Marriott is taking aim at Airbnb with a US home-rental platform
Marriott, the world’s largest hotel chain, plans to launch a US home-rental website that would compete with Airbnb, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Marriott reportedly may reveal details about the platform as early as next month.
The company trialed the idea with a six-month pilot program in London that was extended to Paris, Rome, and Lisbon, Portugal, in October.
“One of the reasons we didn’t jump into this quickly is we thought this is a business that is not made for us,” CEO Arne Sorenson said on Marriott’s fourth-quarter earnings call last year.
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Tired of staving off Airbnb’s efforts to poach its hotel guests, Marriott has been preparing to throw down the gauntlet.
The world’s largest hotel chain now plans to launch a US home-rental website, according to The Wall Street Journal, positioning itself as a direct rival to the $35 billion lodging startup.
Marriott could reveal details of the platform as early as next month, according to The Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter.
The initiative follows a six-month pilot program conducted in London with Hostmaker, a home-rental management company, that was extended to Paris, Rome, and Lisbon, Portugal, in October.
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Marriott is launching a home-sharing product in the US – TechCrunch