Dive Brief:
- Voco Hotels debuted in Atlanta with Voco The Darwin Hotel, parent company IHG Hotels & Resorts announced Monday.
- The 111-room upscale conversion hotel is intended to promote “connection among guests and to the surrounding area” with features like an on-site dog park, a central courtyard and an outdoor cocktail bar in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward district.
- Voco Hotels Vice President of Global Brand Management Carol Hoeller said the opening “marks an exciting milestone for our rapidly growing brand,” which features “conversion-friendly design.” Conversions represented more than half of IHG’s openings in the third quarter.
Dive Insight:
Atlanta-based hotel management company HVMG will oversee operations for Voco The Darwin Hotel. Global SCR will continue to own the property, the Atlanta-based property owner’s first IHG-branded hotel.
Voco The Darwin Hotel highlights sustainability initiatives with plant-based amenities and bedding made from recycled materials.
An on-site restaurant serves breakfast, dinner and grab-and-go lunches, and a beverage bar features coffee and pastries from Atlanta’s Alon’s Bakery. The hotel will also offer a rotating pop-up chef program featuring local chefs.
Guests can rent electric bicycles to travel to area attractions such as Ponce City Market, the Beltline and the Georgia Aquarium.
Voco Hotels, which launched in 2018, is on pace to exceed its goal of having more than 200 open hotels globally by 2028, according to IHG. The brand also debuted in Tucson, Arizona, earlier this fall with Voco The Tuxon, and plans further openings this year in Mexico City, Cincinnati and Laguna Hills, California.
On a third-quarter earnings call last month, IHG CEO Elie Maalouf said “quicker to market” conversions accounted for more than half of the company’s openings in the quarter.
In addition to Voco Hotels, IHG’s conversion-focused brand Garner is also expanding, signing seven more hotels in Q3, according to the earnings call. Garner Vice President Karen Gilbride previously told Hotel Dive that the company is “bullish and excited” about the conversion-forward brand.
In March, IHG’s Atwell Suites flag opened its first conversion hotel in Texas, following the brand’s debut in Miami and Denver.
