And to make the mega-milestone a little sweeter, the 8,000th hotel is located at Marriott's soon-to-open new global headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland.
Called the Marriott Bethesda Downtown at Marriott HQ and part of the signature Marriott brand, the hotel is 12 stories tall and has 245 rooms. Designed to capture the spirit of the local community, the property has a modern design with a comfortable, residential feel that's accented with odes to Bethesda's "natural attributes" such as stone and tile work reminiscent of nearby bluestone quarries and faceted mirrors and floor-to-ceiling windows that provide natural light "while also resembling reflections of the Potomac River."
In the rooms, guests will find tech-forward amenities that are especially well suited for business travelers or people working remotely, like workspaces with built-in universal adapters and USB-C cords. But warm touches like rose gold-tinted mirrors, plush white bedding and multiple sitting areas will help guests shift from work mode to relaxation.
Beyond the rooms, guests will find a large fitness center with Peloton bikes along with other classic gym equipment. A library on the second floor showcases works from local authors and curated art from area artists is scattered around the entirety of the hotel, including guest rooms, with the main focal point being an abstract mural by Liz Collins.
Related: 17 ways to earn lots of Marriott Bonvoy points
The Marriott Bethesda Downtown has three different food and beverage concepts under the stewardship of chef Dupree Braswell. For a very special drink, the Greatroom Lobby bar serves tableside cocktails in one-of-a-kind imperial shakers to "eliminate barriers between [the] mixologist and guest." At Seventh State, the hotel's restaurant, retractable floor-to-ceiling walls make the restaurant serving wood-fired Italian staples transition seasonally with indoor-outdoor seating. And Hip Flask is the city's first high-rise rooftop bar with a massive outdoor terrace, innovative cocktails and a rotating selection of zero-proof cocktails.
And a standard for Marriott Hotels, M Club — the exclusive space for Marriott Bonvoy Elite members and folks who book a Club-level room — serves up complimentary food and drinks, hot breakfast and evening hors d'oeuvres.
Cash rates at this new Marriott start at $296 for weekdays, while weekend rates start at $159. As a Category 5 Bonvoy property, award nights can be found between 30,000 and 40,000 points.
Marriott's come a long way since its humble beginnings, when J. Willard Marriott and his wife, Alice, opened an A&W root beer stand in Washington, D.C. back in 1927, which ultimately led to their son, Bill, opening the first Marriott hotel, the Twin Bridges Marriott, 30 years later in Arlington, Virginia.
“From the nine-seat root beer stand that my grandparents started nearly 95 years ago in downtown Washington, to the milestone opening of our 8,000th property, we have been fortunate to call this area our home,” David Marriott, director and incoming chairman of the Marriott International Board of Directors, said in a statement. “Marriott Bethesda Downtown at Marriott HQ reflects the continued transformation of the Marriott Hotels brand, and we are thrilled to embark on a new era of inspired travel and design with the opening of this hotel.”
While this might be Marriott's official 8,000th hotel, there are still a ton of new hotels across all 30 of its brands planned to open down the line and a handful of highly anticipated hotels that have recently opened up to guests.
This month, for example, the Madrid Edition is finally opening to guests in a palatial-looking building with an entrance worthy of royalty. With 200 rooms and suites, the brand's signature Le Labo scent wafting throughout and a rooftop terrace, this Marriott Category 8 hotel made our list of most anticipated hotel openings of 2022.
Another Marriott hotel that made that list is the W Algarve in Portugal. This resort will have 134 rooms, a mix-mash of restaurants and bars, a massive rooftop deck, a spa and sweeping ocean views worthy of a vacation alone.
But that's not all we're excited about. There are a handful of other significant Marriott hotels opening, including the JW Marriott Sao Paulo, the St. Regis London and nearly 100 properties across the Asia Pacific region.
Still, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention that Marriott Bonvoy members will have to deal with the program finally switching to dynamic pricing, meaning that the number of points required to book a room will fluctuate mostly within the brand's current Category tiers — at least through the end of the year. The good news, though, is that you still have time to book some of our favorite Marriott points hotels, from Bora Bora to Zion National Park, before the changes go into place on March 29.
