Back in mid-2023, Marriott announced plans to launch StudioRes, its new “basic” extended stay hotel brand. As usual, it takes some time from when a brand is announced, until the first property actually opens.
With the first StudioRes property opening in the near future, Marriott has today revealed what Bonvoy members can expect when staying at StudioRes properties, and I’ve gotta be honest… this is kind of wild.
In this post:
Marriott will offer no elite nights, 4x points, at new brand
Marriott has revealed what Bonvoy members can expect when staying at StudioRes properties. Most significantly:
- Bonvoy members won’t earn any elite nights for stays at StudioRes properties; most brands offer one elite night per night, and in 2023, we started to see one elite night for every two nights at select brands (and that only started in 2023)
- Bonvoy members will earn 4x points per dollar spent; stays at most brands earn at least 5x points, and stays at most full service brands earn 10x points
- Bonvoy members won’t earn elite bonuses on those 4x points, so even elite members won’t earn more points per dollar than that
- Spending at StudioRes properties will count toward the Ambassador spending requirement, which is currently $23,000
The one exception on the above is that Marriott Executive Apartments has offered one elite night for every three nights stayed, plus 2.5x points per dollar spent.
For some context on StudioRes, I mentioned above how this is a “basic” extended stay brand. At least when it was first announced, Marriott stated it hoped most guests would stay 20+ nights, and would be spending around $80 per night, depending on the market. However, there’s nothing preventing people from making shorter stays, so I have to imagine the average length of stay will be way lower than that.
What this Bonvoy policy says about Marriott’s growth
In isolation, Marriott’s 32nd brand having some strange policies when it comes to Bonvoy participation might not seem like a huge deal. But when you step back and look at the big picture, I think this perfectly sums up the “growth at any cost” ambition that we’re seeing at the major hotel groups.
Is Marriott Bonvoy a loyalty program that’s intended to get heads into Marriott beds, or is Marriott fundamentally an online travel agency, that’s just looking to take a commission on anything it can sell to members? It sure seems like the latter is the case.
Keep in mind you can earn elite nights and points at a faster pace when renting a home through Marriott, than you do staying at some of the brand’s hotels.
I thought it was a little extreme when Marriott started awarding half elite nights for certain brands, because elite nights are supposed to represent, you know, nights. But to see no elite nights at all for a Marriott brand… huh?!? Like, not even a quarter of an elite night, or one tenth of an elite night?!
The irony here is that Marriott Bonvoy will give away Platinum status with a credit card, and despite elite ranks being swelled, seems to offer an extended double elite nights promotion most years. Yet now we’re suddenly seeing the company get cheap with one of its newly formed brands.
What this ultimately comes down to is that Marriott wants to grow at any cost. The company wants to grow its net room count as much as possible, and wants to capture as much share of wallet for travel as it can, even if its not for its own hotels.
Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano isn’t even secretive about this. As he has said (jokingly), “I worry they’re going to put a ‘net rooms growth’ figure on my tombstone.” And more seriously, he has also said “we want to capture as close to 100% of your travel wallet as possible.”
So yeah, I guess that’s how we end up with situations like this. Clearly Marriott wanted to make the new StudioRes brand as low cost and attractive to developers as possible, and that came at the expense of loyalty perks. As usual, Marriott’s real customers are developers, and we’re just the product. But in this case, Marriott took it to the extreme with what it’s offering developers, if you ask me.
One wonders how members will respond to this. Marriott’s power comes down to its huge membership base, of over 200 million members. Will guests still blindly choose Marriott even without elite nights, or is this the point where members will draw the line?
Bottom line
Marriott’s new StudioRes brand is launching soon, and it represents a new low when it comes to Marriott Bonvoy participation. Stays at the budget extended stay brand won’t offer any elite nights, and will just offer 4x points per dollar spent, with no elite bonuses.
It’s disappointing to see this, but I also can’t say I’m surprised. Marriott wants to grow its room count at any cost, and I suppose Marriott thinks that hotel owners want a really low cost, high margin brand. Let’s see how members respond.
What do you make of these Bonvoy perks at StudioRes properties?
I agree with the comments that this brand is likely geared toward business travel departments that (may even contract with Marriott but) don't really care about Bonvoy points. I do think it's interesting that it feels like Marriott has been really doubling down on business travel at times when Hyatt and Hilton definitely seemed to be comparatively focused on leisure.
I've said for awhile that Marriott's greatest strength is it's corporate ties and contracts...
I agree with the comments that this brand is likely geared toward business travel departments that (may even contract with Marriott but) don't really care about Bonvoy points. I do think it's interesting that it feels like Marriott has been really doubling down on business travel at times when Hyatt and Hilton definitely seemed to be comparatively focused on leisure.
I've said for awhile that Marriott's greatest strength is it's corporate ties and contracts with several major employers (plus strong in-roads with several governments). This brand continues to highlight that after property owners, Marriott's secondary customers are corporations - not any individual traveler.
Maybe if I stopped getting Bonvoyed then I would consider giving Marriott more wallet share.
I need to shed one group of hotels soon. Dropped Hilton and looks like Marriott is next.
I suspect that points don't matter in this segment of the market. Think about the folks who stay in "basic" extended stay hotels. Many are specialty construction workers or other similar tradespeople working on finite projects that might last a few days to a few weeks. These folks usually don't book their own travel; rather, a corporate travel specialist books the rooms. The construction worker isn't the customer. The travel specialist is, and their performance...
I suspect that points don't matter in this segment of the market. Think about the folks who stay in "basic" extended stay hotels. Many are specialty construction workers or other similar tradespeople working on finite projects that might last a few days to a few weeks. These folks usually don't book their own travel; rather, a corporate travel specialist books the rooms. The construction worker isn't the customer. The travel specialist is, and their performance is judged on keeping costs low.
Exactly - we talk about developers being the customers, and stayers being the product, but there is a fourth party: who foots the bill.
My guess is that the proportion of stayers bearing the cost themselves is even lower in extended-stay hotels than city-centre standard hotels.
At the Residence Inn where I have done >100 nights in the last year (which I charge to my client), about 50 of the 150 rooms are...
Exactly - we talk about developers being the customers, and stayers being the product, but there is a fourth party: who foots the bill.
My guess is that the proportion of stayers bearing the cost themselves is even lower in extended-stay hotels than city-centre standard hotels.
At the Residence Inn where I have done >100 nights in the last year (which I charge to my client), about 50 of the 150 rooms are occupied by workers on the railway - reception tell me that several of them are Ambassadors, which at <$120 per night means they must have done c200 nights last year.
I certainly didn't choose the hotel based on anything to do with loyalty - when one is staying for a long time one wants the setup that one finds most comfortable and convenient - after googling, I physically visited six one morning in the first week before deciding to which one to move.
"around $80 per night, depending on the market"
is really code for
"you are in the US, so we meant $200."
Yup... $80 for the room, plus the state sales tax, state tourism board levy, local sales tax, local occupancy tax, local tourism development board tax, resort fee, and $20+ for the car park.
Parking cost seems to be a Marriott specialty vs other brands. In airport areas I understand (only way to fend of cheaters looking for free long term parking), but beyond the airport reach?!
1) The vast majority of these hotels will be built by owner who already have nearby Residence Inn, Fairfield, Courtyard, etc. So Marriott loyalists that want points and elite nights should have options in these markets. Remember that this brand was basically created by those owners
2) That said, I must say that Hilton and Hyatt have done a better job in recent years in adding brands most of their *guests* will actually want...
1) The vast majority of these hotels will be built by owner who already have nearby Residence Inn, Fairfield, Courtyard, etc. So Marriott loyalists that want points and elite nights should have options in these markets. Remember that this brand was basically created by those owners
2) That said, I must say that Hilton and Hyatt have done a better job in recent years in adding brands most of their *guests* will actually want to stay at. Hilton is doing the mid tier stuff too, but they also added SLH and Graduate, both of which are cool brands people want to stay at. Hyatt is trying to do interesting things in all inclusive and some of their niche brands. Marriott hasn’t done that much exciting since AC and Moxy, both of which were done years ago
Why even put this brand in Bonvoy? They could just make it like Bulgari. Exempt from Bonvoy.
The whole point of Bonvoy is to drive loyal customers to a property they might not otherwise book. If you aren’t going to get any benefits, why brand as Bonvoy? This kind of brand is competing with Extended Stay America and like Red Roof Inn.
And not having a front desk staffed...
Why even put this brand in Bonvoy? They could just make it like Bulgari. Exempt from Bonvoy.
The whole point of Bonvoy is to drive loyal customers to a property they might not otherwise book. If you aren’t going to get any benefits, why brand as Bonvoy? This kind of brand is competing with Extended Stay America and like Red Roof Inn.
And not having a front desk staffed 24/7 seems like a recipe for disaster. I wonder how much the insurance rates go up if there’s no staffed front desk?
Loyalty programs are, broadly speaking, in a slow race to the bottom... trying to see how little they can mete out. And at first, it won't have much of an impact, and the bean-counters will declare it successful. But loyalty is built over decades, not over quarters, and 20 years from now, this will come back to bite.
Loyalty to hospitality companies is overrated anyway. Just go with the best value rates/redemptions. Right now for me that's Hilton due to them having the best hotel CC on the market (Aspire), followed by Hyatt because of best rate point redemptions. But if that changes, I'll jump ship to Marriot. There's not a whole lot of difference between the premium properties at the big three regardless.