AC HOTEL ARLINGTON NATIONAL LANDING

BIG SCOPE. CUSTOM DESIGN. SMARTER COST CONTROL.

When a former full-service Marriott converted into an AC Hotel, the public space scope came with unusual scale, heavy customization, and real budget pressure. Source led a procurement strategy that helped the team protect the design, improve cost alignment, and bring more structure to a complex scope.

PROJECT SNAPSHOT

Location
Arlington, Virginia

Scope
Public space and outdoor FF&E

Project Type
Hotel Conversion

Budget
$1.5M+

AT A GLANCE

THE CHALLENGE
The project combined an unusually large AC footprint with broad public space scope and highly custom furniture, especially in the restaurant and lobby. Costs rose quickly, and the team needed a procurement strategy that could create savings without flattening the design.

SOURCE’S ROLE
Source led the public space and outdoor scope, ran a broad competitive bid process, expanded the vendor field globally, and guided targeted value engineering decisions across key categories.

THE IMPACT
The team preserved the overall design vision, improved budget alignment, and brought more clarity to a scope that would have been difficult to manage through a narrower procurement approach.

KEY OUTCOMES

SMARTER VALUE ENGINEERING
Source identified savings in the right places, without cutting into the overall design experience.

DESIGN INTENT PROTECTED
The project retained the visual impact and material feel that mattered most across the space.

COMPLEX SCOPE, BETTER MANAGED
Source helped create order across a broad, custom-heavy package with multiple stakeholders and overlapping procurement responsibilities.

THE PROJECT

AC Hotel Arlington National Landing began as a full-service Marriott before converting into what is now the largest AC Hotel in North America. That history shaped the project in a major way.

The brand changed, but the footprint stayed much larger than a typical AC. That left the team with more public space to furnish, more furniture types to coordinate, and more opportunities for cost to rise if the procurement strategy lacked discipline.

The client had already handled model rooms internally and had started purchasing guestrooms in house. Source came in to take on the public space and outdoor scope, supported by an existing client relationship and a strong relationship with the designer.

From the start, the project demanded more than straightforward sourcing; it needed a sharper strategy around cost, execution, and coordination.

WHERE PRESSURE BUILT

Oversized Brand Footprint
This was not a typical AC Hotel. The larger footprint created more public space, more variety, and more room for costs to compound.

Custom-Heavy Design
The designer pushed the public space toward a highly custom direction, especially in the restaurant and lobby. Seating alone represented a major purchase order, and restaurant tables reached a level of spend that made budget exposure impossible to ignore.

Split Procurement Workflow
The client managed guestrooms separately through an in-house purchasing contact. That split created ongoing coordination challenges around punch, ownership, and communication. Source often helped resolve issues even when they fell outside its formal scope.

Late Lighting Pivot
Later in the process, the team needed to shift from inline lighting to custom lighting due to cost and lead time realities. That change added complexity, but it also opened the door to a smarter solution.

HOW SOURCE RESPONDED

Source built the procurement strategy around one core goal: control costs without sacrificing design.

Expanded the Bid Pool
For casegoods alone, Source bid the scope out to nine vendors across global markets. The team looked for partners who could meet the project’s aesthetic, budget, and execution requirements, then asked them to identify obvious opportunities for savings that would not compromise the result.

Value Engineered Selectively
Source did not apply blunt cost cutting. The team looked closely at where value engineering made sense and where it did not. In table scope, that meant finding ways to achieve the intended look without paying for unnecessary material cost. In lighting, it meant pivoting to custom solutions that better supported both lead time and pricing while still meeting brand requirements.

Protected the Right Pieces
Some elements carried too much visual weight to dilute. Source helped preserve those moments. For the dining table program, one specialty group produced the private dining room table while another produced the majority of the dining tables. Source linked the two through a shared stone strategy, helping the finished result feel unified rather than pieced together.

Guided the Team Through Complexity
Throughout the project, Source balanced owner priorities, designer expectations, vendor realities, and a split procurement structure. The team helped the broader group make stronger decisions with better visibility.

CRITICAL MOVES

Broadened Vendor Options
A wider bid pool created leverage and surfaced better-fit partners.

Pushed Value Engineering Where It Helped
Source reduced cost in the places where the design could absorb it.

Protected the Highest-Impact Elements
The team kept key visual anchors intact, so savings did not come at the expense of the space.

Reduced Friction Across Teams
Source helped support smoother coordination even when responsibilities crossed procurement lines.

THE RESULT

Source helped bring structure and control to a project that could easily have drifted further on cost.

By expanding the vendor field, testing options, and applying value engineering where it made sense, Source improved budget alignment while maintaining the design direction. The final procurement path kept the public space aligned with the project vision, even as the team navigated scale, customization, and coordination challenges.

The process also reinforced trust across the team. The designer remained confident in the solutions developed during the project, and the client recognized the value of a procurement partner that did more than place orders. Source helped shape decisions, solve problems early, and move a complex scope forward with more discipline.

That experience helped support a continued relationship that later led to another project with Dauntless.

BUILT FOR THE REALITIES OF COMPLEX PROCUREMENT

Complex projects rarely come with simple tradeoffs. This one required careful judgment across budget, design, vendor strategy, and team coordination, not just order placement. Source helped the project move forward by identifying where to push for savings, where to protect the experience, and how to keep the right partners aligned around the outcome.

If your project involves real complexity, high expectations, and little room for missteps, Source brings procurement expertise to help you move with greater clarity and control.