Better Days Ahead?
Autograph fever? Hotel Icon to become a Marriott under Magic Johnson ownershipgroup
Houston is about to get its first Autograph — hotel, that is. The Houston Business Journal is reporting that the 135-room Hotel Icon is set for a relaunch in Marriott's Autograph Collection brand later this month.
The Icon was acquired in foreclosure by Magic Johnson's Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund and Centurion Partners at the beginning of 2011 with plans to attach the property to a national chain. The property dates to 1911 and is located on the north end of downtown in the former National Bank Building on Main Street.
The Autograph Collection is the fastest-growing brand under the Marriott umbrella, composed of "high-personality and boldly independent hotels, each carefully selected for its distinctiveness, style and synchronicity with ... unique travel interests" according to the hotel chain's literature. The 24 hotels include The Mansion on Forsyth Park in Savannah, the famed Algonquin in New York and several Boscolo properties in Europe.
Will a new brand name spell better fortunes for the Icon? What do you think of the Autograph Collection?