Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy (HVMB): Review for Hosts

In times of a big boom of rental companies like Airbnb and more, more and more travellers feel the need for a personal and independent travel experience, no wonder the big players in the hotel industry are also getting interested in the vacation home rental business.

By founding Homes & Villas by Marriott International, now Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy made a big entrance into the home rentals market. Here you will find everything you need to know about Homes and Villas by Marriott Bonvoy (HVMB), as a host or property manager.

Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy business model

Marriott Bonvoy is a global player with decades of experience in the lodging industry. Around 2017, the company found that almost 30% of its members spent their holidays in rental accommodation the previous year.

As a result, Marriott decided to start a pilot programme for home-sharing in the European market. With the final launch of Homes & Villas in 2019, Marriott introduced one of the newest OTA channels in the market.

Just like the other already established OTAs such as AirBnb or Vrbo, HVMB partners with renowned property management companies in the industry. Starting with 2,000 rentals in 100 destinations, HVMB has grown quite fast, listing 110000+ premium and luxury homes in 500+ destinations and 132+ territories and countries by now.

The accommodations listed at Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy are primarily characterised by a high quality and a sense of luxury. The portfolio includes everything from flats to houses or villas around the globe.

Property managers with less high-priced accommodation, however, do not have to shy away from a listing at HVMB. When searching for a vacation rental in Italy’s Tuscany, for example, one can find a stay from €50/per night flat to the €22,000/per night villa.

It is key that the accommodation meets the expectations of the Marriott Bonvoy members, a network that Marriott has built over the years. To ensure properties meet Marriott standards, the company has created an application form for getting listed on its channel, which is part of their evaluation process. Below we present some of these requirements and the benefits of being listed on HVMB so that you are best prepared to join Homes & Villas.

How to list on Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy

To get listed with Homes & Villas, you will need to go through an application process since HVMB wants to ensure all the listings in their portfolio matches Marriott standards.

HVMB application form

Normally, to begin the process, you must contact Homes & Villas by completing their online application form. In that form, Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy will ask you to provide the information required for admission to Homes & Villas.

If you are a customer at Your.Rentals, you can start the application process on the app under the Channels tab. If you meet the main requirements such as wifi, then you will see the logo Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy available for you to click “Apply”. you find Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy just click apply and your application is submitted.

Requirements for listing on Homes & Villas

Homes & Villas portfolio carries premium and high-end accommodations. During the onboarding process the properties are evaluated one by one, to check if they meet Marriott standards, if there are certain things to adjust, or if they just don’t fit.

Even though HVMB does not limit themselves to listing high priced properties only, a premium quality accommodation, amenities, interior or decor is a must. HVMB categorises the properties into two categories: Premium and Luxury Homes.

Premium Homes:

• Consistent design, pleasant environment, offers all amenities required by HVMB standards.
• Every area in the home is clean and offers comfortable quality furniture.

Luxury Homes:

• The home has exquisite design and unique architectural features and has a cohesive flow.
• The home has unique furniture and one-of-a-kind décor.

Here we have collected some of the requirements for listing on Homes & Villas by Marriott.

Main requirements:

• Entire properties – minimum of one bedroom (no studios)
• Linens (already made bed) and towels, furnished
• High-speed Wi-Fi
• Minimal requirement of 15-30 properties in the PM’s portfolio (not if you apply through Your.Rentals)
• Minimal requirement of 6 professional photographs per listing
• 30 days cancellation policy

How to stand out from the competition on Marriott?

Attractive Titles

• Create titles that are attractive to guests.
• Make sure to avoid emojis and abbreviations.

Professional Photos

• Make sure to remove logos and watermarks, or people from the photos.
• The photos do not have to be taken by a professional photographer, but they need to look professional. If needed, hire someone, if you can do it yourself, make it look professional.
• Don’t hesitate to reach out to our team at Your.Rentals to help you take photos that would meet the HVMB standards.

Detailed Descriptions

• HVMB uses professional English on their website due to their guests being mainly native English speakers.
• Make sure to be precise when writing descriptions, possibly without any grammatical error.
• Make sure to describe each and every room, bed types and highlight special features.

What happens after submitting your application?

After you submit your application to HVMB, it takes about 2-3 weeks for them to review your application. After that you will be notified by Your.Rentals on the results of your application.

If you get accepted, the channel HVMB will be active on the website in the Channel Manager.

If your application did not pass the evaluation, you will be provided with the reasons why. You also have the opportunity to apply again once you made the changes based on the reasons for not passing the evaluation.

Benefits of being listed on Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy

Airbnb, Booking.com, VRBO, Expedia – there are plenty of great and well established OTA’s already. So why should you invest time and effort into getting listed on another booking channel? Well, Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy has some solid reasons you should not miss out on!

170 Million+ Marriott Bonvoy Members

As mentioned earlier, Marriott has built a huge community over decades, with over 160 million loyal members who book with Marriott again and again. HVMB states that approximately 90% of vacation rental bookings come from that community.

Being listed with HVMB means that your vacation rentals are presented to a loyal, devoted  and high-quality group of guests that are likely to be hard to reach outside of Marriott.

Marriott brand association

The Marriott company stands for luxury, consistency and operational excellence. When you list your accommodation on Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy, you are instantly embedded in this image of prestige and reliability.

All listings in the Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy portfolio are carefully vetted to ensure the guests’ experiences meet their expectations, resulting in loyal guests who are likely to book again.

Being associated with Marriott can also help you when expanding your property management business, through recommendations from Marriott for the purchase of residential property.

Marriott Bonvoy Points

Members of Marriott Bonvoy earn points by booking their stay, flights, renting cars, going shopping, dining or using partner credit cards. Through the many opportunities to collect points, members accumulate a certain fortune over time that they like to redeem, e.g. for free hotel stays, flights, events or rental cars.

HVMB provides members with a new way to use their points, which they are happy to take advantage of. Paid bookings generate Marriott Bonvoy points and elite nights to reach a higher loyalty status for HVMB members. Even though this is a good opportunity for guests to get discounts on bookings or occasionally free stays, it will not impact your payout as a host or a property manager.

Get started now to increase your bookings and expand your customer base by listing with Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy.

YR-Hack: When you are applying directly to HVMB you will need to have 30+ properties minimum in your portfolio to get listed. If you are connected with Your.Rentals as your vacation rental software, you will be able to get listed with less than 30, even just 1-2 but premium, properties.

At Your.Rentals, we have a professional team to help you review your listings and advise you how to improve it to meet HVMB standards. Even if you do not have 30 properties required by Homes and Villas, we would still be able to help you to list on this one of the major channels dedicated for luxury rentals. Talk to us and check out more details.