The 300-room Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites by Hilton on Crawford is now open, just in time for March Madness. The project, Houston's first dual-branded hotel, cost $50M and is steps from the George R. Brown Convention Center between Capitol and Rusk.

The extended-stay property will have 132 Homewood Suites rooms alongside 168 Hampton Inn rooms. It shares one central elevator system, a common lobby, a fitness center, an exterior pool and parking. Each hotel will feature its own distinct entrance, check-in desk and dining area offering complimentary breakfast.

Construction had to be streamlined to ensure the hotel is open for NCAA March Madness games in Houston this April. To achieve that, Linbeck Group used cutting-edge tech like Synchro Scheduling Software, BIM 360 and Bluebeam Revu to track, manage and document project details.

American Liberty Hospitality VP of development Nick Massad III said they had many challenges due to Houston's stretched construction industry. The property expects to be fully booked during the March Madness games, so there was no room for error.