Marriott With A Pulse

-- Hotels, 9/1/2007

Looking to breathe new life into a 22-year-old downtown hotel, the Marriott Marquis Atlanta, which features the world's largest atrium, has invested US$138 million in renovations to attract a new generation of travelers. As part of this massive overhaul, US$30 million was dedicated to launching new food and beverage concepts. Three high-style, highenergy new concepts: Pulse, Sear and High Velocity now infuse a stand-alone restaurant and lounge ambience into the mammoth, 1,700-room convention hotel. "We had been watching guests coming down our glass elevators and walking straight out of the hotel [to eat]. So our goal was to create an environment like those hip, trendy restaurants that you find in neighborhoods like Buckhead and create that in-house," explains Chris Anderson, director of sales.

Anderson says the revamp is an evolution of food and beverage concepts based on the changing consumer demands. In the early days of Marriott, he explains, the idea was to bring "sameness" to each hotel-to give a sense of comfort to the weary road warrior or stressed-out family. In terms of F&B, this meant multiple Marriott locations offered the same dining concepts, from the same sports bars to the three-meal-a-day diners. Today, by contrast, the hotel industry has learned that business and leisure travelers want unique experiences. Therefore, replacing that sameness with distinctive concepts was the driving force behind the entire renovation concept. "We bulldozed all our restaurants and redesigned them to be stand-alone new concepts-to the point even that they are so expensive that the independent [restaurants] couldn't even do it," he says.

The renovations began in August 2006 (the hotel managed to keep all its F&B outlets open during the construction), and all three concepts debuted on July 9. Here, HOTELS provides a glimpse into the unique design features of each.

PULSE: Speaking of expensive, the dominant symbol of the newly renovated Atlanta Marriott Marquis F&B operation is a US$500,000, 50-ft. (15-m) "sail" sculpture that seems to float in center of the atrium. The enormous structure, which changes colors throughout the day to set different moods, anchors the 47-seat Pulse bar and an accompanying 150-seat lounge.

Use of light and music transforms the space throughout the day, offering guests everything from a quiet place to read the morning's newspaper to a venue for a casual meeting or light snack in the afternoon, to a vibrant lounge scene at night.

The sail also features a 12-ft. (3.7-m) projection screen, content of which also changes throughout the day to set the mood. "It's the gathering center of the entire hotel. There's literally a pulse around it," Director of Sales Chris Anderson says. That energy encourages guests to linger longer-to stay and have a drink before going out. Or, if they are still deciding on their evening activities, he says, guests are now much more likely to stay in the hotel to enjoy the lively atmosphere. Further emphasizing its role as the pulse of the hotel, the other restaurants are located around Pulse, so everyone can keep an eye on the action.

SEAR: The hotel's upscale dining venue features a "fire-inspired American" menu specializing in, aptly, seared steaks, seafood and even desserts. An open-kitchen design means watching the chefs create is a focal point of the evening's entertainment. "The open kitchen lets guests be part of the action," Anderson says.

Further, five floor-to-ceiling wine walls are a special design feature of the 350-seat restaurant that helps separate the vast area into more intimate spaces. These walls also help set apart the two private dining rooms-one of which seats 120 guests but can be further divided in half. For a more subdued cocktail scene than Pulse, Sear has its own bar. But because of Pulse's centralized location, even guests in this more subdued environment can see the action at the livelier bar-from a quieter distance.

HIGH VELOCITY: This reinvention of the sports bar is a hightech casual bar and grill featuring a media room with 40-ft. (12-m) matrix theatrical projection screen and 21 42-in. (107-cm) plasma screen televisions throughout the space.

Varied seating accommodates different needs-from the leather recliners in the media room to traditional bar stools and tables and lounge-style seating. A separate Sweet Water room-named for Atlanta's largest microbrewery- pays homage to the hotel's locale by featuring a chandelier made entirely of Sweet Water beer bottles. The décor is done in blue and yellow tones to complement the colors of the bottles themselves.

This upscale bar features 24 beers on tap and a classic menu, including eight preparation choices for chicken wings, as well as more robust and complete steak and seafood meals.