Read an Excerpt
Introduction Kitsch is a pink flamingo lawn ornament, a heart-shaped tub, and fuzzy dice hanging from the rearview mirror. It’s leopard-print fabric and colorful floral carpeting. “Kitschy” can be interpreted to mean tacky, tasteless, or excessive, and full of sentimentality, like the souvenirs lining the shelves of a gift shop. It’s the blatant and often unironic re-creation of something well-known and beloved—easily digestible art that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Hotel Kitsch is a collection of destinations that fully embrace this polarizing style. Included here are theme hotels that offer fantastical imitations of familiar settings—like a jungle room with fake trees and foliage surrounding the bed, or a cave suite that has carved rock walls and not a window to be seen—as well as imaginative interiors with a shameless abundance of pattern, color, and personality. The properties range from honeymoon hotels built in the Poconos in the 1970s to a newly renovated maximalist’s paradise in Palm Springs. There are “hidden gem” roadside motels throughout the Midwest, Americana-inspired hotels in Ibiza, and so much more in between. So how did we come to discover these hotels and fall in love with them? Our passion for photography connected us in college, and we started a production company together as newlyweds. While on a work trip in 2018, we decided to stay at Cove Haven Resort in the Poconos. We’d become aware of it thanks to the eerie, dreamlike photo series called The Honeymoon by Juno Calypso, which showcased one of the hotel’s pink heart-shaped bathtubs. Once we arrived, we couldn’t believe what a perfect time capsule the entire resort turned out to be. We were completely taken by the romantic atmosphere and couples-only summer camp feeling. The rooms were nostalgic, sexy, and reminiscent of the Doris Day movies Margaret had been aesthetically drawn to since childhood. After that trip, we dove into researching where to find other hotels that had a vintage or fantastical style and stumbled into the world of theme hotels. We had been wanting to embark on a personal project whereby we could join forces and create something together, and these rooms were the perfect subject. We started road-tripping as often as we could, cataloging our favorite designs along the way. When we began seeking out these unique experiences, we consulted the internet. We got a few leads when we entered phrases like “theme hotel” or “fantasy suites,” but because many of the hotels themselves didn’t focus on building SEO (search engine optimization, which is what aids in searchability) or a social media presence, the results were incredibly limited. After some time, we honed our research skills—looking for the word “outdated” in reviews proved effective—and found enough promising information to start planning the trips. The getaways we discovered were often overlooked and widely misunderstood, both a little sleazy and hopelessly romantic—something we could relate to. We’d always felt like eccentric artists who weren’t sure where we fit in society, but as we embarked on this project, we began finding our people and hearing their stories of shameless self-expression. We were theater lovers who finally had somewhere to wear our costumes again. As we traveled, we shared our adventures online under the name A Pretty Cool Hotel Tour, and our photos and videos began garnering attention. We visited hundreds of rooms from coast to coast, often unsure of what we would find when we unlocked the door. There was a thrill to uncovering properties that had thrived before the digital age but hadn’t yet made their internet debuts. (A large part of the motivation for this series was because there was no resource for unique, kitschy hotels explicitly for adults. The handful of family-friendly hotels profiled here are noted as such in the Hotel Directory, beginning on page 267.) The rooms themselves were imaginative, silly, and sexy, and gave the visitor permission to lean into fantasy and self-expression. And people loved them! This book is a visual journey through the most immersive, creative, and kitschy rooms we’ve visited. Whether the destination is a seventies-themed hotel (page 122) or one that actually requires you to scuba dive to the entrance (page 136), we’re taking you along on an adventure that’s all about fun. We’ll explore the rich history behind American theme hotels and honeymoon escapes, and while this is not explicitly meant as a travel guide, we hope to inspire you to dig deeper into fantasy, romance, and self-expression—and maybe even plan your own road trip. It’s time to check into Hotel Kitsch.
