The Love Shack, It's a Little Old Place Where...
Okay, this has been such a gonzo news week that I thought some escapism would do us all a world of good. NO, I'm not saying to go watch Fox News...just contemplate booking a room here.
I had almost forgotten that the Fantasuites Hotels even existed anymore. I first found out about them years and years ago, back in the pre-Web days, when a pal from school who was a Star Trek geek insisted that he had found a hotel with a NASA theme room. I brushed it off, until Playgirl magazine, of all things (someone had gotten me a scrip for my birthday...great bedtime reading as it pretty much put me to sleep...yawn...) ran an article on it.
Now, for whatever reason, my longterm boyfriend at the time seemed intrigued by the idea of rooms transformed into a castle or ancinet Egyptian temple by the miracle of tacky resin and fiberglass appealing, so we ordered a brochure. At the time, there had been a branch by the King of Prussia Mall, which at the time was also allegedly one of the biggest malls in the country.
We never did actually make the trip, but we had a hell of a lot of fun reading the slick, "trying too hard at elegance" descriptions and packages. To be honest, the website and the current offerings of the chain are less fun and artsy than the old original--they apparently got rid of the more "artsy" rooms (they used to have monochrome rooms with special lighting, round furniture, etc), as well as some of the more elaborate ones (King Arthur's Court and the fullblown Egyptian Temple, both of which my then-beau seemed particularly interested in).
I realize that this idea and variations on it are nothing new, but never before had I or have I seen what I'll call the odd distillation of people's fantasies boiled down in one place--if they didn't have a demand for Room Theme X, they wouldn't have kept it. Given the availability of the "space" theme, the "stagecoach" theme, and the "treehouse" them, you really have to wonder.....
Now, there are other places that have a "theme room schtick" going on--Berlin's Propeller Island Hotel comes to mind--but there's something much more edgy, artsy, and less "velvet painting of big eyed puppies" about the whole setup:
Having said that, I guess my ideal fantasy hotel room (other than one that I occupy on a return trip to Berlin so that I can actually stay in one of PI's great rooms) would be a comfy suite that looks just like my apartment--only when they deliver the paper, it talks about President Gore's second terrific term, there actually would be something worth watching on TV, there'd be vacation brochures around for beach trips to the newly-peaceful Red Sea area, and my pay stubs would reflect a few extra digits.
One can dream....which I intend to do now. Have a peaceful night and dream of a better world.
