When Chris Stevenson joined Homes and Villas by Marriott Bonvoy in 2019, the portfolio had 2,000 properties. Today, they manage 180,000 homes across thousands of markets.
At a recent Guesty conference in Mexico City, Stevenson, who now leads the entire Homes and Villas business, shared the frameworks behind this expansion. His central message was simple: “All the companies we work with excel as hosts. But the next step is thinking about your brand.”
For property managers competing in an increasingly commoditized market, that distinction will make the difference between building a sustainable business and constantly fighting for the next booking.
Brand identity and selective positioning
With 220 million Bonvoy members globally, Marriott has accumulated decades of loyalty program data and invests in customer research with budgets most PMCs can’t match. Even with all that firepower, Stevenson’s first piece of advice is simple: Get clear about who you’re targeting.
“If you try to be everything to everyone, you won’t mean anything to anyone,” he said. “You’ve got to think about which segments are profitable to you. Sometimes we fall into the trap of chasing a segment because it’s large, but the cost to serve that segment could be really high.”
This is where most property managers get stuck. They know their guests are “families,” or “business travelers,” or “groups.” But that’s not segmentation, that’s description.
Real segmentation means understanding the stay type (work vs. leisure), the experience level guests expect (budget-friendly vs. ultra-luxury), and most importantly, the profitability of serving each segment. Stevenson shared a simple framework: create a grid with stay types across the top and comfort levels down the side. Then plot your customer groups and assign dollar values to each segment.
The revelation isn’t just knowing who your customers are. It’s knowing which customers you’re willing to say no to.
Beyond points: Creating a 365-day loyalty system
Stevenson advises focusing on a loyalty ecosystem – an interconnected web of experiences and partnerships that keep you top-of-mind 365 days a year, not just during the 3-4 nights a guest stays with you.
For Marriott, that meant Starbucks partnerships, Uber integrations, airline miles, credit cards, and even weather insurance through Weather Promise (which compensates guests if their Florida vacation gets rained out more than expected). It’s loyalty architecture, not loyalty programs.
While many property managers can’t replicate that scale, they can replicate the thinking. What local experiences, transportation providers, or activity operators would keep your brand relevant between bookings? More importantly, how do you integrate those partnerships into the guest journey — not just as links in a pre-arrival email, but as part of your brand identity?
This is where systems like Guesty’s CRM come in. Guest preferences are worthless if they’re buried in email threads or scattered across booking notes. You need a centralized system that makes historical data actionable, so when a guest books again, their preferences automatically inform property assignment, pre-arrival messaging, and local recommendations.
The value is in executing on guest preferences in ways that feel personal and integrated, not transactional.
The personalization paradox
Marriott tracks an enormous amount of data. But Stevenson’s most interesting insight was less about what they collect and more about what moves the needle on guest satisfaction. When comparing guests who score them 7-8 out of 10 (ambivalent) versus 9-10 out of 10 (promoters), the difference isn’t cleanliness or location or even price. It’s personalization.
The problem, according to Stevenson, is that most PMCs collect data but don’t execute on it. Guest preferences sit unmined in various systems. The opportunity lies in smarter data activation. When a repeat guest books again, you should immediately know they extended checkout last time, requested extra towels, and mentioned celebrating an anniversary. That context transforms how you communicate and what you offer, but only if it’s accessible when it matters.
From transactions to relationships
The most compelling data point Stevenson shared was this: Guests who stay in both Marriott hotels and Homes and Villas properties spend twice as much annually compared to hotel-only guests.
Stevenson attributes this to trust. Loyal customers trade up in ADR over time and purchase more services, such as private chefs, transportation, and premium amenities. Building that trust requires moving beyond transactional thinking to investing in genuinely understanding your guests and showing up for them consistently.
Four frameworks to get started
If you’re looking to move from host to brand, here are the frameworks worth adapting:
1. The segmentation matrix
Create a simple grid: stay types across the top (work, leisure, celebration), experience levels down the side (budget to luxury). Plot your customers. Assign revenue values. Pick the profitable segments you can actually reach. Share this across your entire team so everyone knows who you’re building for.
2. The brand strategy house
Start with vision (where you want to be in 5 years) and mission (how you’ll get there in 1-3 years). Then define your brand promise: a simple statement everyone in your company can repeat. Consider what you want to be known for.
3. The loyalty behavior framework
Forget points. Think about behaviors you want to encourage. For example, if you aim for longer stays, higher-tier properties, pristine property returns, and early bookings, design benefits around those behaviors. Early check-in, late checkout, welcome amenities, priority booking for peak dates.
4. The 365-day ecosystem
Map out every touchpoint in the guest journey. Think beyond booking to checkout, but the 362 days between stays. Where can you add value? What partnerships keep you relevant? How can you turn occasional transactions into ongoing relationships?
Playing the long game
The shift from host to brand requires making strategic decisions that may initially feel restrictive: narrowing the segments you target, investing in partnerships that don’t immediately show ROI, and building systems that take time to show results. As Stevenson noted, Marriott has a saying: “Success is never final.” You can’t just implement a strategy and check the box. You have to continually refine, test, and evolve.
The property managers who thrive in the next decade won’t be the ones with the most inventory or the lowest OTA commission rates. They’ll be the ones who built brands that guests want to return to because they’re building relationships. That’s not host thinking. That’s brand thinking. And it might be the only sustainable competitive advantage left.
Ready to move from host to brand? Guesty’s CRM and analytics tools help you track guest preferences, personalize experiences, and capture more revenue per relationship—not just per booking. Learn more.
Seasoned content writer with a passion for media, the written word, and crafting compelling narratives that educate, build trust, and deliver lasting value.
