Marriott Bonvoy Steps Into the Outdoors With New Platform and Collection
Marriott Bonvoy is moving into adventure travel with a new booking platform and Outdoor Collection brand, linking cabins, boutique hotels, and curated experiences directly to its loyalty program.
Ta’aktana, an Indonesian Luxury Collection property, known for its surrounding world-class scuba and snorkeling. Photo: Courtesy of Marriott International
Marriott International is widening its reach with a new focus on adventure travel. This week, the company unveiled Marriott Bonvoy Outdoors, a digital platform that helps travelers find destinations by the activities they want to pursue—whether that’s skiing, surfing, diving, hiking, or paddling—rather than by geography alone.
The launch also includes a new portfolio, the Outdoor Collection by Marriott Bonvoy. Its first partners, Postcard Cabins and Trailborn Hotels, show how Marriott is approaching the space. Postcard Cabins offers more than 1,200 Scandinavian-inspired cabins in 29 U.S. locations, usually within a short drive of major cities. Trailborn Hotels is a boutique brand with properties located near the Grand Canyon, Wrightsville Beach, and other destinations where architecture, local culture, and access to nature converge.
The platform pulls together more than 450 hotels, 50,000 Homes & Villas listings, and curated tours, but the shift is in how that inventory is presented. Instead of browsing by city, travelers can start with the experience they want and see which Marriott properties connect directly to it. Marriott has also partnered with Outside Interactive to add Bonvoy Moments—like kayaking Hanalei Bay in Hawaii or snorkeling in Belize—that tie in with the outdoors theme.
For Marriott, the timing is calculated. Outdoor travel surged during the pandemic and has remained strong, as cabins, lodges, and soft-adventure trips transitioned from a niche to a mainstream market. Until now, these kinds of stays were often booked outside the chain hotel world. By linking them to Bonvoy, Marriott ensures that a weekend in the woods or a surf break can still earn points, keeping travelers within its ecosystem.
The consumer-facing “Drop Pin Challenge,” a point giveaway led by outdoorsman Dylan Efron, is designed to draw attention. But the broader play is about scale: pulling smaller, outdoor-focused brands into Marriott’s orbit and presenting them in a way that feels easy to book, repeat, and reward.
In short, Marriott is attempting to claim a corner of the market that has been dominated by independent and niche operators. With loyalty, distribution, and global recognition behind it, the company is positioning outdoor adventure as the next category it wants to own.
