Originally Posted by
s0ssos
So from reading reports here and other summaries on travel blogs it seems firstly Marriott just is an agent for other rental agencies. So only reason you would use HV is to try to get points.
But Marriott provides no support, even for getting points.
So if you want a long painful process in which you may get points but may not why do HV?
We like the points esp the promos (elite nights).
Another key consideration for us- For CC travel insurance, the HV booking comes up as 'hotel' vs with a home rental group- this means our travel insurance is in effect. AMEX team actually tested this by checking the coding for the charge as it was new territory for the CDN AMEX agent.
Our experience with Marriott is that they indeed hunt down the points and ensure they post (it is apparently a different group so needs to be done manually). I suspect the HV experience will be more streamlined as the program matures.
We also received support from the Marriott HV team when the local agent was not being responsive.
In a couple of comparisons, the HV booking had fewer 'additional fees' than other home rental operations- I suspect this is location specific but good to compare nonetheless.
For now, where there is a HV option in the area we are looking at, we go with it.