Marriott is introducing the “Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy” brand

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Marriott has today put out an announcement to say that it’s expanding its portfolio beyond hotels, resorts, timeshares, and home rentals and that it plans to offer apartment-style accommodations in locations around the world.

Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy

Marriott already offers apartment-style accommodations through its Executive Apartments band and to a lesser degree, brands like Residence Inn, and TownePlace Suites, so you may be wondering how Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy will be different.

Well, this is what Marriott has had to say on the matter:

Marriott plans to introduce Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy in the upper-upscale and luxury segments, distinguished from Marriott’s existing extended-stay brands, with distinctly designed products that reflect the local neighborhood for independent travelers seeking more space and residential amenities.

Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy will feature a separate living room and bedroom, full kitchen, and in-unit washer and dryer, but will be differentiated from Marriott’s existing extended-stay brands by not providing certain traditional hotel services such as food and beverage, meeting spaces, and retail.

Details telling what to expect (and when to expect it) are thin on the ground but Marriott’s development site tells us a little more.

Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy is a soft brand approach to serviced apartments that allows owners the flexibility to build, convert and design independently premium branded residential units and take advantage of Marriott’s distribution and loyalty program at the same time. The brand experience is designed for travelers who enjoy unique, local experiences, but don’t require all the services and amenities associated with a traditional premium hotel.

We can expect to expect travelers to be offered the opportunity to book at locations with a mix of 1-, 2-, 3- bedrooms units, all of which will come with a full kitchen, (i.e oven, dishwasher, stove, refrigerator, etc…) and a washer/dryer.

Developers are also being told that a welcome lounge, gym, and host desk will be required but that food and beverage options are not necessary, meeting spaces are not necessary, and that properties can be served by a “light staffing model” (e.g. 1 host and weekly housekeeping).

Quick thoughts

It’s hard to come to any serious conclusions about Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy without a lot more information but I’m struggling to see how this brand will really differentiate itself from Marriott Executive Apartments.

I’ve stayed at a Marriott Executive apartment property (in Budapest), and that had two bedrooms, two ensuite bathrooms, a living area, and a kitchen with a small fridge, a small dishwasher, a microwave oven, and a small stove, and that’s not too different from what this new Apartments brand is supposed to offer.

Sure, the Apartments brand will probably offer a larger fridge, a larger stove, an oven, and an in-unit washer/dryer (instead of a communal laundry)…but is that really enough of a differentiation?

The biggest issues with the Marriott Executive Apartments brand are that the units cannot be booked with Bonvoy Points and that the brand only operates in a very limited number of locations (just 22 cities worldwide) so this new Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy brand will have to improve on that.

If it does, Marriott may have something useful on the horizon. If it doesn’t, I don’t see the point of this exercise.

Bottom line

Marriott has announced that it’s launching a new Apartments brand but it hasn’t really told us very much more.

Generally speaking, I love the idea of staying in an apartment rather than in a hotel because I usually don’t need most of the added extras that hotels offer, I don’t mind cooking for myself, and I like to interact with as few tourists as possible when I travel.

That makes me the kind of person that Marriott should probably be targeting with this new brand so it will be interesting to see just how well it manages to do that.

The featured image is the Marriott Maui Ocean Club and has nothing to do with the Apartment’s brand…I just needed an image that looks vaguely like an apartment.