Apartments By Marriott Bonvoy: New Brand Concept

All we want is guaranteed platinum elite breakfast at all brands.

Marriott: "How about another brand?"

I am pretty sure they are gonna charge us $400-600 a night to stay at those IKEA furniture apartments. Even though I am an Ambassador Elite, I am happy with Airbnb and Sonder, you always find brilliant apartments in central locations for $130-200/night

Ah, we've finally reached peak Bonvoy. The collision of resort fees AND cleaning fees.

I understand and appreciate the demographic they're going for here, and I'm curious how they'll execute. As a family of 5 it is difficult to find enjoyable properties to stay at. Residence Inn and Towneplace Suites are fine, but have no amenities and are more industrial. Luxury properties are typically focused on regular hotel rooms, with a significant upcharge for a suite that sleeps 5. I would love an accommodation option with multiple rooms for the kids, where we can choose between cooking for ourselves or going out to eat, that has more amenities than what is offered by a RI or Towneplace.

These apartments will have curated local experiences unique to this brand including taking out your own trash in a rancid alley, stripping linens off the beds, and making sure you run the dishwasher before you check out.

You are missing two key points in this write up.

The first is that they are branding it not just "by Marriott" but "By Marriott Bonvoy" - they are clearing trying to distinguish the brand from competition by including the draw of millions of Bonvoy members - this is clearly designed to appeal to developers who want to ensure their assets are full and at high rates. This is the first time Bonvoy has been included in a brand.

The other point is that this is not just some glam version of a Residence Inn (which is an oxymoron obviously anyway) or just some new random brand as you suggest. This is a clear swipe at Sonder (bad IPO), The Blueground (stupid name) and MintHouse (good name) who have a very different business model than a typical hotelier - no F&B, often no front desk, shared resi facilities etc. They do offer housekeeping, contrary to the comment from Russ - they are not Airbnb. Moreover, these new brands are doing deals with residential developers rather than typical hotel developers. Clearly, Marriott does not want to miss out on this growing market segment for both developers and guests - but others are far far ahead in footprint and know-how.

Another point missed - remember… Marriott is a distribution channel first. So is Hyatt. So is Hilton. So is Wyndham. So are any of the other big brands. Their main completion is not really other brands as much as it is Expedia and Booking.com (and all of their partner sites) and the metasearch folks.

No one is really saying Expedia has too many brands. That’s the mindset to take with adding shelf space like all the brands are doing.

Being able to say “there isn’t anything I can’t find on Expedia” is common. People use it that way all the time and then jump to the brand to make the actual booking (by Expedia's measure almost 70 percent of the time). That’s what Marriott wants to be able to do create the first stop because there is everyone in one place. (So do all the brands).

So there is no real need to slow brand expansion.

This is where Arne Sorensen and his competing peers created a large paradigm shift and impact in the hotelier business model.

If this prompts AirBnB to start a loyalty program, it’s a good thing!

Marriott: Taylor Swift is coming to town, we're going to need you to vacate your apartment.

How long before we get 'Spare Bedroom by Marriott", where people rent out a room or a couch on the Bonvoy platform.....

I run the dishwasher before I check out of a Residence Inn, etc. Doesn’t everyone?

What a joke. Just remember, whatever Marriott runs, you are the product and the property owner is the customer.

Personally, I'm waiting for back seats of parked car by Marriott. Or maybe tent encampments by Bonvoy.

I wish Marriott had more brands...
More brands more choices.

I wish Marriott Bonvoy the best, but in the past two years, I’ve lost 15 Suite Award nights because they were denied for every stay I tried, I am only a Titanium Elite for the last 5 years, and I know there are many Ambassador level Elites, but it just speaks volumes that they are adding brands, when maybe they out to be focused on providing world-class service in the brands they already own.

Ah, Bonvoy......striving to become the Lufthansa Group of the hotel world with a tangled mess of generally undistinguished brands that do not produce any meaningful or productive theme.

LOL. Airbnb will "DESTROY" this.

Marriott has lost it’s soul.

I have some partial insight on this. An acquaintance of mine is a lawyer for Marriott corporate and has spent most of his time at Marriott in the legal battle - political or otherwise - "fighting" Airbnb. He's basically a lobbyist in DC for Marriott. Per him, this "brand" has been a long time coming as Airbnb initially was truly eating into the profits of hotel chains. However, as the litany of Airbnb failings has become more front-and-center (ridiculous cleaning fees, lack of customer support when hosts screw over guests, listings looking NOTHING like the actual residence, etc.).

Marriott was ripe to swoop in with their version of an Airbnb for the 25-45 (-ish) crowd that want more than a hotel room but have/had become disenfranchised with Airbnb for the aforementioned shortcomings. I'm squarely in that market segment and loathe Airbnb for the exact reasons listed. Airbnb is simply a credit card processing service at it's best. They have minimal control over hosts and provide next to zero true customer service when one of their hosts breaks rules. So people have been returning to hotels in droves, to a certain degree. But there's still the untapped market of nice/upscale, non-hotel extended stay places that are NOT Airbnb. This is the niche that Marriott intends to fill. I dislike Marriott for a host of reasons but I'd try this out because I travel for work, sometimes for a week or two at a time, and would prefer to have an apartment setup. And it's easier to book a hotel through Concur than it is to try to get HR/Travel to reimburse me for an Airbnb.

This looks great to me. Due to dietary restrictions, I always cook my own food. I will need to see how this compares with a Residence Inn, but if the kitchen is actually stocked with pots and pans, I am all in! Often, I find missing pots and pans and Residence Inn properties or some other kitchen problem.

The concept will compete with Fraser suites, Citadine and similar serviced apartments. Perfect for families, usually with pool, close to restaurants and supermarkets. Great for exploring big cities and a region with daily trips, will never see those in Maldives or other beach vacation spot except Singapore, HKG, Phuket, Kuta.

Recently burned over a million IHG points and close to 1.5 million Marriott as we began to travel full time. Serviced Apartments, Executive Apartments and Apartment Hotels are all pretty much the same category. Every country has their own name and somewhat difficult to find in some areas.

Nesuto (excellent) and Adina (haven't tried yet) are growing in Australia. Too many AirBnB / Sonder horror stories to bother with for a retiree.

5 points instead of 10 per dollar is typical Marriott. I'm going to stay for longer so they want to shaft me because of it . . . For US and Canada it has potential, but Marriott Executive Apartments has under 20 properties.

Marriott Homes and Villas is like AirBnB with Marriott taking a cut, resort fees and crazy cancellation policies.

Vaporoom (aka Microsoft's vaporware) until we can walk thru a door.

P.S. Thanks for the other brand examples folks. Truly appreciated !

I think it depends on the price and the benefits for elite members as well as the location. It could be useful when traveling with a family or kids.

It is weird they use the "Marriott Homes and Villas" logo (an "H" "V" monogram) for a totally new brand whose initials are "AMB", which definitely does not equal "HV". It is also bizarre they are using the same logo for the two, thus effectively conflating a new hotel brand with an OTA product that aggregates people's privately owned houses (that are generally listed primarily on sites like VRBO and Airbnb) via an API. Those are totally different products. Why confuse the consumer?!

I still do not understand the obsession with free breakfast as a benefit for high elite hotel status members. Most of my travel is on business and I can expense breakfast if I want to bother to get up early enough to eat it. I guess most people who are obsessed with free breakfast including most travel bloggers must be one of the 2 traveler types below:
1. Morning people traveling on their own dime.
2. Business travelers on per diem who see free breakfast as a kickback/profit center.

The only time I pay for my own breakfast is if I am on leisure and have significant exercise planned in the morning, so I need the fuel. Even then I usually get cheaper quick service food on my way to ski, hike, etc.

Just what Marriott needs, another brand!

Why the repost?

I actually don't hate this concept. We visit family frequently and would love to stay somewhere we can earn decent points, get nights and have some brand consistency while being able to entertain our families at our place, cook etc. If we had kids this would make life easier too.

I prefer to just show up at the airport and accept offers to rent an apartment from random people in the arrivals area. Just kidding.

I think this has potential to be a great concept. How does housekeeping work? To me, that would be the big differentiator against AirBnB.

@ Kayla -- Because I added details about the first hotel that is opening shortly, as that was just announced.

Because people will stay longer and spend more money, we will give them half the points is a heck of a loyalty strategy.

I’m confused. You state that, “Each apartment will feature a separate living room and bedroom”, but then you describe the first property’s “accommodations run from studios to 2-bedroom units”. Generally a studio unit does not feature a separate living room and bedroom and really is just a glorified hotel room.