“There are many cases where a stay in a house, villa or loft is a better option than a traditional hotel.” Chris Stephenson, Senior Director, Homes & Villas by Marriott International
Marriott is one of the largest hotel groups in the world and has been relying on worldwide experience offers for all subject areas for several years. In 2019, the hotel giant also launched its first private house rental offer, Homes & Villas by Marriott International. How suitable are such homes and destinations for a leisure stay after a business trip? What are the differences to sharing platforms like Airbnb? We spoke with Chris Stephenson (Senior Director, Homes & Villas by Marriott International) and Andrew Watson (Vice President Digital, Loyalty & Portfolio Marketing, Europe, Marriott International) about new opportunities.
Mr. Watson, Marriott International has no fewer than 30 hotel brands with over 7,000 hotels in more than 130 countries and regions. To what extent do you perceive the trend towards leisure travel among your guests? Is Marriott already relying on defined leisure offers?
Andrew Watson (AW, photo left): We have recognised the bleisure trend and offer more than 110,000 Marriott Bonvoy tours and activities in over 1,000 destinations that can be bought or redeemed for points. This is an easy and convenient way to create a little holiday experience at the destination if someone has extra time available during or after the business trip. Also, many of our hotel deals work for Bleisure travel.
We clearly see that over the years consumer spending has shifted to experiences, especially for next generation travellers. They attach greater importance to personal and shareable experiences than to material things such as cars and houses.
Mr Stephenson, Homes & Villas by Marriott International is the first private home rental programme since 2019. To what extent is this also interesting for business travellers?
Chris Stephenson (CS, photo left): With this we are focusing on a special premium and luxury rental offer of curated houses that are professionally managed by real estate management companies. We know that our guests have different travel needs for a variety of occasions. There are many cases where staying in a house, villa or loft is a better option than staying in a traditional hotel.
With Homes & Villas, we have also been offering more than a third of new destinations since the start that we have not had in our portfolio before, including the Amalfi Coast in Italy, North Lake Tahoe in California and St. Barth in the Caribbean. The houses range from a four-bedroom cottage on a 6-hectare private vineyard in California, to an 18th-century Irish castle with a private lake, to a London townhouse with a playroom and a climbing wall. We currently have more than 2,000 homes and villas in over 140 markets, more than 60 of which are new to us.
What experience have you had with this so far?
CS: During our pilot project in 2018, we were already able to establish that almost 90 percent of the guests who booked their own homes in selected European cities were members of our Marriott Bonvoy loyalty programme, and over three quarters traveled with family and friends in their free time. The average guest stay was more than three times higher than a typical hotel stay.
How does your offering differ from homesharing platforms like Airbnb?
CS: We work with a selection of professional management companies for premium and luxury properties. Some of them are also hoteliers who already operate our hotels successfully. They all provide guests with a professional cleaning service, high-speed WLAN, high-quality bed linen and other amenities around the clock. Because standards are important, and we support our offer with the trust of the Marriott brand. This also means that the houses are fully compliant: Every rental property must meet strict quality assurance and safety standards, and our property management partner is responsible for ensuring that we fully comply with local regulations.
After all, our Bonvoy members can also collect and redeem points in the homes. This gives us a wider choice of accommodation to suit a range of travel requirements.
Sylvie Konzack …
is curious to see how the alternative offer of this big “hotel veteran” will develop and is pleased that there are more and more professional private house experience offers that comply with the law and are also suitable for bleisure after a business trip. Serviced apartments, which are currently growing in major German and British cities, are also part of this trend. Here, business travellers can live for weeks in furnished apartments with a certain range of services – in the best inner-city locations, with all the bleisure experience possibilities, without having to check out in between.
Fotos: Marriott International
