Margaret and Corey Bienert have always had passion projects, but it wasn’t until they launched A Pretty Cool Hotel Tour that one finally took off. The couple began documenting themed hotel rooms across the United States in 2018, sharing their weird, wacky and, naturally, kitschy finds on their Instagram account, which has since amassed more than 500,000 followers.
“People say, ‘You’re so lucky that people really loved the thing you did, and that it blew up.’ And we’re like, ‘Do you know how much money we spent on all of the other art projects that maybe eight people were excited about?'” Margaret Bienert told WWD. “To have something be successful because enough people are interested in it is really cool.”
Now the couple has compiled their viral travels into a book titled “Hotel Kitsch” ($35). Out now, the 274-page volume charts their 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.
Themed hotel rooms originated aboard the decks of Romantic Era steamboats. Highly decorative honeymoon suites were intended to ease newlyweds’ anxieties about losing their virginity.
“It’s interesting to see how much of it was created for people who got married and weren’t necessarily in love,” Margaret Bienert added. “Then there were these environments created for couples to get to know each other, hopefully so that they could fall in love.”
For the Bienerts, who were both raised Evangelical, exploring themed hotels offered an unexpected venue for religious deconstruction. In Margaret Bienert’s formative years, her family subscribed to the teachings of Bill Gothard’s Institute of Basic Life Principles, the fundamentalist group famously patronized by the Duggar brood.
“When I was little, it was like, women weren’t allowed to wear pants,” said Bienert. “My mom never spoke a word and just cooked all day. Even just the idea of women having ownership over their own bodies in general was a very new concept to me.”
Suddenly, fanta-suites became more than kitschy enclaves: sensual flairs like mirrored ceilings and mood lighting created a safe haven for experimenting with intimacy. Sunday school walls plastered with paintings of parables were replaced with motel murals depicting Romeo and Juliet.
“These rooms will actually change your life if you need them to,” Bienert explained. “I think that’s something not a lot of people expect.”
Seeing the beauty in what many might consider tacky has been a touchpoint of the Bienerts’ Pretty Cool Hotel Tour project. When they began sharing their travels on social media in 2020 — some inns more run down than others — the reactions they received weren’t always positive.
“There was way more, ‘Ugh, why would you go there? That’s disgusting. Did you actually sleep there?’ I think it made me want to show even more how cool it actually is that there are these really weird designs out there,” Margaret Bienert said.
“There’s something fun about being misunderstood,” Corey Bienert added.
Traveling with their own pillows and a canister of Clorox wipes doesn’t hurt, either.
A Pretty Cool Hotel Tour evolved from the Bienerts’ on-the-go lifestyle as freelance directors, video editors and photographers. Since cofounding their company Marginal Creative, the couple has produced commercials and social media campaigns for brands including Honest Beauty, Warby Parker and Allbirds.
Staying in a series of drab hotels while traveling for work eventually led them to the Cove Haven Resorts, which are located in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. The chain of couples-only inns is known for their towering champagne glass tubs and heart-shaped private pools.
Rooms such as those at Cove Haven Resorts are made solely for adults, but as the Bienerts continued their cross-country journey, what they often discovered were themed spaces with playful touches sans the overt sensuality. The Madonna Inn, a San Luis Obispo, Calif., spot featuring candy-colored walls and vintage-inspired decor, comes to mind.
“As an adult, I don’t feel like there are very playful things made for me,” Margaret Bienert explained. “I feel like it’s either family-focused or very R-rated. The thing I really wanted to memorialize was this playground for adults that wasn’t just about having sexual experiences.”
As captivated as the Bienerts were with quirky interiors, what fascinated them even more were the stories of hotel owners, engineers and decorators — many of whom began as novices of their craft — that brought these extravagant environments to life.
“Hotel Kitsch” profiles industry greats like Morris Wilkins, the inventor of the heart-shaped tub and the Champagne whirlpool; Carleton Varney of the legendary design firm Dorothy Draper & Company, and car designer-turned-hotelier Gary Strobusch and his manufacturing company Rainbow Nights Inc. The Bienerts tracked down many of their subjects using phone books and newspaper archives.
“We got to finally talk to this artist who we felt like we had gotten to know through staying in all of his rooms,” Margaret Bienert said in reference to Strobusch, whose themed suites span states including Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa.
It’s these anecdotes that the Bienerts couldn’t sum up solely through social media captions. The fleeting nature of apps like Instagram and TikTok, where the couple built their following, also didn’t seem like appropriate venues to memorialize their five-year study of kitschy hotels.
“We wanted to have something that feels like the physical manifestation of what this project is,” Corey Bienert explained. “Something that’s a complete idea.”
“Hotel Kitsch” also captures more modern haunts such as the Trixie Motel in Palm Springs, Calif., and The Concept Hotels group in Ibizia, Spain. Both represent a resurgence in themed stays that parallels an increasing desire for experiential, social media-friendly travel. Unlike Instagram-worthy art installations like the Museum of Ice Cream, however, eclectic lodgings offer an opportunity to luxuriate.
“I like going to art museums, but I can’t stand being around all of the other people that are rushing me through the process,” Corey Bienert said. “When we’re going into a hotel room, we’re the only ones there. I get to take my time looking around. I’ve always enjoyed that aspect of it, that it feels like a private experience.”
Even after the release of “Hotel Kitsch,” the Bienerts still aren’t quite ready to close the Pretty Cool Hotel Tour chapter of their lives. They can envision bringing on an even bigger team of hotel historians to expand their photos, short-form videos and vlogs into a travel miniseries.
“To be able to, as small business owners ourselves, help keep other small businesses afloat through this project has been so cool, but I feel like there’s so much more we could do to put a bigger spotlight on them,” Margaret Bienert concluded. “There’s still a dream that we could turn this more into just the two of us.”