Rentyl teams with Marriott’s Homes & Villas for home rental

KISSIMMEE, FL—Rentyl, a company that provides luxury vacation home communities with resort amenities, and its portfolio of homes and cottages are now available on Marriott International’s recently launched home-rental platform, Homes & Villas by Marriott International.

For Nick Falcone, managing principal, Rentyl, the partnership and Marriott’s launch of the platform are signs that the market for vacation homes continues to grow and that hotel companies are taking notice. “Depending on how different hotel companies want to get into the vacation home market, there are a lot of different ways to do it, from the Airbnb model to Marriott’s,” he said. “Each one of them presents it slightly differently. Marriott’s spin is they are only working with professional management companies to try and keep the standards to a higher level.”

Per the agreement, Homes & Villas by Marriott International will offer Rentyl-managed properties in the Greater Orlando area, including Encore Resort at Reunion, the Cottages at Margaritaville Resort Orlando and the company’s soon-to-open The Bear’s Den at Reunion and Spectrum+ at Reunion Resort. These properties range from a premium two-bedroom condo to a 13-bedroom home, all set in self-contained resort communities, close to main Orlando attractions.

“Every one of our properties is unique and has a different brand identity and story behind it,” said Falcone. “With those brands, we will be replicating them around the country. They all have their unique features, but one consistency behind all of them is that they are not timeshares. There are some people who actually live in these communities, but a majority of the community is people who are looking to rent them out.”

Once the resorts are purchased, owners who wish to rent them become part of Rentyl’s branded vacation homes resort program. “We manage the units for them and then Rentyl is our brand platform,” he said. “That is where we do all of our marketing, sales and brand identity. Not only do these resorts have great accommodations that are consistently branded and standardized, but the key to all of our properties is that each one of them has amazing features that you would expect at a great, world-class resort.”

He continued, “For example, at Encore Resort at Reunion, we have a full-size water park on property. We have multiple restaurants at every property. We have spa services. We have a 24-hour front desk, concierge and services. It is not like going to a home where you have to go to Walmart to get everything you need. We really cater the experience for the guest and bring the best of both worlds when it comes to hotels and vacation homes together under these resorts.”

Falcone said that this type of vacation rental will be attractive to guests and the hospitality industry going forward. “We are really trailblazing a new way to present vacation homes,” he said. “I even consider it a new industry within travel because we are very different from a vacation-home product. We are going to see more of that full-service-experience home product out there as we continue to move forward into the future. I don’t think that is going away. I do feel that, as people like us start to develop more of a full-service experience in vacation rental, it will become more competitive, where it is not just going to be about providing a great home, but also providing a great experience.”

Rentyl gets a number of benefits from being a part of Homes & Villas. “Obviously, we now have another third-party booking channel,” he said. “In my opinion, when you look at Marriott and the reputation it has in the travel industry, it is hard to find a better third-party partner for increasing reservations and bringing more revenue to these homes, which affects both us and the owners of the home. That is the immediate, no-brainer impact that they bring to the table.”

On the platform, Rentyl is now exposed to a customer base that may not have considered them before—Marriott Bonvoy members who can earn loyalty points with each stay and use points for their stay at rental properties. “I think it is amazing exposure to a clientele that maybe wouldn’t be looking at this,” said Falcone. “The loyalty members at Marriott are very loyal—no pun intended. They really do stick with the Marriott brand and the ability to utilize their points. The fact that now we are associated with Marriott, and people in the loyalty program are able to utilize their points to book our homes, that really brings exposure to 120 million-plus people who may not necessarily have been looking for our product because we weren’t in the network previously.”

Being a part of the program, including passing Marriott’s rigorous approval process, was a validation for the hard work the company has put in since its founding more than four years ago, according to Falcone. “All of our homes had to be looked at—our safety policies, our procedures,” he said. “What I was very proud of is that every time that we met with Marriott, every approval, everything we went through, we were met with, ‘Wow, your standards are better than anyone we have seen. You exceed in a lot of ways the standards we require for the program.’ There was a great validation there that I am proud of; I am excited for the consumers to understand those standards that we bring to the table, which is validated by this partnership.” HB