Photo by Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) Marriott International is expanding its home-sharing business to the US, becoming the latest hotel operator to challenge Airbnb at its own game and blurring the distinction between home-sharing and the traditional hospitality companies.

Marriott, the world's largest hotel company, plans to expand the home-sharing pilot it launched in Europe last year to the US, adding 2,000 home rentals in vacation destinations such as Lake Tahoe and Bar Harbor, Maine. The initiative is small—the company has 1.3 million hotel rooms around the world—but important for Marriott, since the same people who stay at its hotels on business might want a rental house for a bachelor party or family vacation.

“For younger generations booking group travel, it's not who's in charge of the hotel? It's who's in charge of the Airbnb?” said Michael Bellisario, an analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co. “Homesharing is here to stay. The best thing hotel companies can do is embrace it.”