• June 1, 2007

Marriott International is launching a new hotel chain aimed at families and bearing the Nickelodeon brand.

The new hotel chain, "Nickelodeon Resorts by Marriott," is based on a deal among Marriott, Viacom's Nickelodeon, MTV Networks and Miller Global Properties, LLC. It could comprise 20 hotels by 2020.

The upscale venue will launch with a 650-room resort at Liberty Station in San Diego, Calif., expected to open in 2010, that will have a 100,000-square-foot water park and "activity deck" complex with a number of pools and interactive attractions.

The company is planning other sites in the U.S., Caribbean, Mexico, the U.K., Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East.

The companies said the resorts will also have indoor water parks, live entertainment programs featuring Nickelodeon characters like Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob SquarePants.

"Studio Nick," a main stage theater space equipped with state-of-the-art lighting, sound and video, will anchor the resorts' live entertainment programs.

There will also be restaurants, including the "NickToons Café" with "character" breakfasts as well as special evenings.

Nick-themed retail items will abound, and there will be a "Nick Pix" photo studio and Nick.com Cyberzone for surfing Nick.com and Nickjr.com content.

--Karl Greenberg