Vision breaks ground on second Kinley Hotel

VISION HOSPITALITY GROUP has broken ground on its second Kinley boutique hotel. The Chattanooga, Tennessee-based company launched the Kinley brand in 2018.

The 64-room Kinley Chattanooga Southside in downtown Chattanooga is expected to open in 2021. The 94-room Kinley Cincinnati in the city’s Over The Rhine neighborhood, built in 1910, is expected to open this year. Both hotels will be part of Marriott International’s Tribute Portfolio of independent boutique hotels.

“Kinley is bringing the hotel experience back to the root of what makes traveling such a desirable pastime – connecting with other travelers, connecting with the community you’ve come to explore, and connecting with yourself,” Vision Hospitality CEO Mitch Patel said. “From Cincinnati to Chattanooga and beyond, we are excited to welcome visitors to America’s most captivating small cities and neighborhoods.”

The newest Kinley is near the Chattanooga Choo Choo and the Songbirds Guitar Museum. Aimed at experience-oriented travelers, it will feature works of local artists on display and for sale. It also will have a coffee bar and an “uncheck-in desk” rather than a standard front desk.

Another Kinley is planned for Louisville, Kentucky, in the 51-room luxury boutique Grady Hotel, named after local journalist and proponent of New Urbanism Grady Clay. The brand’s name is a combination of the word kinship and “sincerely yours.”

Along with Kinley, Vision Hospitality is developing other luxury brands. In October it broke ground on the Aloft by Marriott Chattanooga/Hamilton Place, the first of its brand in Vision’s home base. And in October 2018 it opened The Edwin Hotel in Chattanooga, another independent luxury boutique hotel that is part of Marriott International’s Autograph Collection.

The company also owns a 98-room Tru by Hilton in McDonough, Georgia, south of Atlanta, and another Tru in Chattanooga. In November, Patel sat for a Q&A with Talene Staab, vice president and global head of Tru, to mark the opening of the brand’s 100^th U.S. property.