When planning a dream trip, heart-shaped tubs don’t necessarily spring to mind among required resort amenities, like sea views and a celebrity-chef restaurant, but cheesy romantic hotels and oddball themed rooms can be amusing for quick trips. Championing the lowbrow end of the spectrum, Adventure Suites in North Conway, Mass., designs bizarre beds for fantasy rooms like the Desert Island, which features a massive oyster-shaped frame that partially closes around those sleeping within.
The Poconos in Pennsylvania remains an East Coast honeymoon spot, thanks to accommodations that indiscreetly encourage guests to stay in their rooms. Cove Haven Pocono Palace, for example, installed a seven-foot-tall, Champagne-glass-shaped Jacuzzi in the same room as a heart-shaped pool (to cool down) and a massage table. Silly hotel stays aren’t limited to the United States, though many Americans will appreciate Hotel Sidi Driss in Tunisia. In "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope," George Lucas filmed Luke Skywalker’s troglodyte family home in the subterranean chambers.
In Stuttgart, Germany — home of Mercedes-Benz — adults at V8 Hotel sleep in real car beds, including a converted 1973 Mercedes. The Car Wash room features a full-body dryer in the bathroom, so guests can feel what it’s like to be a car going through a drive-thru wash.
Las Vegas is America’s blazing center of kitsch and off-center tastes, but some hotels still manage to stand out. At Excalibur, King Arthur role-playing is pushed out in the open, and the hotel hosts a Tournament of Kings dinner show. During joust reenactments, servers dressed like wenches and serfs bring whole Cornish hens that guests eat with their hands.
Themed hotel rooms aren’t limited to budget stays, either. The Hugh Hefner suite at the Palms in Vegas has an indoor pool branded with the Playboy insignia, while Barbie’s 50th Birthday room is hot pink and mod — for big spenders who also love dolls.
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