Courtyard by Marriott is a brand of hotels owned by Marriott International. Courtyard by Marriott is designed for business travelers but also accommodates to families. Its rooms feature large desks, couches, free broadband Internet access, and "big" breakfasts. The majority of locations have full-service restaurants, and all have 24-hour "mini-marts," called "The Market". A hot breakfast buffet is available for purchase or may be included in the cost of the room with a special overnight stay package. It competes with other mid-priced business-oriented hotels like Wingate Inn and Hilton Garden Inn.
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The first location was built in 1983 in Atlanta and was Marriott's first sister brand. The brand was always meant to target business travelers who wanted quality service at affordable prices. However, over the years, it has come to cater to the leisure traveler too. Most now have a swimming pool or fitness center, microwaves and mini-fridges for rent, and family rates.
Marriott spent $2 billion in the mid-1980s on building out the Courtyard by Marriott chain in order to target Holiday Inn's clientele.[1]
Courtyard hotels in the USA and Canada have been non-smoking since September 2006.[2]
A new-style lobby debuted in 2008 at a Courtyard property in Fairfax, Virginia. The concept is going chain-wide, and it includes a re-designed restaurant/bar area called "The Bistro" (which will no longer offer a buffet layout for breakfast) and it will have coffee drinks made with Starbucks products; a broader business center area with more computers available (as well as separate dedicated computers just for those getting flight information and boarding passes); a more modern lounge and seating area (including round booths along the front wall called "pods", each with individual TVs on one side); expanded areas for The Market, a small store in the lobby to buy food drinks and also fresh sandwiches; a new touch-screen display called the "GoBoard" which displays local weather, nearby restaurants, an area map, and news briefs from USA Today; and a different front desk area with "pedestals" instead of a traditional linear counter space.[3][4]
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