There is something special and enchanting about hotel lobbies. It’s a combination of comfort, ambient music, people-watching and drinking wine in a comfy chair that makes a hotel lobby one of the special perks of traveling. Perhaps hotel lobbies are more magical than say benches at the mall or doctor’s waiting rooms because they are inextricably linked with travel…which in my case is usually for pleasure and usually entails an escape from the everyday responsibilities of home.
13 Most Interesting Hotel Lobbies
1. 
Peabody Hotel, Memphis, TN
I spent a lot of time in the lobby of the Peabody in 1988 when I was there for a convention of the Jaycees. It was my first introduction to the curious tradition of the ducks waddling off the elevator and into the fountain every morning and back out and up to their plush hotel suite at the end of the day. To me it was not a place to “see and be seen” but a place to “meet and be met.” I would run into my fellow Jaycees from Miami and meet Jaycees from all over the country. The Peabody has an old-world charm that slows the hustle and makes one long to relax and enjoy each others’ company.
2. Awahnee Hotel, Yosemite Park, CA
We never intended to stay at the Awahnee hotel. We drove the torturous road from Lake Tahoe to Yosemite with a 4-week old baby in the car, stopping at pull-offs on precipitous roads for me to nurse her every couple of hours. A trip that we thought would take about 3 hours took over 7! My husband assured me that there were lodges to stay in where we could rest before exploring the park the next day. When we finally got to Yosemite Village, with me seething that we did not go with my suggestion which was to go to Napa where I would have a glass of wine in my hand by now, we found that there was no room at the proverbial inn. The only accommodations left in Yosemite Village were at the Awahnee Hotel. Now, we had just been married a couple of years, had just bought our first house and had just had our first baby…we were on a Motel 6 budget and the Awahnee Hotel is NOT the Motel 6! We were greeted at the registration desk and told that the only room that was available was a suite at $295 per night. We had no choice but to pay half of a mortgage payment in order to have a place to sleep. The lobby had soaring ceilings, marble floors and “rustic” décor that surely pleased the Astors and Vanderbilts who frequented the Awahnee at the turn-of-the-century. This is a hotel lobby that will transport you back in time. However, we did not spend a great deal of time there because we didn’t have the proper attire to dine at the Awahnee's wonderful restaurant. We ordered an $18 cheeseburger to split in our room and admonished our 4-week old daughter to enjoy this evening because this was the NICEST place she would EVER stay!
3. Hilton Hawaiian Village, Oahu, HI
I love a place that
is all hustle and bustle at 5 a.m. Coffee is brewed, people are milling around, newspapers are being read and you can walk out, go a few steps and watch the sun rise over Diamondhead and call your friends on the east coast who have been up for hours. Later you can wander though and choose which of the small bar seating areas you want to cozy up in and have a glass of wine or a tropical drink garnished with an orchid.
4. Marriott, San Diego Harbor, San Diego, CA
By this trip, which will forever be remembered as the trip where my family outvoted me and we went to SEA WORLD instead of the SAN DIEGO ZOO, my daughter was a mature, seasoned traveler of 5. When Dad and Rory fell asleep in the hotel room, Haley and I ventured to the lobby where we found a delightful bar with lots of tables with comfy seats. I had a glass of wine and Haley had her first Shirley Temple…and a tradition was born.
5. Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, NV
Lobby-sitting is not such an important part of a trip to Las Vegas…especially when casinos, shows and spas are sparring over every chunk of time you have. But Mandalay Bay was the first place I went in Las Vegas when my husband surprised me one Christmas with a fully planned trip to Vegas, leaving on January 1. I was swept away without a care in the world beyond what to pack. Mandalay Bay’s lobby immediately filled me with a sense of what Las Vegas is about…big, amazing, over-the-top…and in the case of Mandalay Bay, beautiful. It set the stage for four days of being wined and dined and pampered and will forever remind me of our romantic, surprise trip.
6. Holiday Inn, JFK Airport, NY
Surprised, right? You were expecting maybe the Plaza Hotel? Me and Haley doing our best Eloise impressions? Well, we were there to see the Mets play when New York was shut down by the blackout of 2003. When we concluded that Shea Stadium was not going to reopen, we headed to our hotel where we were greeted by the hordes of travelers waylaid by the blackout. We had a reservation…almost everyone else did not. There were people who were bumped from flights scheduled to get them to cruises in Miami, business people trying to just get home, crying babies, confused elderly people, inexplicably two naked children running around and a general shared sense of misery. Did I mention that it was August, 90 degrees and that, of course, the AC didn’t work? Definitely an interesting hotel lobby for that evening!
7. Peabody Hotel, Orlando, FL
Haley was about 3 and Daddy had a convention for business at the Peabody in Orlando, so we went along for the ride. The hotel was lovely and Haley was enchanted by the ducks, so seeing their daily marches was a required activity each day. We went off and did various things in the area, but each day would end in the lobby where there was a piano player and Haley would sit like a little lady, clutching her Sprite (we had not yet
discovered Shirley Temples) while I sipped wine and felt like an adult for a little while. One night she dressed up like a princess in a blue dress with a tulle neckpiece, white tights and white patent leather shoes to go to a dinner with my husband. All eyes were on her as she proudly (and stoically as we later discovered her shoes were too small) sashayed through the lobby on the way to the Ball…Cinderella lived in Haley for a few brief, shining moments in Orlando at the Peabody Hotel.
8. Marriott Courtyard, Jensen Beach, FL
This hotel lobby will go down in history as my kids’ favorite. Year after year we would go there in the summer for Dad to play in his brother’s golf tournament and for the Moms and kids to play on the beach and by the pool. With the excitement of the ocean, discovering nesting turtles at night and the delight of being with cousins, nothing gave them more pleasure than the hot chocolate machine in the lobby. It was FREE! They could push the button to pour it themselves! It created a magnetic field which drew them to it several times each day! Alas, the hotel was severely damaged by Hurricane Frances in 2004 and when we returned there in 2006, the hot chocolate machine was a thing of the past.
9. Hotel Welcome, Brussels, Belgium
I am a sucker for non-chain, quirky hotels and the Hotel Welcome was indeed both. Each room was decorated in the style of a different country…we stayed in Thailand. Each morning the lobby was where residents would gather for a continental breakfast and conversation. The lobby was stocked with used books left by previous guests which one could read and take or just browse while eating. The tables were close enough together that conversations would spontaneously meld into one another as people discussed the day’s plans and experiences from yesterday. This hotel had one of the most memorably helpful and kind staff people that I have ever met.
10. Sheraton Suites, Cypress Creek, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
When we lived in NC, taking the whole family to South Florida for Christmas was always a little stressful. Presents needed to be shipped. Everyone needed to be visited. Small children with the need for consistent schedules were cranky. One year we decided to stay at the Sheraton Suites, where we were able to get a suite…allowing children to sleep while parents read or watched TV. The best part for me was that I could go down to the lobby and have a glass of wine to unwind at the end of the day. The lobby was a two-story atrium-like area complete with a soothing waterfall that felt at once magnificent and cozy. A few minutes there alone and a glass of wine assuaged the stress of the day and prepared me for the stress of the next.
11. The Inn on North Street, St. Andrews, Scotland 
The lobby is a pub. ‘nuff said!
12. Westin LAX, Los Angeles, CA
Husband left me and my horrific sunburn napping and took the kids touring Beverly Hills. When I woke up, I found the comfortable lobby bar where the WiFi was free, the wine servings were generous and there were snacks out to munch on. Very relaxing!
13. Sheraton Island Harbour, San Diego, CA
This is where we stayed while my husband ran in his first marathon – the Rock & Roll Marathon, June 3, 2007. Since his endeavor required copious amounts of sleep in preparation for the run, lots of sleep while recovering and the kids and I were still on east coast time, the lobby became our living room, our refuge. We did computer stuff, had something to eat, played cards, talked and read without having to worry about disturbing Daddy. The view of the harbor and the boats was spectacular!
Di
Comments