F4 EZ EE THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, MAY 8 , 2022
portfolio has grown to 585 cha-
lets, castles, vineyard estates and
other types of boutique habitats
on six continents.
Mandarin Oriental Exclusive
Homes, which launched in March
featuring properties from Stay-
One, and Auberge Resorts Collec-
tion have a more limited menu,
with eight and nine properties,
respectively. Graduate Hotels,
which targets college towns, is
the newest arrival: The company
plans to roll out Graduate Homes
in Oxford, Miss., this fall, just in
time for Ole Miss football season.
So far, four homeowners have
signed up. The rental program is
also recruiting residences in Ann
Arbor, Mich., and Knoxville,
Tenn.
“We are looking for centrally
located single-family homes with
outdoor space and adequate
parking,” Kevin Osterhaus, presi-
dent of Graduate Hotels, said ofthe company’s criteria. “They
must also be unique and upscale.”
The company does not dictate the
decor, but it will provide linens,
toiletries and, if necessary, dish-
ware. It will also assist with
housekeeping and concierge ser-
vices, and even cater meals and
arrange transportation. The
homes, which will rent for rough-
ly $1,500 to $3,000 a night, may
appear on other rental sites, but,
Osterhaus said, Graduate Homes
will retain exclusive rights to the
properties during major college
events, such as graduation and
homecoming.
The hotels do not always have a
lock on the rentals; many pop up
elsewhere online. Mandarin Ori-
ental shares its listings with Stay-
One, which brought its inventory
to the relationship. During my
search for Annapolis digs, I found
several “Marriott” properties on
Booking.com, Vrbo and iTrip Va-cations Annapolis, which manag-
es the Annapolis-area homes and
apartments for the hotel chain.
However, with the curated collec-
tions, you don’t have to slog
through pages of duds to find the
aces; the hotels perform the grunt
work for you. “There is so much
out there — thousands of homes,
shared rooms and basements,”
said Jennifer Hsieh, vice presi-
dent of Homes & Villas by Mar-
riott International, referring to
the less discerning rental sites.
“There is no quality filter.”
Hsieh said Marriott created
Homes & Villas in response to the
booming share economy. “ We s aw
it growing,” she said. A 20 17 sur-
vey of Marriott Bonvoy loyalty
members was also a motivating
factor: Nearly 30 percent of re-
spondents said they had strayed
from the fold to book a private
property. The company hoped to
entice them back with rentalssmoothly. And that’s just one of
the many agencies and nonprof-
its connecting volunteers with
the great outdoors, whether
they’re working on organic
farms, living in lighthouse keep-
ers’ quarters, building “castles”
for oysters, welcoming campers
to campgrounds and so much
more. Tr avelers interviewed for
this story say they’ve found
meaning and community in ex-
change for their time and talents
through volunteering.The mobile life
In 2 005, Keith and Brenda
Krejci retired and traded their
home in Dayton, Ohio, for the
RV life. Along the way, they’ve
found that volunteering offers
a nice change of pace in their
travels, allowing them to meet
people and learn while hooking
up their RV at no charge.
They’ve done stints with FWS,
the Bureau of Land Management,
the Nature Conservancy and
state park systems, sometimes formonths at a time.
Since May 1, they’ve been vol-
unteering with the Oregon Coast
National Wildlife Refuge Com-
plex, where, as interpretive hosts,
they talk to visitors about marine
mammals, shorebirds and tide
pools.
“We’re issued these wonderful
$3,000 spotting scopes — binocu-
lars — and given all the equip-
ment we need. And we’ll set up
where we think there’s an oppor-
tunity for people to see seals, sealions, oystercatchers, things like
that, and let people get a really
close view,” says Keith, 75. “And
then we’ll explain to them what
they’re seeing and answer any
questions they have.” They’ll do
this for about six hours a day, f our
days a week, in exchange for an
RV hookup until Sept. 1. “We find
we work more hours than re-
quired, because it’s just so enjoy-
able,” Keith says.
Donna Carmon, 53, and Kevin
Wade, 58 aren’t quite ready for
the RV life; they both work full
time and are engaged to be mar-
ried, but they live in separate
households. Still, they’ve been
able to sample camper cohabita-tion for the past two years
through a volunteer opportunity
with the U. S. Army Corps of
Engineers. Every weekend for six
months out of the year, they
commute about 30 miles west of
Carmon’s home near Kansas City,
Kan., and live in their camper at a
campground near Clinton Lake,
at no charge, in exchange for 20
hours of volunteering per week.
Carmon works at the visitor cen-
ter, while Wade handles mainte-
nance duties around the park. In
their free time, they boat, fish,
hike and make friends at the
campground. “There’s farm
fields, quiet, cows, the lake, and
SEE VOLUNTEERING ON F5BY KATE SILVERWanted: Camp hosts to serve
one month or more at Hart
Mountain National Antelope Ref-
uge in south-central Oregon.
Duties: welcoming campers and
visitors; sharing information
about the area; and light mainte-
nance, repairs and cleanup
at campgrounds and restrooms.
Applicants should be outdoorsy,
outgoing and open to living in
a remote setting. (The closest
Walmart is about 160 miles
away.) Camp or hook up your RV
at no cost in exchange for 32
hours of service a week. In your
free time, hike amid rugged cliffs
and sharp ridges, soak in hot
springs and spot wildlife —
namely, 3,000-plus pronghorn
antelope, along with sage grouse,
bighorn sheep and hundreds of
other species.
If that sounds tempting, it
is, indeed, a real opportunity
every year via the U. S. Fish
and Wildlife Service (FWS). “It’s
one of the most beautiful places
you’ll be,” says Shannon Ludwig,
refuge manager for Hart Moun-
tain. “Many things haven’t
changed in our part of the
world,” even after settlers arrived.
“That’s what’s so special about
it.” (The 2022 camp host roles
were recently filled but will
be posted again for 2023 at
volunteer.gov.)
In 2 021, more than 16,000
people volunteered for duties
that kept FWS national refuges
and national fish hatcheries
across the country running
How to get a gig in the great outdoors — and maybe a free place to stay, too
ALEX GU/CRYSTAL COAST STARGAZERSDONNA CARMON
LEFT: Being a National Park Service volunteer at Cape Lookout
National Seashore in North Carolina can include living in the
lighthouse keepers’ quarters. ABOVE: Kevin Wade does volunteer
maintenance work at a campground near Kansas City, Kan.ONEFINESTAYBY ANDREA SACHSMarriott International is the
world’s largest hotel company,
tucking travelers into nearly
1.5 million rooms in more than
8,000 properties. Yet, when I
embarked on a recent quest for
accommodations in Annapolis,
the hospitality behemoth did not
lead me to any of its brands —
four in Maryland’s state capital
alone — but to a charming pied-à-
terre with a gourmet kitchen, a
balcony fit for Romeo and Juliet,
and a staff quick to assist with
issues major (unlocking the door)
and minor (locating the ground
coffee).
“Welcome to ‘The Port.’ Our
team is here for you,” read a note
from the owners of iTrip Vaca-
tions Annapolis, the property
management company that over-
sees the home for Marriott. To my
relief, they really meant what
they wrote.
Over the past few years, hotel
chains have been venturing into
the short-term rental market, a
domain long dominated by peer-
to-peer platforms populated by
individuals moonlighting in hos-
pitality. The arrangement is
straightforward: The home-
owner provides the residence,
and the hotel or its industry
partner handles the rest, such as
processing the reservation, rec-
ommending or booking excur-
sions, troubleshooting problems,
tidying up during the stay and
deep-cleaning after checkout.
Tr avelers also receive hotel ben-
efits — loyalty program awards,
access to resort amenities — with-
out having to step inside a lobby.
For instance, vacationers who
book through Onefinestay, the
high-end rental company that
AccorHotels purchased in 20 16,
can earn and redeem points with
Accor’s Live Limitless program.
In L ondon, renters receive special
deals, such as the Pamper Pack-
age, and discounted rates at the
Sofitel London St James, an Accor
brand. Relais & Châteaux, which
has a constellation of five-star
lodgings, pairs its private home
guests with its Michelin-starred
chefs and restaurants.
“Business travelers as well as
many leisure travelers value what
Airbnb lacks and what hotel
brands do best: availability (ho-
tels cannot delist at short notice),
professional hospitality, brand
standards and loyalty program
perks,” said Chekitan Dev, a pro-
fessor at Cornell University’s No-
lan School of Hotel Administra-
tion in Ithaca, N.Y. “This is why
most major hotel companies are
extending their brands into pri-
vate homes.”
Among the handful of players,
Homes & Villas by Marriott Inter-
national boasts the largest inven-
tory and broadest reach, with
approximately 60,000 properties
in about 75 countries, a mix of
vacation rental stalwarts (France,
Mexico, Hawaii) and unusual hol-
iday spots (Qatar, Kazakhstan,
Mauritius). (For context, Airbnb
claims about 6 million listings.)
Accor’s Onefinestay comes in a
distant second with 4,500 homes,
villas and chalets around the
globe. Relais & Châteaux entered
the game in April 2021, and its
that carried Marriott’s seal of
approval, plus the promise of
points.
“Airbnb doesn’t have a loyalty
program,” said Madison Blanca-
flor, an editor with the Points Guy.
“The ability to earn and burn
points, plus the customer support
and service, are major benefits.”
Similar to hotel room book-
ings, Bonvoy-ites can pay for their
rental with points or a combina-
tion of points and cash. They can
also earn points and even pocket
enough rewards to fund a future
vacation. Scott Mayerowitz, exec-
utive editor of the Points Guy,
accumulated $1,220. 75 worth of
Bonvoy points on a five-night
condo rental in Vail, Colo. He
chronicled this impressive feat in
his March piece, “How I triple
stacked and earned 210,000
points and miles on an epic Mar-
riott Homes & Villas booking.”
“Marriott providing a rental
experience and its loyalty pro-
gram is huge,” Blancaflor said.
“But it won’t make sense for every
traveler. People need to do the
math.”
For my maiden rental, I tapped
Marriott because of its extensive
regional options and less strato-
spheric rates. Its search tool pro-
duced 30 options for the Annapo-
lis area, which I winnowed down
to three. Then two, after I deter-
mined that a mid-century ranch
house named Admiral’s Retreat
was too far from the water. Then
one, after my preferred dates for
Eastport Easy, a townhouse with
a neighborly front porch, disap-
peared. When I plugged in the
days for the Port, Marriott’s calen-
dar would accept only a mini-
mum of three nights. Accus-
tomed to n egotiating with Airbnb
owners, I clicked on the “contact
property manager” button and
asked whether I could reserve
two nights. An iTrip Vacations
representative replied with a yes.
Before I could commit, I had to
complete a simple equation. (To
compare apples to apples, I
plugged the three-night rate
quoted by iTrip and Marriott into
the calculator.) ITr ip’s total was
about $300 less than Marriott’s,
but to reap the savings, I would
have to forgo Bonvoy points. As a
lackadaisical loyalty member,
this was not a major sacrifice: I
have only 2,800 points, or $16.80,
which would take barely take a
nibble off the $1, 322 price tag. In
addition, I would earn 4,318
points, or about $26, on the rent-
al, because Marriott grants points
only on the base rate ($863) and
not the extra fees ($152 in taxes
and a ghastly $307 cleaning fee).
I sided with the savings, book-
ing directly with iTrip. Even so, I
owe Marriott for introducing me
to the Port. The one-bedroom
apartment was spotless and styl-
ish. The property management
team was attentive and respon-
sive. And the welcome gift of red
wine and crab-flavored potato
chips was much appreciated, es-
pecially after a sunset stroll
around the harbor.
I returned home relaxed and
enlightened. Going forward, I
will use my membership number
on future Marriott stays, so I can
one day rent a private vacation
home courtesy of the hotel chain.Hotels enter Airbnb territory by o≠ering private homesONEFINESTAYMARRIOTT INTERNATIONALCLOCKWISE FROM
TOP: Villa Misha in
Cannes, France, one of
the offerings from
Onefinestay, the high-end
rental company that
AccorHotels purchased in
2016; Casa Cariba in
La Quinta, Calif., one of
the homes listed for rent
on Homes & Villas by
Marriott International;
Villa Atia i n Lombardy,
Italy, another home listed
on Onefinestay. Over the
past few years, some
hotel chains have been
venturing into the short-
term rental market.