Marriott Homes & Villas is a place to book homesharing stays. They aren’t a platform like Airbnb, where owners list directly. Instead they source inventory from other platforms like Vacasa, earn a commission, and rebate part of that back to you.
They’re celebrating their fifth anniversary and have a pretty great offer for Marriott elites: 50,000 bonus points for a stay 2 nights or longer with minimum $2,500 spend (excluding taxes, booking fees, cleaning fees, security deposits, and extra add-on services) booked by May 10 for travel May 6 – December 31, 2024. Registration required.
That’s up to 20 bonus points per dollar. I view that as roughly an extra 12% rebate, on top of usual base earning and elite bonuses. Even Bonvoy Silvers can earn the bonus.
I have a couple of stays coming up where there are no viable hotel options, and was planning to look at Airbnb first. At best I’d earn 2 British Airways Avios per dollar there. The same exact properties may not be available, but there are often similar ones, and it’s worth comparing options and all-in pricing. This offer could tip the scales towards Marriott’s booking engine, and should get me to consider a booking over the next week instead of procrastinating. I view 50,000 points as being worth around $300.
When I saw the headline on this post, I was momentarily interested .And then I saw the $2500 minimum (plus fees!). Really, you think this a deal that would likely interest folks? Even if you were a big spender, I am certain you could get a better deal on a nice home rental.
Honestly, I don’t understand this business model, where you take rental listings from other sites and then mark them up. It’s like a business model where you just assume your customers are stupid and hope to make a few bucks on their stupidity. I guess the cost of entry is low, but it certainly isn’t a business I’d get into if I ran a hotel company.
Or find somewhere to rent on VRBO for $1800 with fees for an entire week and save $700 + fees, taxes, etc. I value $700 at $700 + fees, taxes, etc. So it’s like getting an instant rebate on the money, and the taxes and fees.
I do occasionally find a better deal on a rental visa Marriotts homes and villas. Not so much now as I did in years past though.
Marriott homes and villas can be 50% more expensive than that identical property listed on vacasa etc.
No, Marriott Homes and Villas isnt like airbnb. It’s like booking airbnb at a significant mark up thru a middleman who will do absolutlely nothing if there is a problem.
There is no oversight. There is no discernable “curation”. It’s the short term rental equivalent of screen scraping.
There can be opportunities if there is a notable promotion or if using obscure foreign locations to rack up elite qualifying nights at relatively low cost.
As always the truth is in the comments