HotelChatter

First of all, this is a modern atrium hotel, so they can never match the elegance and historic embellishments of the original Peabody in Memphis. Second, let's be real--we are talking about Little Rock, Arkansas. The Clinton Presidential Center is certainly an impressive and well-designed attraction, but an urban hotspot this city is not. So management can be forgiven for ratcheting down the staff-to-guest ratio and relying on the impressive lobby and waddling ducks in the fountain to awe the visitors.

Then there are the views, though, which are great from almost every room. The higher the better, but in general the odd number rooms face the city and the Clinton Library, while the even ones face the river (as pictured here) and the new minor league baseball stadium in North Little Rock. The staff that is on duty is polished and professional and issues generally get resolved quickly--like when our key suddenly stopped working on day 2 and the night manager went up the elevator with us to ensure the new one did the trick.

Guests used to major market business hotels may be disappointed in some aspects, however, especially when it comes to the rooms. No robes, no coffee makers, no ergonomic desk chairs, and no WiFi--though a big round of applause for making wired Internet complimentary and making WiFi in the lobby gratis. The scaled-back rooms probably have something to do with the fact that there are 418 of them and then there is the hotel's neighbor: a huge convention center.

Until the historic Capital Hotel under renovation is open again--which looked to us like no earlier than 2008--the Peabody is the only game in town at the upper end of the scale in Little Rock. While it may be an also-ran compared to its Memphis sibling, it's also far cheaper: online rates start at under $160 a night.