Description of the Business - Narrative (Details) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions														1 Months Ended		2 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Jan. 02, 2020 USD ($)	Jan. 02, 2020 CAD ($)	Nov. 21, 2019 USD ($)	Sep. 24, 2019	Sep. 23, 2019	May 01, 2019 USD ($)	Apr. 22, 2019 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Feb. 01, 2019 USD ($)	Dec. 04, 2018 USD ($)	Dec. 03, 2018 USD ($)	Sep. 18, 2018 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Feb. 06, 2018 USD ($)	Jan. 23, 2018 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Mar. 31, 2019 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Feb. 28, 2018 USD ($)	Jan. 31, 2020 CAD ($)	Dec. 31, 2019 USD ($) warehouse shares	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($) shares	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2010 shares	Aug. 23, 2018 USD ($)	Jan. 22, 2018 shares
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of warehouses | warehouse																	178
Underwriting fees and other offering costs																	$ 0	$ 8,205,000	$ 0
Number of common shares to be purchased by warrants (in shares) | shares													18,574,619
Exercise price of warrants (in USD per share) | $ / shares													$ 9.81
Shares issued for warrant exercise (in shares) | shares													6,426,818
Deemed valuation of warrants (in USD per share) | $ / shares													$ 15.00
Cash paid for acquisition of property, buildings and equipment																	85,216,000	0	0
Americold Realty Operating Partnership, L.P..
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Payment of stub dividend																	135,443,000	86,679,000	48,666,000
Outstanding borrowings																	1,695,447,000
Cash paid for acquisition of property, buildings and equipment																	85,216,000	$ 0	0
Americold Realty Operating Partnership, L.P.. | Term Loans | Senior Secured Term Loan A Facility
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Indebtedness repaid												$ 50,000,000.0			$ 50,000,000
Term of debt													5 years
Face amount of debt													$ 525,000,000.0
Proceeds from debt													517,000,000.0
Outstanding borrowings															$ 475,000,000.0
Americold Realty Operating Partnership, L.P.. | Credit Facility | 2018 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Additional accordion option													$ 400,000,000.0
Americold Realty Operating Partnership, L.P.. | Credit Facility | 2018 Senior Unsecured Credit Facilities
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Change in commitment fee percentage									0.50%
Americold Realty Operating Partnership, L.P.. | Term Loans and Credit Facility | 2018 Senior Unsecured Credit Facilities
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Aggregate commitments under credit agreements												925,000,000.0
Americold Realty Operating Partnership, L.P.. | Revolving Credit Facility | Credit Facility | 2018 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Term of debt													3 years
Increase in credit commitments												50,000,000.0
Revolver borrowing capacity												$ 450,000,000.0	$ 400,000,000.0
Outstanding borrowings																	$ 0
Americold Realty Operating Partnership, L.P.. | Revolving Credit Facility | Credit Facility | 2018 Senior Unsecured Credit Facilities
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Revolver borrowing capacity									$ 800,000,000	$ 450,000,000
Americold Realty Operating Partnership, L.P.. | LIBOR | Term Loans and Credit Facility | 2018 Senior Unsecured Credit Facilities
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Basis spread on variable rate									1.45%	2.35%
Americold Realty Operating Partnership, L.P.. | LIBOR | Revolving Credit Facility | Term Loans | 2018 Senior Unsecured Credit Facilities
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Basis spread on variable rate				1.00%	1.45%
Americold Realty Operating Partnership, L.P.. | LIBOR | Revolving Credit Facility | Credit Facility | 2018 Senior Unsecured Credit Facilities
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Basis spread on variable rate				0.90%	1.45%												0.90%
Common Stock
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Shares converted (in shares) | shares													33,240,258					33,240,258
Shares issued for warrant exercise (in shares) | shares																		6,426,818
Series B Preferred Shares
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Payment of accrued and unpaid dividends													$ 1,200,000				$ 0	$ 1,817,000	$ 28,436,000
PortFresh Holdings, LLC
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Cash paid for acquisition of property, buildings and equipment								$ 35,200,000
MHW Group Inc.
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Cash paid for acquisition of property, buildings and equipment			$ 50,100,000
Lanier Cold Storage
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Aggregate cash consideration						$ 81,900,000
Nova Cold Logistics | Subsequent Event
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Consideration	$ 257,100,000	$ 336.8														$ 336.8
IPO
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares) | shares													33,350,000
Initial offering price (in USD per share) | $ / shares													$ 16.00
Net proceeds from offering													$ 493,600,000
Underwriting fees and other offering costs													40,000,000.0
Payment of stub dividend													3,100,000
Net proceeds from offering used for general corporate purposes													184,400,000
IPO | Americold Realty Operating Partnership, L.P.. | Term Loans | Senior Secured Term Loan B Facility
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Indebtedness repaid													285,100,000
Payment of accrued and unpaid interest and closing expense													3,000,000.0
Payment of closing expense													200,000
IPO | Americold Realty Operating Partnership, L.P.. | Construction Loan | Clearfield, Utah and Middleboro Massachusetts Construction Loans
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Indebtedness repaid													20,900,000
IPO | Series A Preferred Shares
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Payment for redemption of preferred shares													$ 100,000
Underwriters' Option
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares) | shares							6,562,000						4,350,000	6,063,105
Public Offering
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares) | shares							42,062,000				4,000,000
Initial offering price (in USD per share) | $ / shares							$ 29.75				$ 24.50			$ 27.75
Net proceeds from offering							$ 1,210,000,000				$ 92,500,000			$ 1,100,000,000
Underwriting fees and other offering costs														$ 1,500,000
Number of shares subject to forward sale agreement (in shares) | shares							8,250,000				6,000,000
Public Stock Offering - YF ART Holdings L.P.
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares) | shares											16,500,000			38,422,583
Public Stock Offering - Goldman Sachs
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares) | shares											9,100,000			8,061,228
Public Stock Offering - Fortress Entities
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares) | shares											7,200,000
At the Market Equity Program
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares) | shares																	0
Authorized equity program																					$ 500,000,000.0
YF ART Holdings L.P.
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Ownership percentage before IPO													100.00%
Ownership percentage after IPO																	25.90%
Goldman | Common Stock
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Shares converted (in shares) | shares													28,808,224
CMHI
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Ownership percentage after IPO													3.10%
CMHI | Common Stock
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Shares converted (in shares) | shares													4,432,034
CMHI | Series B Preferred Shares
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of shares sold (in shares) | shares																				50,000
U.S.
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of warehouses | warehouse																	160
Australia
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of warehouses | warehouse																	6
New Zealand
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of warehouses | warehouse																	7
Argentina
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of warehouses | warehouse																	2
Canada
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of warehouses | warehouse																	3
Americold Realty Operating Partnership, L.P.. | General Partner
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Ownership of partnership																	99.00%
Americold Realty Operating Partnership, L.P.. | Limited Partner
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Ownership of partnership																	1.00%
Goldman | Series B Preferred Shares
Subsidiary, Sale of Stock [Line Items]
Number of shares issued (in shares) | shares																						325,000