Marriott International will build 22 AC Hotels by Marriott properties around the world this year, it announced yesterday.
Founded in 1998 by European hotelier Antonio Catalanin, AC Hotels is a design-led boutique hotels brand that entered into a joint venture with Marriott in 2011. It opened its first U.S. property in New Orleans in 2013 and currently has more than 80 hotels located in Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Denmark, Turkey, and the United States.
Marriott will add five new AC Hotels properties this month -- in Guadalajara, Mexico; Cincinnati, OH; Boston; Marseille, France; and Queretaro, Mexico -- and 17 more later this year: in Asheville, NC; Atlanta; Birmingham, England; Cambridge, MA; Des Moines; Herzliya, Israel; Mainz, Germany; Manchester, England; Minneapolis; Panama City; Phoenix; Rio Barra de Tijuca, Brazil; Rio Porto Maravilha, Brazil; San Jose, CA; Santa Fe; Santiago, Chile; and Wroclaw, Poland.
AC Hotels are designed to reflect the destination they're in. Each property, however, has an open-concept lobby with a curated art gallery; a lounge serving local craft beers, specialty wines on tap, and tapas-style small bites; a library offering specialty reads selected by guest curators; complimentary Wi-Fi; state-of-the-art fitness centers; and private meeting spaces.
"AC Hotels by Marriott is a new breed of lifestyle hotels created to inspire the next-generation traveler through innovative design," said Tina Edmundson, global officer, luxury and lifestyle brands, Marriott International. "Our rapidly growing portfolio of design-led hotels illustrates Marriott International's commitment to making distinctive architecture and design affordable and accessible for creatives and entrepreneurs around the world -- appealing to a large and growing demographic, with a robust development pipeline to match."
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