20th century
The Marriott Motor Hotel opened on January 16, 1957,[2] shortly before the second inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.[3] It contained 360 soundproofed rooms, each with air conditioning, king-size beds and free radio and black-and-white television.[1]
The hotel consisted of 6 two-story buildings and a five-story central tower; all rooms had exterior entrances. The hotel also included a 335-seat Hot Shoppes restaurant, a gift shop, a barber shop, a beauty shop, a gas station, a laundromat, and an outdoor swimming pool[1] that could be converted to an ice rink in the winter.[4] Original rates were $8 per night plus $1 for each person, with a maximum charge of $12. Guests registered at a drive-in check-in desk, so the clerk could see how many people were in the guests' car.[2] Clerks would then escort the guests to their room by bicycle.[2]
The new hotel's proximity to The Pentagon and the airport allowed it to profit from both. Bill Marriott later claimed that it was "one of the very first airport hotels in the country."[5]
After the Marriott Key Bridge Motor Hotel opened in 1960 in nearby Rosslyn, the original property was renamed the Marriott Motor Hotel Twin Bridges. In 1962, the hotel was expanded with the addition of a 950-seat banquet room, the Persian Room.[6] The expansion of the hotel's convention facilities proved so successful that, in 1963, two more 700-seat banquet rooms were also added.[7] By 1968, the hotel had been expanded to 454 rooms.[8]
In 1978, Marriott sold the hotel, by that point renamed the Twin Bridges Marriott Hotel, along with four other hotels, to The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States for $92 million. Marriott continued to operate the hotels under their name, for a management fee and a percentage of gross operating profits.[9]
On June 29, 1979, American musician Lowell George suffered a fatal heart attack while staying at the hotel.[10]
