Marriott to expand into home-sharing

World
Europe

Marriott is pushing more heavily into home-sharing, confident that its combination of luxury properties and loyalty points can lure travelers away from rivals like Airbnb.

The world's biggest hotel company will start taking reservations this week for 2,000 homes in 100 markets in the U.S., Europe and Latin America. It plans to expand its Homes and Villas program to other locations.

For its part, Airbnb is encroaching further into hotels. On Monday, the San Francisco-based company said it's working with a New York real estate developer to establish a 10-story hotel with 200 suites in Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan. The suites will only be available through Airbnb's website.

Airbnb, which plans to go public but hasn't made clear when, also acquired Hotel Tonight, a last-minute booking service, in March.

Airbnb and Marriott will always have separate core strengths, but the convergence will continue, predicts Daniel Guttentag, an assistant professor of hospitality management at the College of Charleston School of Business

However, both face risks when tempting to step onto the other side of the grass.

For Marriott, scale of its new landform cannot match up to Airbnb, which boasts six million listings worldwide, or Booking.com, which has listings in 220 countries. The homes in its program aren't even exclusive Marriott properties. Marriott is partnering with rental management companies to handle the maintenance and cleaning.

On top of that, the biggest risk to Marriott is probably its reputation, said Guttentag. If something bad happens at a rental property, Marriott may not be able to fix it quickly.

For Airbnb, the risk is that it will lose its aura of coolness and authenticity and become just another big company offering hotel rooms, said Guttentag.

(Cover photo: A Marriott logo hangs on the side of a hotel in New York, February 9, 2006. /Getty Images)

Source(s): AP