MARIETTA - A new group has formed to represent the more than 100 hotels in Cobb County.

Representatives from 20 Cobb hotels met last week to kick-start the Cobb Hotel Council, a group that will focus on community outreach, sales and marketing, and governmental affairs for local hotels.

Area hoteliers have discussed forming such a council over the last few years, said Ron Fennel of Smyrna, the group's executive director. Fennel said the group's formation is not a response to the recent attempt to merge the Cobb County Convention & Visitors Bureau with the Marietta Coliseum & Exhibit Hall Authority, a merger opposed by many hoteliers.

However, Visitors Bureau Chairman Don Geiger, general manager of the Kennesaw Town Center Residence Inn by Marriott, said the new hotel council will give hoteliers a united voice.

"I believe that the potential merger of the CCVB with the Authority helped demonstrate to those of us in the hotel community the importance of having an avenue for a unified voice with many key issues facing our industry in Cobb County," Geiger said.

Membership dues are based on the number of rooms in the facility. A 100-room hotel would charge $3 per room, for a dues fee of $300.

The group, which appointed Frank Quallen, general manager of the Atlanta Marriott Northwest, as its chairman, is a chapter of the Georgia Hotel & Lodging Association.

"There are so many opportunities for Cobb area hotels to work together with other business interests. By working together, we can win business to Cobb that benefits us all," Quallen said.

Meetings are conducted at 8 a.m. on the second Wednesday of each month. For more information, contact membership director Cindy Fennel at (404) 213-3061.