While plenty of industry attention in late summer was focused on the opening of Marriott International’s new headquarters in Bethesda, Md., the March debut of the adjacent Marriott Bethesda Downtown at Marriott HQ also was notable as the company’s 8,000th hotel. The hotel is even more notable as an extension of the headquarters.
Jeff Voris, Marriott’s SVP of global design, said the hotel will be a home for people who come to the headquarters—“whether they're partners or associates,” he added. “We have a lot of communication back and forth between the hotel and headquarters.”
Dual Use
According to GM Kat Burns, the hotel was developed in conjunction with the headquarters, which began taking shape about five years ago. “It was important for Marriott in general, moving their headquarters, [to have] a hotel right next door to make it more of a cohesive complex,” she said. The hotel broke ground in the middle of 2018—with late President and CEO Arne Sorenson in attendance—and soft-opened in January.
While Marriott wanted a hotel next door to the new headquarters, Burns said Bethesda itself also needed a new upscale hotel. “When we develop hotels, I think it's important to consider what exists in the community,” she said. The hotel has 12 stories, including a rooftop bar and event spaces that can host spillover functions from the headquarters—or gatherings for locals.
In between the headquarters and the hotel is a 13,000-square-foot outdoor pedestrian plaza named in memory of Sorenson. Voris said the space has become another spot for locals to gather, with groups like Children’s Miracle Network holding root beer float parties and team members socializing during happy hour. The space can also be an extension of the hotel’s restaurant, Seventh State, which has floor-to-ceiling retractable glass walls that can be fully opened. “It's a very, very lovely and warm space,” Voris said of the plaza.
The hotel opened more than half a year before the headquarters officially launched, which gave the property a chance to develop its own identity. “We have a lot of local businesses, we have social events,” Burns said, noting locals were already booking weddings and bar mitzvahs.
Voris also offered high praise for Burns, who came onboard six months before the hotel officially opened and helped manage the final steps before the debut. “Knowing that you have thousands of associates who care very deeply about our brands, who are 30 feet away from you every day, could be potentially harrowing,” he quipped.
Floor57
Thanks to its connection to the headquarters, the hotel is getting a unique feature: Floor57 is an upcoming part of the hotel that will feature model rooms from 13 of Marriott’s select-service and premium brands as well as an area to demonstrate features from the luxury brands and a small workshop and meeting space. Potential owners and developers determining what flag is right for their property will be able to spend a night in a model room and see what the guest experience is like. At the same time, as new models and prototypes are developed, advisors will be able to try the rooms and offer feedback. “Based on that feedback, we can try new things and iterate over time to get better,” Voris said.
The space was necessary, Voris said, to give potential owners and developers a sense of what each brand could offer. The previous headquarters had model rooms in the basement, but the rooms could not be hooked up to a plumbing system, so visitors could not get the full guest experience. The space will also educate new associates about what the different brands offer, and part of their introduction to the headquarters next door will be a visit to the 13 guestrooms.
Developing Room57 presents some unique challenges, Voris acknowledged, because different brands have different room sizes and configurations, and the team is recreating each room model down to the architecture. “You're building 13 mini hotels inside a working hotel,” he said. “It became a puzzle where you have to move pieces around until you find a way to make it work.”
While the represented 13 brands had not been announced as of press time, Voris said there would be “a pretty even split between classic and distinctive brands [and] between select-service brands and premium brands.” The rooms will only be available by invitation, he added, and will not be part of the hotel’s main booking system.
LOCATION
The Marriott Bethesda Downtown is within walking distance of the Bethesda station of the D.C. metro, which connects to Union Station, Dupont Circle and other neighborhoods in the broader District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia region. The hotel is also adjacent to Woodmont Triangle, a neighborhood with restaurants and retail.
OPENING
March 2022
NUMBER OF ROOMS
244
GENERAL MANAGER
Kat Burns
WEBSITE
www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/wasbd-marriott-bethesda-downtown-at-marriott-hq
OWNER
The Bernstein Companies
MANAGEMENT COMPANY
Marriott International
OPENING OBSTACLE
As the hotel got ready to open, the team faced the hiring challenges of the Great Resignation, Burns said. “What's most important when you bring a team member on is for them to feel excited [and] be invested.” She found that emphasizing Marriott’s corporate culture helped attract a workforce for the new hotel. “We always think about the future of an associate,” she said. “People are excited because we promote [from] within. We are very strong and invested in ‘How do we make a career for you? How do we make this a great place to work?’” Ultimately, she added, “we found the best people to work at the hotel.”