Marriott is piloting an interesting combination of hotel loyalty program and peer-to-peer rental lodging. They are offering home rentals on which members can earn Marriott points. And soon it will be possible to pay with points. The service is only available in London right now. It’s administered through the Marriott Tribute Portfolio brand as Tribute Portfolio Homes.
This is particularly interesting for travelers who take advantage of hotel loyalty programs. Airbnb doesn’t yet have a loyalty program, though I suspect they will launch one soon. In the mean time, booking these Marriott rental homes earns 5 points per dollar.
Although these are actual homes of real people, the service includes professional management. It looks like most, if not all homes listed, are either vacation properties or full time rentals. I’m guessing that for now at least this is a requirement of the listing properties.
The homes all come from Hostmaker, and these same homes can be booked through their other affiliates like Airbnb. So if you’re booking an Airbnb in London, check to see if it’s also listed with Marriott so you can earn some points for your expense.
This pilot in London runs until October. If it’s successful I expect we will see Marriott launch home rentals in other markets.
I’m not convinced one hotel brand can support a vacation rental brand. I do think the concept has legs though, but I think it would need to be multiple hotel brands standing behind it (and consumers could pick which loyalty program they allocate the points to).
That said, I like the fact they are trying something.