instance, don’t always hold up in the same way that hotel furnishings do. Not all appliances will be the same and there are more opportunities for things to break or malfunction.

One other important details is F&B: most travelers expect mini bars and room service. To date, Marriott has no plans to add that as a feature of their program. True, Airbnb doesn’t offer that either, but Airbnb is not a hotel operator.

So consider that as you’re settling into your luxury home rental in Tulum. What will you do when the late-night munchies hit?

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