It’s a common sight among car dealerships: You may head to a Dodge dealership and see a group of Jeep or Chrysler branded automobiles on sale at the same lot. Why? Because they all share a parent company in Fiat. Go to a Chevrolet dealership, and you’ll see a bunch of Buicks and GMCs, and Volkswagens, Audis, and Porsches are sure to be found together, as well. Car dealerships often end up as a bit of a grab bag of the parent company’s brand offerings with three or four separate brands occupying one lot.
This same blending of multiple brands is not so common across all industries, however. Take, for example, hotels. Sure, there are plenty of dual-branded hotels across the country, but three brands in one building has never happened before. But that’s all about to change thanks to the new 22-story Marriott Hotel currently under construction in downtown Nashville. The hotel will be the first of its kind by featuring three Marriott brands in one building.
The $137 million tri-branded Marriott hotel will comprise 470 rooms spread across the AC Hotels, Residence Inn, and SpringHill Suites brands. The AC Hotels brand will occupy 209 rooms in one wing while the adjoining wing will feature the SpringHill Suites (occupying 125 rooms) and the Residence Inn (occupying 136 rooms).
The L-shaped building will highlight all three brand logos on its exterior and guests will have three distinct hospitality experiences, but behind-the-scenes operations and spaces will be combined to reduce ongoing expenses.
North Point Hospitality’s (the hotel developer) plans call for a large pool, state-of-the-art fitness center, and a large conference and meeting space on the top floor. These robust amenity offerings are common among multi-brand hotels.
JE Dunn was selected to build the hotel and construction is currently underway in the downtown Nashville submarket known as SoBro (south of Broadway), an up and coming area with multitudinous new dining, shopping, and entertainment options. The project is scheduled to open in 2018. Winford Lindsay Architect is the architect of record.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Great Solutions: Healthcare
11. Operating Room-Integrated MRI will Help Neurosurgeons Get it Right the First Time A major limitation of traditional brain cancer surgery is the lack of scanning capability in the operating room. Neurosurgeons do their best to visually identify and remove the cancerous tissue, but only an MRI scan will confirm if the operation was a complete success or not.
| Aug 11, 2010
Gold Award: Westin Book Cadillac Hotel & Condominiums Detroit, Mich.
“From eyesore to icon.” That's how Reconstruction Awards judge K. Nam Shiu so concisely described the restoration effort that turned the decimated Book Cadillac Hotel into a modern hotel and condo development. The tallest hotel in the world when it opened in 1924, the 32-story Renaissance Revival structure was revered as a jewel in the then-bustling Motor City.
| Aug 11, 2010
Silver Award: Palmer House Hilton Hotel & Shops Chicago, Ill.
Chicago's Palmer House Hilton holds the record for the longest continuously operated hotel in North America. It was originally built in 1871 by Potter Palmer, one of America's first millionaire developers. When it was rebuilt after the Great Chicago Fire it became the first hotel in the U.S. to put a telephone in every room.
| Aug 11, 2010
Gulf Coast Hotel's Stormy Road to Recovery
After his initial tour of the dilapidated 1850s-era Battle House Hotel, Ron Blount, construction manager with Retirement Systems of Alabama, said to his boss: “You need a priest more than you need a contractor.” Those words were more prescient to RSA's restoration of the historic Mobile landmark than he could have known at the time.
| Aug 11, 2010
Lifestyle Hotel Trends Around the World
When the Rocco Forte Collection opens the Verdura Golf & Spa Resort in Sicily in early 2009, the 200-room luxury property will be one of the world's newest lifestyle hotels. Lifestyle hotels cater to guests seeking a heightened travel experience, which they deliver by offering distinctive—some would say avant-garde, or even outrageous—architecture, room design, amenities, and en...
