Hotel Kitsch

A visual celebration of the best fantasy suites and honeymoon hotels across America and beyond, from the creators of A Pretty Cool Hotel Tour • Named a Wall Street Journal Best Gift for Travelers

In 1963, the savvy owners of the Cove Haven Resort in the Poconos unveiled their heart-shaped tub. Like Elvis Presley and Playboy magazine, it launched a postwar phenomenon that defined a new era of pop pleasure: the honeymoon hotel. Destinations across the country were soon racing to catch up, installing not just heart-shaped tubs but all types of over-the-top design flourishes, from pink shag carpeting to immersive worlds worthy of a Broadway stage set, in order to create a sense of romance, fantasy, even adventure. 

​From the photographers and inveterate travelers behind the social media sensation A Pretty Cool Hotel Tour, Hotel Kitsch celebrates dozens of creative, nostalgic, one-of-a-kind hotels that span the heart of the Poconos and across the United States to Mexico, Spain, and the UK. Discover, in the middle of Iowa, a jungle room with fake trees and foliage surrounding the bed as if it had taken its cue from Where the Wild Things Are. Or Jules’ Undersea Lodge in Key Largo where the rooms are reached by scuba diving. An Arctic Cave room at a hotel in Kentucky with its carved blue walls and not a window to be found. And on the California coast, the iconic Madonna Inn featuring 110 rooms, each themed and no two alike. 

Along the way, authors Margaret and Corey Bienert uncover too many wild details to mention, including unconventional beds (a Cadillac, a clamshell, a sandwich), mirrors on mirrors on mirrors, in-room swimming pools, full suits of armor, and fiber-optic star ceilings.

It’s time to check into Hotel Kitsch.

• “Within the book’s bright pink pages and vintage fonts, Hotel Kitsch offers an A-to-Z guide to experiencing a fantasy vacation with American flair.” 
  Wallpaper*
• “The creators of A Pretty Cool Hotel Tour have collected the zaniest fantasy suites and honeymoon hotels from the Poconos to Key Largo in this gleeful celebration of all things tacky. Champagne bathtubs, heart-shaped swimming pools, clamshell beds, an arctic cave room and so many mirrors: this book has everything.”
  New York Post
• “A raucous celebration of America’s gaudiest hotels. . . . If you know someone who secretly approves of hotel hot tubs in the shape of Champagne coupes, we’ve got just the gift.”
  The Wall Street Journal
• “I’ve lost hours combing through every photo. . . . It’s been an inspiration both for decor ideas and a travel bucket list.”
  Adrienne Breaux, Apartment Therapy
• “You’ll find the dreamiest escape diving into Margaret and Corey Bienert’s infinitely giftable coffee table book. . . . Whether you’re a design lover with a taste for retro interiors or are always on the hunt for new off-beat travel destinations, this book will not disappoint.”
  The Daily Beast
• “Where once kitsch themed hotels seemed tacky or outmoded, many young people today find their fading glamor appealing and intriguing. . . . It’s also, suggests Margaret, about people realizing how fun these unexpected spaces can be.” 
  CNN
• “There’s a whole world of theme and fantasy hotels out there, just waiting to be discovered. . . . For Margaret and Corey Bienert, these little slices of Americana are livable works of art.”
  Thrillist
• “Hotel Kitsch charts [Margaret and Corey Bienert’s] favorite flamboyant lodgings in the U.S. and around the globe, depicting heart-shaped bathtubs, tropical murals and clamshell beds through a historical, referential lens.”
  Women's Wear Daily
• "Before your pal books their next vacation, they’ll want to pick up this gorgeous coffee table book for inspiration."
  PureWow
• “This paean to the glam and gaudy revels in heart-shaped bathtubs, champagne-glass whirlpools, and other legacies from the Poconos’ heyday as the ‘honeymoon capital of the world.’”
  Publishers Weekly