When the San Diego Marriott Gaslamp Quarter Hotel celebrates its official grand opening Jan. 29, it will be helping the Ronald McDonald House in San Diego, a home away from home for families in crisis. Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diego is the beneficiary of the 306-room hotel. Hotel g.m. Jim Durbin says the local charity was selected because of its more than two decades of efforts to provide temporary lodging for families of ill children.

Undergoing a year-long, $43 million reconstruction, the hotel is scheduled to open in December. Located at 660 K Street at the crossroads of the East Village and Gaslamp neighborhoods of Downtown San Diego, it is owned and operated by Stanford Hotels Corp. of San Francisco.