Courtyard by Marriott is a brand of hotels owned by Marriott International

Marriott International

Marriott International, Inc. is a worldwide operator and franchisor of a broad portfolio of hotels and related lodging facilities. Founded by J. Willard Marriott, the company is now led by son J.W. Marriott, Jr...

. Courtyard by Marriott is designed for business travelers but also accommodates to families. Its rooms feature large desks, couches, free broadband Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 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

Wingate Inn

Wingate By Wyndham is a brand of independently-owned hotels that targets business travelers. Wingate opened its first hotel in July 1996. Since then, over 100 new Wingate by Wyndhams have been opened. It competes with chains like Hilton Garden Inn, Courtyard by Marriott, and Hyatt Place...

 and Hilton Garden Inn

Hilton Garden Inn

Hilton Garden Inn is a chain of hotels trademarked by the Hilton Worldwide. Hilton Garden Inns are considered to be upscale mid-priced hotels that are designed for both business and leisure travelers. The hotel brand is similar to that of the Courtyard by Marriott brand, a key competitor...

.

History

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

Holiday Inn

Holiday Inn is a brand of hotels, formally a economy motel chain, forming part of the British InterContinental Hotels Group . It is one of the world's largest hotel chains with 238,440 bedrooms and 1,301 hotels globally. There are currently 5 hotels in the pipeline...

's clientele.

Courtyard hotels in the USA and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 have been non-smoking since September 2006.

New Lobby

A new-style lobby debuted in 2008 at a Courtyard property in Fairfax, VA. 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.

External links

• Courtyard website