Q: What do you believe made this project strong enough to be shortlisted for an award?
A: What set this project apart, and ultimately made it worthy of award consideration, was its ability to thoughtfully balance brand discipline with a strong, authentic sense of place. Within the constraints of a global framework, INK + ORO confidently advocated for meaningful, strategic departures from the AC Hotels by Marriott prototype, ensuring the design did not feel generic or transplanted.
The success of this approach is best reflected in the response from Coury Hospitality, who described the property as the warmest AC experience they have encountered – an outcome that directly aligns with the design team’s original intent. Rather than adhering rigidly to the brand’s typically minimalist and cool-toned aesthetic, the project introduces a level of warmth, texture, and regional nuance that elevates the guest experience. Ultimately, the AC Hotel Bentonville does not feel imposed upon its environment; it feels as though it has grown organically from it. This project demonstrates that regional specificity and brand integrity are not opposing forces. When handled with care and clarity of vision, they become deeply complementary – resulting in a design that is both globally recognizable and locally meaningful.
Q: What was the core design concept behind this project, and how did you ensure it carried through every detail of the guestroom?
A: The core design concept for the project was rooted in the idea of “Big Nature” – a theme that reflects both the expansive landscape of Arkansas and Walmart’s new home campus, emphasizing a deep connection to the Natural State. The intent was to create a hospitality experience that felt harmonious with its surroundings while remaining authentic to the region’s identity. At the same time, the project presented a unique challenge within branded hospitality: how to adapt a global prototype into something distinctly local without compromising the clean, modernist DNA that defines the AC Hotels by Marriott brand. Rather than deviating from the prototype, the approach focused on strategic, meaningful interventions that could carry the overarching concept through every layer of the guest experience.
While the guestroom design largely followed Marriott’s latest-generation prototype for AC Hotels, careful customization ensured the “Big Nature” narrative was consistently expressed. This included commissioning original artwork from an Arkansas-based photographer and tailoring elements such as the area rug to introduce more organic patterns and nature-inspired textures. In collaboration with ownership, a lighter, warmer color palette was selected from the prototype options to better align with the project’s overall tone and sense of place.
A defining feature of the guestrooms is the inclusion of signed and numbered fine-art photography by Arkansas landscape artist Tim Ernst. These works extend the regional story into the most intimate spaces of the hotel. Executed with a high level of craftsmanship, through archival printing, fine-art reproduction, and custom framing, the artwork transforms a standard guestroom feature into a curated, collectible experience. Together, these layered decisions ensured that the core concept of “Big Nature” was not only present, but thoughtfully embedded in every detail of the guestroom.
INK + ORO Drawing
Q: Was there a particular design element that felt risky at first, but ultimately elevated the final result?
A: One of the most inherently “risky” aspects of the project was the fact that AC Hotel Bentonville served as Marriott’s very first fully constructed guestroom mockup for the latest Generation 2.0 prototype within the AC Hotels by Marriott portfolio. In that sense, the risk was not confined to a single design element, but embedded in the process itself – bringing an untested prototype to life at full scale. This presented a unique opportunity for INK + ORO to work in close collaboration with Marriott, refining and adjusting key components in real time. Rather than simply executing a predefined standard, the team actively contributed to shaping the prototype’s success, identifying improvements and establishing valuable lessons for future implementations.
Ultimately, what began as a potential uncertainty became one of the project’s greatest strengths. The willingness to engage deeply with the prototype – questioning, testing, and refining it – elevated the final result, ensuring that the design was not only successful for this property, but also influential in informing the evolution of the brand moving forward.
Q: What’s one lesson from this project that other designers should know when specifying custom case goods?
A: A key lesson from this project was the importance of engaging vendors as true collaborators throughout the design process. Their role extends far beyond fabrication – they bring deep engineering expertise that can meaningfully inform and strengthen design decisions.
By working closely with vendors early and consistently, the team was able to ensure that ideas were not only conceptually strong, but also practical, buildable, and high-performing in real-world conditions. This collaboration helped align aesthetic intent with structural integrity, material performance, and long-term durability. Ultimately, treating vendors as partners rather than just suppliers leads to more informed decision-making and a more successful, resilient final outcome.
What elevates a beautiful hotel project to an award worthy one is its ability to balance aesthetic clarity with a deeper sense of purpose and place.
Q: Can you share a moment during the process where collaboration with LCM helped protect the integrity of your design vision?
A: A key moment where collaboration proved essential to protecting the design vision was in the refinement of the guestroom casegood – particularly the TV and closet systems within the Metro King and Queen-Queen room types at AC Hotel Bentonville. Working closely with both Marriott and LCM, the team was able to thoughtfully adapt the existing prototype to better suit the specific room layouts of the project. This included fine-tuning elements such as the closet rod systems and luggage bench components, ensuring they functioned seamlessly within the spatial constraints while maintaining the clean, modern aesthetic of the AC Hotels by Marriott brand.
Rather than compromising the design intent, this collaborative process allowed for a more tailored and resolved outcome – one where technical precision and design clarity worked hand in hand. It’s a strong example of how close coordination with project partners can elevate standard prototype elements into solutions that feel both intentional and specific to place.
Q: In your view, what separates a beautiful hotel project from an award-worthy one?
A: What elevates a beautiful hotel project to an award-worthy one is its ability to operate on multiple levels at once – balancing aesthetic clarity with a deeper sense of purpose and place. INK+ORO’s approach to AC Hotel Bentonville was rooted in this idea of duality: European restraint paired with tactile warmth, and global brand identity enriched by regional character. The challenge was not simply to execute a refined design, but to create an experience that felt both true to the AC Hotels by Marriott ethos and authentically connected to Bentonville.
As Principal Leslie Heller described, the directive was to design a signature AC hotel while grounding it firmly in its local context – capturing the spirit of Walmart’s home campus and translating that energy into a space that feels approachable, livable, and welcoming to all who visit. What ultimately distinguishes an award-worthy project is this level of intentionality: a design that not only looks beautiful, but tells a cohesive story, resonates with its setting, and creates a meaningful, memorable experience for its guests.