The San Francisco-based company, which was founded in 1981, and currently operates 37 hotels and 31 restaurants across the US and Canada, is opening the 236-room Hotel Marlowe on Edwin H. Land Boulevard in Cambridge next month. Its Hotel Onyx, a 112-room hotel located three doors down from the Fleet Center in the city's financial district, is opening next fall. But according to company executives, these two hotels are just the beginning.

"The Kimpton philosophy is to target different areas and build different types of hotels," Rick Colangelo, general manager of the Hotel Marlowe, tells GlobeSt.com. "We like to cluster in an area and have multiple properties." Colangelo points out that the company usually opens at least three hotels in its targeted area, which are always urban locations. He emphasizes that there is no maximum limit on how many facilities they will ultimately open in any given area. Prior to Boston, the company was focused on Washington, DC, where it opened five hotels in 18 months.

Colangelo says that his company is currently scouting out sites all over the city but could not be specific about locations. He adds that the two hotels that are currently under construction here are unusual for the company in that they are brand new construction. "We are looking at sites with different developers and we are looking for historical building that we can turn into hotels," says Colangelo. "We love doing that." Colangelo also notes that these two hotels have very different qualities with the Hotel Marlowe catering to the high tech and biotech crowd--it has large conference rooms--while the Hotel Onyx will cater to financial district people as well people visiting the Fleet Center. "It is a true boutique hotel," says Colangelo, referring to the Onyx. "Each of our hotels has their own personality. No two hotels are alike."

Colangelo believes that Boson is a "great hotel market" despite its recent struggles to regain its footing in the post-9/11 world. "Its got great potential," says Colangelo. "Boston did take a hit but it was in another stratosphere. It's come down to a manageable market now." Colangelo notes that the city's current hotel occupancy rate, which hovers around 70%, is still very respectable. "There are tons of cities that would love to be where Boston is," says Colangelo. "This is not an easy market to break into. But once you break in here, it opens up a lot of doors."

Despite Boston's strong fundamentals in the industry, Colangelo acknowledges that financing hotel projects has gotten trickier recently. ""It's getting harder to finance these projects," he says."Lenders are looking for more equity. It's not as easy to get them on board." But Colangelo adds that he believes that this is the time to get into the hotel market. "This could be the low point," he says." After this it will go back up and we will be in a great position."