Article from BTNews 28 MARCH 2016
AC Hotels by Marriott
Marriott International’s design-led lifestyle brand, AC Hotels by Marriott, has opened its fifth hotel in France, the AC Hotel Marseille Velodrome. Located in the heart of the city’s thriving business district, the new hotel is set to bring 'purposeful design and an unpretentious style' to Marseille’s recently-refreshed Prado area. 
The 126-room hotel is just steps away from the Chanot Congress & Exhibition Centre and Velodrome Stadium and about 30min from Marseille Provence Airport. The Saint Charles train station is 10min by car and the thriving Vieux Port, now very much revitalised, about the same.
Guests and visitors can enjoy Oh Massalia restaurant, which serves authentic Mediterranean cuisine with fresh, local produce at lunch and dinnertime. For small meetings and events, the hotel features one versatile space for up to 12 people and featuring the latest technology.
The AC brand was introduced in 1998. A joint venture was formed with Marriott International in 2011.
AC Hotel Marseille Velodrome joins AC Hotel Ambassadeur Antibes, Juan-les-Pins, AC Hotel Nice, AC Hotel Paris Porte Maillot and AC Hotel Paris Le Bourget in France. In January, Marriott announced plans for 22 new AC hotels slated to open in 2016, strengthening its position as a leader in the boutique-lifestyle hotel sector. www.achotels.marriott.com
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John Davidson, Paris
The "Vieux Port" revitalised? Not for those of us who knew it in its more authentic look of the 1980s, without McDonald's where once there was the Brasserie de NY. As the writer for 4-5 years of the Marseille-Provence Business news in the late '80's and early '90s, it was clear that the city and the region needed a lot to help clean up its image after the film "The French Connection" — of which, ironically, only a few minutes take place in Marseille. All the rest is NY! But US investors touched Marseille with a 300-mile pole — meaning, the furthest south they were willing to invest, according to their agency in NYC, was Lyon. Beyond that, fear.