The Davenport Hotel Collection announced this afternoon it has agreed to franchise with Marriott International’s Autograph Collection.

All four of its downtown Spokane hotels will convert to Marriott’s Autograph Collection brand by the end of this year.

Those four hotels, owned by Spokane developers Walt and Karen Worthy, include the Davenport Hotel, Davenport Tower, Hotel Lusso, and the Grand Hotel Spokane that currently is under construction along Spokane Falls Boulevard, just south of the Spokane Convention Center.

The Autograph Collection is a new brand for independent hotels and resorts intended for upscale properties and those with distinctive personalities, both in the U.S. and abroad, a Davenport collection press release says. The Spokane company says its properties are expected to be the first group in Washington state to switch to that brand.

Marriott has 60 hotels and resorts listed on its website as part of the Autograph Collection, the nearest being in Denver.

Lynnelle Caudill, managing director for the Davenport collection, says in the release, “Marriott was looking to have a stronger presence in this market, and we were looking for a partner who could help us attract new business to Spokane.”

The Davenport collection currently includes a total of 660 guest rooms. The Grand Hotel Spokane is scheduled to open in the summer of 2015 and will have 716 guest rooms, an 18,000-square-foot ballroom, and 62,500 square feet of meeting space.