Earlier this week the Wall Street Journal broke the news that Marriott will next week formally announce that it is entering the home-sharing market.
The company with more hotel brands than any other will soon offer 2,000 "high-end" homes for short-term rental in the US, Europe and Latin America. The initiative follows a six-month trial in London, Paris, Rome and Lisbon.
Airbnb's meteoric success was built on its recognition that travellers wanted to stay in a home with character rather than a hotel room. As with the demand for low-cost carriers, its popularity started in the leisure market and then spread to business travel.
This was for two very good reasons: the changing profile of business travellers and the variable and changing profile of business travel itself.
Younger travellers are keen to have an "authentic" experience when they travel, even when they travel for business. They want to combine business trips with experiencing what other cities are about rather than spending their evenings in anonymous expense account restaurants. That demand is evident in some new hotel brand launches such as Hilton's Motto. That trend is also exacerbated by the inexorable rise of bleisure.
There is also the issue of trip profiles and trip objectives. Full-service hotels offer all the support necessary for stays of three nights or less but some business trips such as those made by auditors and management consultants can last for weeks. Wanting somewhere homely like a serviced apartment or a home rental comes into its own for such trips. This is also the case for employees going on training courses. Groups — maybe attending a conference — may also prefer to stay together in one property where there will be no worries about any conversations being overheard by someone on an adjoining hotel bar stool.
The business story is that lines of demarcation continue to blur. Airbnb is the ultimate sharing economydarling. To attract investment for its imminent float, which is expected to value the company at north of US$30 billion, it has broadened its business model to include the traditional hospitality sector. Last month it acquired Hotel Tonight whose app allows a traveller to find last-minute bargain room rates.
By the same token Airbnb's success has tempted hotel companies to dabble in home-sharing but these have been limited or, in the case of Accor's acquisition of Onefinestay, financially unsuccessful.
The Marriott initiative is more threatening because it not only acknowledges the demand for the home-sharing option, but also addresses — whether by design or accident — Airbnb's perceived limitations by the corporate travel management fraternity, namely duty of care, booking platform and data and loyalty points.
Duty of care obligations have meant that some travel managers have had concerns about Airbnb properties because it lacks independent vetting processes to ensure its properties are compliant to local fire and health and safety regulations. Marriott aims to vet these properties as it does for its hotel properties.
They will also be on the Marriott booking platform so there will be no issues around data collection.
Having all accommodation options on a single platform also means that travellers will be able to collect points for their business stays that can subsidise a beach resort holiday. That will promote compliance.
The initial content, although not officially released, looks biased towards leisure travel but make no mistake — the model is made for corporate travel.
It's time to start your homework on hotels' home-sharing options.