Marriott rolls out new partnership with vacation rental platform Sonder

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The world's largest hotel company continues to think outside the box of its traditional brands.

Marriott International announced Monday morning a partnership with Sonder Holdings — a short-term rental platform of apartment-style residential units largely in major cities. The deal encompasses more than 10,500 rooms and is a major boost to Marriott's overall growth, as well as expansion beyond traditional hotel stays. The new offering will fall under the new "Sonder by Marriott Bonvoy" brand.

More than 9,000 Sonder rooms will join the Marriott system later this year, and roughly 1,500 more rooms are in the Sonder development pipeline. Sonder operates apartment-style developments and smaller boutique hotels across North America, Europe and the Middle East.

Marriott Bonvoy members will be able to earn and redeem points on stays at roughly 200 Sonder properties later this year. However, full integration across Marriott's digital platforms won't come until next year.

It was not made public whether Sonder properties, which also appear as Airbnb listings for some units, will continue to list on other short-term rental booking channels following the Marriott integration.

Sonder joins a growing list of Marriott offerings geared toward longer-term stays that are a bit more upscale than its extended-stay brands like Residence Inn and Element. Marriott currently operates brands like Marriott Executive Apartments, Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy and Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy.

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"Sonder has a digital-first operating model and is available exclusively in urban markets, which we expect to appeal largely to younger travelers," a Marriott spokesperson said in a statement to TPG. "This model distinguishes it from Marriott's current longer stay and apartment-style accommodations – such as Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy and Marriott Executive Apartments – but we see it as very complementary to these other brand offerings."

Sonder would also be more of an urban-focused brand compared to Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy. But if you're scratching your head as to why a hotel company like Marriott wants to get into the short-term rental business after the hotel industry fought so hard against entities like Airbnb, there's a key differentiator here. Unlike Airbnb, Sonder owns and operates its properties and registers them as hotels. Thus, it can continue to operate in New York City after the Airbnb ban went into effect last year.

Consider this deal a continuation of the ongoing partnerships-over-mergers trend taking place in the industry, per a Bernstein report out this week. The analysis shows how the Sonder-Marriott partnership is the latest in an ongoing partnership push like that of Hilton and Small Luxury Hotels of the World or Marriott and MGM Resorts International.

For travelers, that means more ways to earn and redeem points in new places, which is always a good thing.

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