Whether you're celebrating your style, yourself or a return to travel, Hotel Colee is the place to "put your feathers on," according to General Manager Michael Farquharson.
The Atlanta hotel is a member of Marriott International's Autograph Collection and in the location of the former W Atlanta in the Buckhead neighborhood. Managed by Practice Hospitality and owned by Woodbine Development Corp., the hotel opened on Dec. 1, 2020, and is Practice Hospitality's first hotel.
Hotel Colee's name is a derivative of the male name Cole, "female name Colee," Farquharson said during a Q&A session as part of an online familiarization walk-through of the hotel on Feb. 23.
The name "connotes energy and celebration, and that's where the elements of diversity and inclusivity and our fresh, flourishing culture in Atlanta [come to life]," he said. "That was one of the core elements of the design and the brand and the concept of Hotel Colee. It's the ability to add diversity to its brand identity and brand structure."
Celebration Through Design
Andrew Alford, founder of Andrew Alford Creative, which designed the interior of the hotel, said he thought about what life could look like after the COVID-19 pandemic and how the hotel would be perceived. The idea of celebrating is weaved into the design, he said.
"If you're anything like me, I want to put on sparkly broaches, I want to put on colorful clothes and celebrate my blue hair, and Hotel Colee is really about that," he said.
Alford said he also took cues from fashion and heeded how members of the community dress and spend their time, drawing inspiration from Atlanta's African-American history and African-American street style.
Appealing to Business Travelers and ‘Weekend Revelers’
Hotel Colee's guest mix is multifaceted, Farquharson said.
"If you want to just come in on a weekend ... live it up, put your feathers on, really go out and celebrate who you are, we capture that market and that environment," he said.
But the hotel also caters to the weekday business traveler who wants to work from the hotel remotely, as well as group business, he said.
"We have been getting a lot of small group business coming in where we get to use our meeting rooms ... and we get to bring back these team members who have been off for so long, and that's the most incredible piece of how we engage with different segmentation and different groups of people to be attracted to Hotel Colee."
The design of the hotel sought to create a balance between the "weekend reveler" and the midweek business traveler, Alford said.
This is done through changing up the music and lighting throughout the week while incorporating tranquil pastel colors throughout the property, he said.
Alford said he expects there will be a sense of celebration among business travelers as the industry recovers.
"I am really proud of the hotel," he said, adding that the hotel captures the spirit of "celebrating every single moment," which has been emphasized by the pandemic.