Rent the Runway Partners With W Hotels on Clothing Rental Service

Clothing and accessories rental subscription service Rent the Runway has teamed with Marriott International’s W Hotels brand to launch a rental experience at four locations: W Aspen in Colorado, W South Beach in Florida, W Washington D.C., and W Hollywood in California.

RTR Closet Concierge, which launched on Dec. 5, enables visitors to these hotels to have the option, upon arrival, to pay a $69 fee and pick four styles to rent for four days from Rent the Runway’s Unlimited Closet curated selection to wear during their stay. Guests have access to the entire Unlimited Closet, in addition to being able to select clothing from a destination-ready assortment tailored to each W hotel location incorporating Rent the Runway’s proprietary data on trending colors, designers, silhouettes and the climate of each location. Rent the Runway will ship the items to W Hotels, where they will be delivered to one’s hotel room. At checkout, guests drop off the items at the Welcome Desk. There's also an eight-day option.

Rent the Runway will also have “mini closets” stocked with various outfits at the four hotels, in case sizes don’t work, or in case users want to add on additional items during their stay. According to CNBC, Maureen Sullivan, Rent the Runway's COO, said the plan is to grow to other properties in W Hotels’ portfolio over time. And she added that Rent the Runway is exploring other businesses to work with in a similar fashion.

Total Retail's Take: The RTR Closet is a great union for Marriott and Rent the Runway for various reasons. For Rent the Runway, it's a unique customer acquisition tool as well as a value-added loyalty tool for the company's already existing customers, many of whom may travel frequently. It also seems to fits well with Rent the Runway's expansion plans. For example, the company has drop-off boxes in certain WeWork and Nordstrom locations, in addition to its growing fleet of stores in New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Washington, D.C. For Marriott, the Rent the Runway brand is a perfect fit as the company is looking for ways to give its guests new experiences. Marriott has 25 W hotels in the U.S. and 55 hotels worldwide, and if it works, I'm sure the plan is to offer the clothes beyond this branded chain to other Marriott divisions.