A new AC Hotel will open next month near Hartsfield-Jackson International, connected to the airport via SkyTrain.

The hotel's general manager Jeff Fowler said plans are to open the 222-room hotel at the Gateway Center in College Park in early January 2020.

The Gateway Center is a development near the Atlanta airport with hotels, an office building, a BMW training Center, the new Gateway Arena and the Georgia International Convention Center -- and it's a stop on the free SkyTrain that goes from the airport to the rental car center.

The AC Hotel Atlanta Airport Gateway at 2079 Hospitality Way will be the fourth Marriott property at the Gateway Center, where there is already a Marriott hotel, a SpringHill Suites and Renaissance hotel.

A rendering of the AC Hotel.

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The AC Hotel "serves a need of a different target airport traveler -- the entrepreneurial business traveler looking for that affordable luxury experience," Fowler said. Room rates are $139 and up.  With the SkyTrain connecting to the airport, "you don't need a car because you still have access to MARTA [via the Airport station] to get to downtown Atlanta."

Airport hotels also attract some local residents who drive down from northern suburbs to stay overnight and avoid rush-hour traffic for morning flights, he noted.

AC Hotels by Marriott is a hotel brand “complemented by a European soul and Spanish roots,” according to the company. An AC Hotel typically has a tapas bar, “high-design guest rooms” and “sleek furnishings.”

“It’s really a cool experience,” Fowler said, adding that it’s in between a Courtyard/Residence Inn/SpringHill Suites and a full-service Marriott Hotel. “We look at it as a younger chic crowd that comes in.”

There are AC Hotels in downtown Atlanta, Midtown and Buckhead, though those are franchised and this is the first corporate-run AC Hotel in Georgia, managed by Marriott, Fowler said.

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