Hotel News Marriott Hotels Marriott Rewards (replaced by Marriott Bonvoy) Starwood Hotels Starwood Preferred Guest

Four Points Chicago rebrand to AC by Marriott

ChicagoBusiness.com reported yesterday that the Four Points Chicago Magnificent Mile will rebrand to the Marriott AC brand. Marriott has plans to bring the European AC brand to Miami, New Orleans, Kansas City and San Diego. There are currently no AC by Marriott hotels in the USA. There is no date for conversion announced and the Starwood website is still taking reservations well into 2014.

AC is a Spanish brand purchased by Marriott and renamed to AC Hotels by Marriott in June 2011. AC Hotels currently has 79 properties located in 51 cities of Spain, 2 cities in Portugal and 10 cities in Italy.

AC Hotels are listed as an upscale hotel brand by STR Global in its 2013 chain scale. This is the same hotel market segment for Hyatt Place, Hilton Garden Inn and Four Points.

The brand is targeting Generation Y travelers with European cosmopolitan design style.

Remembering Four Points Chicago Magnificent Mile

Last February I arrived in Chicago a few hours before a blizzard hit the city. The CTA Blue Line train from ORD with a changeover to another line in the Loop put me within a couple blocks of the Four Points Chicago Magnificent Mile a bit after midnight. Chicago has good, cheap public transportation from ORD to Downtown Chicago. You have to be traveling light enough to carry your bags up and down stairs to change trains.

Four Points Chicago

Chicago was not scary around the Magnificent Mile north of the Chicago River as drinkers left bars and taxis prowled the streets for customers while I dragged my roller bags along the crusty icy sidewalks.

The hotel has a good location a block off Michigan Avenue and a Trader Joe’s market is on the same block as the hotel for convenient food.

The lobby will likely be changed as an AC Hotel to add more colors, although it has a bit of color already. I hope the Chihuly glass art work remains.

Here is my 2013 hotel review of Four Points Magnificent Mile.

*****

Tags:

Share This Post:

8 Comments

  • Dwondermeant January 25, 2014

    The Four Points is a mediocre brand that should either be reinvented or killed off
    For 15 plus years it’s a must avoid brand for me even in the rare cities it’s actually decent like
    Sydney Australia
    I personally see no value to this brand
    for the same or a few dollars more there is always something nicer

  • Joe January 25, 2014

    Agreed. I had one Four Points stay in Tuscon before it became an Aloft. And, that was enough to push me totally away from the brand.

  • smittytabb January 25, 2014

    The AC Hotels by Marriott are very nice in Spain. I have stayed at several and have a favorite I love to stay at in Madrid. They are a great addition to the Marriott brand. Looking forward to seeing them in the US.

  • Nick January 26, 2014

    I have stayed at a few Four Points in Canada and found them really solid. Bettet than the average Hampton Inn or Courtyard which I would consider competitors.

  • Ric Garrido January 26, 2014

    Four Points has some good hotels, but most of the ones I have stayed are basic. The microbrew beer angle seems to be the one innovation of the past decade for the brand.

  • Lark January 26, 2014

    Next time your travels take you to Seattle:

    Museum of Glass
    1801 Dock Street
    Tacoma, Washington 98402 – 3217

  • stuckinTraffic January 26, 2014

    Four points could be a really good mid-point business/leisure hotel ala Courtyard and Hilton Garden INN if only Starwood would spend the time working on it.

  • D Wonderment January 28, 2014

    The other thing about this brand that is less discussed is that because Four Points is all or mostly a hodge podge of franchises the consistency is very inconsistent.
    Starwood is negligent and notorious for not taking care of problems at many of these hotels having heard from numerous road warriors.

    They let Trip Advisor guests list issues from creeping mold to all else and and look the other way. As long as their revenue stream keeps coming in they could care less unless it becomes really big in social media
    Its a double standard as they charge the hotels for guest experience and standard failures yet they frequently offer the guest an empty apology or something silly like 200 to 1000 bonus points in their program which is worth almost nothing. I was once a 100 a night a year customer of Starwood and will likely rarely ever stay with them again. I simply became tired of their wild point devaluations and sky high pricing all too often.
    Years ago they were the best in the industry
    I do give a nod to a number of their lovely full service hotels and some are in fact excellent
    I’m no Marriott fan but I’ll say this they have reasonably strict standards and stand behind the experience fair enough especially the limited service non luxury sector which isn’t beneath them like Starwood.

Comments are closed.

BoardingArea