Marriott’s CEO on Why the Company Maintains a Narrow, High-End Focus on Homesharing
Photo Credit: Marriott plans to maintain only a luxury presence in the short-term rental sector. Flickr / VisitPlano
Skift Take
Marriott leaders like some aspects of the short-term rental business, but that doesn’t mean they want to go all Airbnb and start renting out your spare bedroom.
The chief executive of the world’s largest hotel company sees plenty of reasons to get into the short-term rental market. But going directly head-to-head with Airbnb isn't part of the plan.
Marriott entered the short-term rental sector last year with Homes & Villas, a homesharing brand offering only entire high-end homes for rent. The platform went from 2,000 listings in 2019 to around 12,000, as of October. Despite the rapid growth, Marriott leaders frequently mention on quarterly earnings calls that Homes & Villas remains a very small part of the company’s total revenue.
That size cap appears to be intentional.
“It was clear to us the homesharing space included a business that was attractive to us and a business that was not attractive to us,” Ma
