Marriott is no longer offering hotel rooms for sale on its website. Instead, the company has partnered with Airbnb to offer a listing page that sells Marriott’s best rooms in cities across the world. The idea behind this move is to help users save money and time by cutting out extra steps like making reservations at a traditional travel site.,
Airbnb, not Marriott.com, sells the best rooms at the Marriott Hotel.
on November 6, 2021 by Gary Leff
Homesharing services like Airbnb, rather than the delayed resumption of business travel, may pose the most existential danger to the hotel industry. These platforms enable almost anybody to compete with hotels that have inventory as little as one room.
This increases the quantity of available rooms for rent, the number of rivals in the market (along with product variety), and it does so without requiring nearly the same amount of cash as opening a hotel.
Some hotel companies set themselves apart by providing superior service, while big chains are cutting down on things like daily cleaning and room service in order to save money. This detracts from a hotel’s distinct selling point in comparison to an Airbnb. Other companies are investing in homesharing networks or launching their own. Marriott offers a program called Homes & Villas.
Given the danger that Airbnb offers to the conventional accommodation paradigm, I was startled to see this mentioned in a review of the Moxy Portland Downtown.
There are just 197 rooms at the Moxy Portland Downtown. Despite the fact that the website promises a two-bedroom “Forest Park Suite,” I couldn’t discover any suitable dates to reserve. Surprisingly, I discovered the apartment on Airbnb for $377 per night (excluding occupancy taxes and cleaning fees).
Is the Moxy Portland Downtown offering rooms via Airbnb that it isn’t selling through Marriott.com? Yes, that seems to be the case.
This suite is not only not accessible on Airbnb, but it also does not seem to be available via Marriott’s Homes & Villas. Hotels are normally required to provide their ‘best prices’ via a chain’s booking platform, however it seems that hotels may undercut Marriott channel pricing as long as the price they give to Marriott channels is infinite. This has been going on for approximately six months, according to reviews.
If available, Marriott guests would not be eligible to an upgrade into this suite. However, the pricing does not seem to be too high, and it would be lovely to be able to earn Marriott Rewards points for reserving it. However, since numerous statement credits are available on Airbnb stays, having that route – however strange – may be more pro-consumer than being able to book it via Marriott.
I contacted Marriott to check whether this was something they approved of, but have yet to hear back. They must prefer clients booking Marriott hotels via Marriott, or at the very least be able to claim that it is always feasible.
