Memphis Travel Guide
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Lowering the Benchmark at The Benchmark Hotel in Memphis
Last week, we found ourselves on an unplanned Easter road trip and ended up in Memphis on Good Friday. Having paid our Graceland dues, we decided to shack up for the night, and soon realized that the town was pretty full for the weekend.
Our options? The Peabody had a double room for $200, but the Benchmark had one going for $130. The lobby looked a little worn but the staff were nice, we were tired, and we hadn't seen the warnings on TripAdvisor so we gave it a go.
Tags: Cubicle Dreamin' / Elvis Hotels / Memphis Hotels / → All Tags
Cubicle Dreamin': An Inn That Has Everything But Elvis
Cubicle Dreamin' is a feature in which we ask the hotel mavens to take some time out of their busy work day, surf the Internet, and tell us what hotel they wish they could beam themselves to right that very second--all on the slave driving companies dime, of course. Oh, like these people aren't surfing aimlessly anyway--at least now their purposeless clicking will be cobbled together into useful hotel stories--we hope. Have a destination hotel you are just dying to leave your cube for? Send the story our way.
In this episode, Hotel Maven Jennifer Merritt puts on her blue suede shoes and heads to Graceland. Enjoy.
I'm not much of an Elvis fan, but for some reason I've always wanted to go to Graceland. Because I'm not one of those jumpsuit-and-wig-wearing fanatics, I want to make sure my trip to Memphis isn't all Elvis, all the time. It appears that the River Inn of Harbor Town may be the solution to that conundrum.
Tags: Hampton Hotels / Hotels Doing Good / Hotel News / Lorraine Motel / → All Tags
Hamptons Hotel Workers Spruce up MLK Museum
Hamptons Hotels' Save a Landmark program isn't just about restoring ginormous cuckoo clocks or 20-foot-tall duck-shaped gift shops. No, there's a serious side to it too.
The program has recently enlisted more than 100 of its workers - along with serious star power in the form of actor Samuel L. Jackson - to overhaul the National Civil Rights Museum, in Memphis, Tennessee.
The Museum celebrates the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and sits on the former site of the Lorraine Motel, where the civil rights leader was assassinated on April 4, 1968.
From new wallpaper and walkways, to displays, landscaping and electrical work, the Museum aims to complete most of the project by the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's untimely passing.
Jackson, who was an usher at King's funeral, is contributing to the more than 1000 man-hours that will go into rolling out the new look for this important landmark. And Hamptons plans more legendary makeovers this year -- including the birthplaces of Helen Keller and Jessie Owens.
Got a landmark you wanna see preserved? Nominate one here.
Tags: Memphis Hotel Reviews / Hotel Food / → All Tags
Dinner at The Peabody: Just Don't Try and Order Duck Confit
For everyone with an oil portrait of Robert E. Lee hanging in the Billiard Room, you and your fellow Daughters of the American Revolution should venture from the plantation to enjoy a fantastic meal at Chez Phillipe, a Forbes Traveler story on the best hotel food reports.
The French-Asian establishment, located within The Peabody hotel in Memphis, is one of the highest rated restaurants below the Mason-Dixon.
Apparently, all the restaurant buzz proves the hotel now has more than marching ducks to offer its travelers. Since 1932, when a few drunken aristocrats left their duck decoys in the hotel fountain after a day of hunting, fowl have achieved royalty status at The Peabody. According to the hotel web site:
The ducks are housed in the "Duck Palace" on the hotel roof. Every day at 11 a.m., they are led by the Duckmaster down the elevator to the Italian travertine marble fountain in the Peabody Grand Lobby. A red carpet is unrolled and the ducks march through crowds of admiring spectators to the tune of John Philip Sousa's King Cotton March. The ceremony is reversed at 5 p.m., when the ducks retire for the evening to their palace on the roof of the hotel.
Somewhere, Scrooge McDuck seethes with jealousy.
[Photo: bearclau]
Tags: Memphis Hotel Reviews / YouTube / Hotel Deals / → All Tags
The Madison Hotel Tour With Added Bonus Booking Tip
Fearless Jaunted contributing editor Davie has flown into Memphis, Tenn. for a quick trip and is staying at the Madison Hotel in room 1308.
For those of you so fascinated by this hotel video tour that you want to book a room immediately, Davie has this tip on getting a special internet rate:
Go to the Madison Hotel web site, click "make a reservation" and then "promotional rates" at the bottom---or pay $60 extra per night plus a few extra in taxes.
We put her tip to work and found a Bankers full room for $175 on Friday, Feb. 9 and Saturday, Feb. 10 under the internet promotions rate. Otherwise, the hotel is offering the room for $235 both nights. Thanks Davie, now go and put your records on.
Related Stories:
· Memphis Record Shopping Double-Up [Jaunted]
Tags: 2006 Awards / Anti-View / → All Tags
Best Anti-View: Wyndham Garden Hotel
Best Anti-View: Wyndham Garden Hotel
We used to think getting a room view of scaffolding, brick walls or air shafts were the worst types of views you could get. However, men with skimpy bathing suits, like this man of leisure pictured here, take the cake.
What's worse about this, according to Hotel Maven Courtney May who sent it to us, is that the Wyndham Garden Hotel is also next to a children's hospital meaning those sick kids get to look at this too.
Funnily enough, this view seemed to be almost repeated in Croatia and then in San Francisco, one guest paraded around nude in his hotel room where workers across the way had a prime view. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, they didn't snap this Ugly Naked Guy on camera.
Tags: Google Earth Hotels / Elvis Hotels / Memphis Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
Google Earth Hotels: Guitar Shaped Hotel Pool
The Days Inn Graceland is your run-of-the-mill motel. Most hotel mavens will not want to spend one more minute here than they have to, however, Elvis freaks feel a whole lot different.
This hotel is a two minute walk from Graceland, and more importantly has a guitar shaped pool you can see from space, er, at least from Google Earth.
Related Stories:
· Days Inn Graceland on Google Earth [maps.google.com]
· Days Inn Graceland [GoogleSightseeing]
Tags: Memphis Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
Four Presidents Slept Here!
[Ed. Note: Hotel Maven Tim Leffel winds down his Memphis trip by stopping in at the Hunt Phelan. Enjoy.]
Plenty of hotels have heads-of-state pedigree built into their history, but how many have hosted four U.S. presidents in the 1800s?
Down in the hot south, they're not big fans of Trump-style hyperbole and boasting, so the brochure from the latest B&B to open in Memphis just says, "The Inn at Hunt Phelan is not your average 177-year-old mansion." That's certainly an understatement. For one, the estate was designed by architect Robert Mills, who also had a hand in the U.S. Treasury, the Washington Monument, and part of the White House. Three U.S. Presidents spent time there: Andrew Jackson, Ulysses Grant, and Andrew Johnson. A president with an asterisk, Jefferson Davis, also used it as a temporary office.
More on the Inn at Hunt Phelan post-jump.
Tags: Memphis Hotel Reviews / Anti-View / → All Tags
An Up and Close Look at Strip Mall Sadness from the Doubletree
Want an up close and personal view of what's wrong with American urban planning? Get a first floor room at a typical business hotel.
The Doubletree Hotel in East Memphis has some good things going for it. The wi-fi is free and it really works throughout the property, with no annoying log-in codes. There's an indoor/outdoor pool, the rooms are a decent size,and the beds are comfortable.
But take a look out the window and you get a depressing look at what's wrong with urban development in any Sprawl City, USA. From this first-floor room, someone pulling up to park could see which sites you are surfing with your laptop on the desk. If these windows actually opened, you could whisper to the driver as he or she got out of the car and still be heard.
Across the parking lot, it's a strip mall mish-mash: Subway, a pet store, a dentist, and a music shop. Strain your head to look further to the left and right and it's just more parking lot and more shops.
There is an ironic twist to this location, however. It's one of the few places outside downtown where you can just leave the car parked come meal time. A short walk leads to several good sit-down restaurants and a Wild Oats outlet. Even a wine bar and a nice multiplex cinema. So despite being built for anyone but pedestrians, if you put up with the lousy view and strategically navigate the sea of parking lots on foot, you can save a bit of gas after arrival.
Related Stories:
· Doubletree Memphis reviews [TripAdvisor]
Tags: Memphis Hotels / Hotel Reviews / Celeb Scoop / → All Tags
Madison Hotel: Style Magnet for the Whole Spectrum, Even Tom Waits
[Ed. Note: Hotel Maven Tim Leffel continues his summer jaunts by checking in on the hotel scene in Memphis. Enjoy.]
At the Madison Hotel in Memphis, jocks, rock stars, and us regular folk can all enjoy a dish of style with the blues and barbeque.
In the dark days of Memphis hotel history, there weren't a lot of choices for the discerning traveler. You either stayed at a faceless chain hotel or you stayed at the grand and historic Peabody. Since the Madison Hotel opened in a restored bank building at the end of 2002, however, Memphis visitors have been able to add some much-needed pizazz to their options. (And celebrities can stay somewhere that isn't designed for their grandmother's tastes.)
When you step into the lobby of The Madison, your senses get a welcome jolt: dark blue and red velvet sofas, colorful paintings, and a soundtrack that is a million miles from Muzak--real Memphis music with soul. The homage to the city's history continues with oversized photos of the blues greats, framed cymbals,and a hotel logo that's formed from two music notes. A "Smashed Brass" sculpture by the mezzanine stairway is composed of four saxophones, two trumpets, and two trombones--all run over by a truck and framed in their flattened state.
More on the hotel including its famous clientele after the jump
Tags: Bed Bugs / Hotel Hell / → All Tags
Bedbugs Strike Again in Memphis
[Ed. Note: Bed bugs are still alive and kicking in Memphis, Tenn. This time they eat up a poor guest at the Comfort Inn.]
I just returned July 14th from a trip to Memphis, TN where I stayed at the Comfort Inn on Front St. in downtown Memphis. It was an executive suite, Room 100 (on the main floor), and it had bedbugs. I ended up with more than 20 bites on my arms and legs. I thought all my itching and scratching was from mosquite bites from a 2-hour cruise. After 5 days, however, the bite marks appeared and it was clear that the culprit was bedbugs. They gave me a different room for my final night's stay, and at check-out credited my account for only $50.00! Not only that, but they charged me the same rate for their "regular" room as they did for the executive suite. And they didn't even reimburse me for the Neosporin I purchased to rub on the bites. I had reserved 2 rooms, one for myself and one for my companion. His room was on the 15th floor (Room 1512) and he had no bedbug problems.
Related Stories:
· Comfort Inn Memphis reviews [TripAdvisor]
· Bed Bugs Back in Memphis [HotelChatter]
Tags: Anti-View / Wyndham Hotels / → All Tags
Room with an Anti-View: Wyndham Garden Hotel
You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.
Hotel Maven CourtneyMay sent us this Anti-View of the Wyndham in Memphis taken back in 2004.
This was from the 8th floor of the Wyndham Garden Hotel, near to the children's hospital.We used a digital camera that only had an average zoom and we were still able to get these shots. Yuck.
Yuck, indeed. Those poor sick children may have been staring out the hospital window looking for hope and inspiration, only to throw up again once they caught sight of his blue half-thong swimsuit.
Related Stories:
· Wyndham Garden Hotel reviews [TripAdvisor]
· CourtneyMay's photostream [Flickr]
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