by Dashboard Mary
What do you do if you own a bunch of hotels in cities where no one likes to go? Sunny Greenwood, Indiana, West Bend, Wisconsin, and Burnsville, Minnesota aren't exactly raking in the tourist dollars. If you are a hotelier, you still need to pay the bills. One chain, Fantasuites, has come up with what I think is the best solution to filling a hotel in a nowhere destination: They have converted a dozen or so rooms at each hotel into a fancy fantasy-themed experience. Add a hot tub, which most of the theme rooms have, and who wouldn't take a detour and shell out premium dollars -- about $222 a night, tax included-- to stay there?
I sure as hell would make a detour to spend the
night in Greenwood if I can spend the night in Le Cave, a prehistoric-themed fantasy room complete with gold shag carpet, tiled hot tub, and walls that look, well, like a cave. Or, I can stay in the "Northern Lights" room, which is decked out to look like the inside of an igloo, complete with faux bearskin rug and a 10-sided bed. The list of themes goes on: The "Arabian nights" is a faux sheik's tent with mirrors above the bed. The "Alien Invasion" and the "Space Odyssey" have beds surrounded by faux lunar landing pods, perfect for the slightly tipsy, ready-to-mate conventioneer fresh from the Star Trek convention. Come on, you know it's happened.
As if all of these fantasies weren't enough, each room boasts that it has AM/FM radio and stereo cassette decks near the beds. And the real bonus: Free HBO and Playboy channel. They totally know why couples books the rooms.
I love these places... like the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, CA:
http://www.madonnainn.com/
The Victorian Mansion in Los Almos, CA:
http://www.thevick.com/
Or the Red Vic n San Francisco, CA:
http://www.redvic.com/
The most affordable is, surprisingly, the Red Vic in SF (One of the rooms even comes with a Cat!!!).
Posted by: Kai Krause | February 04, 2009 at 11:50 AM