The return of the motel

            Road trips have been a staple of American family life since the late 1940s, when returning veterans began the tradition of piling the wife and kids into the family Buick and heading out to explore Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles, and up and down the Eastern seaboard. When the interstate system started construction in the ‘50s, motels became even more ubiquitous, popping up at interchanges on the outskirts of cities and towns.

            The first motel was built by architect and developer Arthur Heineman, who abbreviated the words “motor hotel” to “mo-tel,” in San Luis Obispo, Cal., in 1925. After the war, Heineman’s innovation took off, with I-, L- or U-shaped structures that typically stuck to one or two stories, making it easier for guests to unload their suitcases. Unlike hotels, where rooms are entered through interior doors, motel rooms always offer exterior doors.

            Most motels in those days were individually owned, with proprietors looking for new and inventive ways to attract guests. This gave rise to brightly-colored neon signs, exotic names, and occasionally plastic palm trees and kidney-shaped swimming pools. A single road trip might include a night in a Polynesian village, then a stop at an Italian villa—or at least that’s what they appeared to be, sort of. A little cheesy, sure, but to our parents and grandparents it was a welcome getaway from daily workaday life and an adventure for the kids.

            The emergence of chains like Holiday Inn, Travelodge and Best Western in the ‘50s started the slow decline of the mom-and-pop motel. The rapid increase in air travel meant city hotels began grabbing much of the U.S. traveler’s lodging dollar. Motels started being known as places that were run-down and crime-ridden, thanks in part to TV shows, which always seemed to show fugitives holing up in dingy motels. Even those who remained clean and relatively comfortable all seemed to be cut from the same mold.

            That trend is changing, though. In the last decade or so, local investors have begun buying older motel properties and reimagining them as boutique properties. A recent article in Smithsonian magazine gave three examples of these new-era motels:

·         Pacific Motel, Cayucos, Cal. In a little surf village that calls itself the “last of California’s beach towns,” Ryan and Marisa Fortini bought a rundown motel called the Dolphin Inn in 2020 and spent the next two years transforming it into a boutique property that offers amenities like parachute linens, botanical skin-care products in the lobby and handbags made by Mexican artisans.

·         Campfire Hotel, Bend, Ore. The revamped 100-room motel opened in 2020 with an eye toward being very different than motels of yore. Its “camp vibes meets urban lifestyle” aesthetic features rooms done up in browns and oranges like a ‘70s campground, all surrounding a heated saltwater pool. Orange lights are strewn among the property’s tall trees for unique nighttime illumination.

·         Blue Fox Motel, Narrowburg, N.Y. Nestled in the beautiful Catskills, this rustic ‘50s lodge was renovated by Meg Sullivan and Jorge Neves with an eye toward preserving the region’s history. The motel’s restaurant has become a destination itself, and the property’s pickleball court is open to the public with access via many hiking trails through the neighboring woodland.

Many of these boutique motel properties are incorporating restaurants and bars that make the place a destination for local residents, too. With fresh ideas like these, the motel is slowly re-emerging as the unique American experience it once was.

            Ready to get out there and find one or two of these gems? We’ll help you with your road trip planning. Give us a call!