WASHINGTON — Bethesda-based Marriott International is expanding a partnership with shopping mall owner Simon Property Group to open more hotels that are directly connected to shopping centers.

It already has a Ritz-Carlton hotel connected to Simon Property’s Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, and at other Simon Property malls across the country.

Marriott says it will open at least five new hotels at Simon shopping centers from South Florida to Long Island.

“With consumers increasingly gravitating toward walkable, mixed-use communities, opening new hotels alongside Simon’s thriving retail destinations is an important part of Marriott International’s growth strategy in North America,” said Eric Jacobs, the chief development officer for Marriott International.

Currently, more than 15 Marriott-branded hotels are located at Simon properties, including in Austin, Atlanta and Florida.

The five it plans to add are an AC Hotel by Marriott at Fort Lauderdale Sawgrass Mills, an AC Hotel at Miami Dadeland, a Courtyard Marriott at Wolfchase Galleria in Memphis, a Residence Inn at Long Island Jericho and a Fairfield Inn & Suites at Dallas Garland.

Simon owns several shopping centers and outlets in the Washington area, including Arundel Mills, Potomac Mills, St. Charles Towne Center, Clarksburg Premium Outlets, Hagerstown Premium Outlets and Leesburg Corner Premium Outlets.

Marriott and Simon did not announce any immediate plans for expanding their hotel-shopping center partnerships in the Washington area.

Simon owns hundreds of malls and outlet centers in North America, Europe and Asia. Marriott now has more than 6.500 hotels in 127 countries under 30 different brands.