Two national hotel chains, Marriott International Inc. and Choice Hotels, broke ground on a pair of four-story properties in San Marcos this summer.

Rebecca Ybarra-Ramirez, executive director of the San Marcos Convention and Visitor Bureau, said July 23 that the new hotels will boost the city's "flourishing" travel industry, help fill the demand for more lodging space and bring more economic activity to the city.

"People will stay where they are familiar," Ybarra-Ramirez said. "Rooms at name-brand hotels most likely fill up first because of customers' past experiences."

Marriott will open a Courtyard by Marriott location at 625 Commercial Loop off Centerpoint Road across I-35 from the outlet malls. The 56,000-square-foot hotel will feature 97 rooms, making it the sixth-largest hotel in the city, according to the state comptroller's office.

The Courtyard will also feature contemporary furniture and color schemes as well as a full restaurant menu for breakfast and dinner, a Starbucks bistro and a pool, according to a spokesman for the Marriott franchise owner, Platinum Companies.

Choice Hotels will open a 72-room, 47,262-square-foot Comfort Inn & Suites location at 1053 Clovis Barker Drive at the intersection of Hwy. 123. The company declined to comment on the project, saying it would release information at a later date.

The city of San Marcos issued construction permits for the Courtyard project July 1 and the Comfort Inn & Suites project June 26. Both hotels are scheduled to open in late spring 2014, Ybarra-Ramirez said.

San Marcos has 1,770 hotel rooms, which brought in about $6.5 million in tax receipts in the first quarter of 2013, according to the state comptroller's office.