Marriott’s response to AirBnb: Tribute Porfolio Homes

While AirBnb has put a major dent in the hotel industry, resistance from industry players is getting organized. A new example with Tribute Portfolio Homes.

Tribute Portolio Homes: from boutique hotel to boutique apartment

We knew Tribute Portfolio, the chain created by Starwood and now under the Marriott umbrella in order to gather typical hotels that retain their personality and branding without having to adopt a whole charter and uniform service protocol.

Now Tribute Porfolio also allows you to rent homes from individuals through Tribute Porfolio Homes.

This offer, which is currently in pilot phase in London, allows hoteliers to offer for rent accommodation that they choose from the catalog of their partner Hostmaker. This model is quite similar to the one implemented by AccorHotels with the acquisition of OneFineStay, but with a notable difference which, as we will see later, may make the difference.

An AirBnb with services

If AirBnb is an undeniable success, it still struggles to seduce a certain clientele that pays particular attention to service. In this regard, Tribute Portfolio Homes provides a hotel level of service above and beyond the rental service.

– The possibility to check in at any time.

– The welcome by a “Welcome Wizard” who will hand over the keys of the apartment and will have a perfect knowledge of the area to give advice to the tenant.

– Specific bath towels.

– Toiletries

– The guarantee of a quality wifi.

– It is possible to have the housework done during the stay for an extra charge.

– 24/7 support in case of technical problems, device failure etc.

– Standardized white bedding.

– The assurance that the apartment has a fully equipped kitchen and some equipment (hairdryer …)

We can see the difference with AirBnb:you are at the inhabitant’s house but you don’t use all the products of the inhabitant: towels, bath products, bedding etc. are provided by the chain and a personalized welcome is assured.

The benefits for the owner are also there with a complete cleaning of the accommodation before the arrival and after the departure of the tenant.

The loyalty program: the one thing that will make the difference.

Why do we believe more in Tribute Portfolio Homes than in AccorHotels’ OneFineStay? Let’s remember that we are talking about a clientele that is attached to a level of service and that is seduced by the fact of staying “at the inhabitant’s house” but with the assurance of a certain level of standing and services. A clientele that has hotel habits and is often a member of a loyalty program.

Members of the SPG and Marriott Rewards loyalty programs (which will merge in August) can therefore use their points to pay for their nights, which OneFineStay already allows. But they will also be able to earn points and credit nights in their loyalty program, which the competition does not offer. So, by homesharing, they do not “lose” nights that allow them to maintain or improve their status. A trade-off that, with this clientele, most often dissuades them from going to AirBnb or OneFineStay and that risks being a truly differentiating element in favor of the Marriott group’s brand, particularly with an Anglo-Saxon clientele that travels a lot for work during the year and that has a culture of brand and loyalty program that the French traveler does not have.

Once again, AccorHotels is tripping up on its loyalty program, which is becoming a recurring weakness for the French hotelier.

One of the reasons for the failure of the hotel marketplace opened by AccorHotels for independents: their non-integration into the AccorHotels Club loyalty program, which was therefore of no interest to the “loyal” AccorHotels customer. We remember that for a while it was not possible to earn points in some chains including Mama Shelter. How to dissuade your customers from using your products.

In short, a pilot that we will follow with attention, hoping to see it extend beyond the English capital.

 

Bertrand Duperrin
Bertrand Duperrinhttp://www.duperrin.com
Compulsive traveler, present in the French #avgeek community since the late 2000s and passionate about (long) travel since his youth, Bertrand Duperrin co-founded Travel Guys with Olivier Delestre in March 2015.
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