Hotel aims to goose demand with Netflix-inspired room
Bloomberg
The US hotel industry last year closed with a whopping 1 billion empty rooms for the year but the 21c Museum Hotel Lexington in Kentucky has an idea to keep at least one of its 88 accommodations off that list.
Taking inspiration from its hometown’s prominent role in the Netflix series
The Queen’s Gambit which has netted more than 62 million viewers the hotel in Lexington redesigned one of its rooms in honor of the show’s protagonist chess savant, Beth Harmon.
On the Harmon Room’s ceiling is a larger-than-life chess board with suspended kings and pawns, as imagined in the series; its walls are covered in a retro-inspired knight print by the acclaimed Kentucky-based studio Ferrick Mason. Scattered throughout are copies of
Hotels Aim to Goose Demand with Rooms That Look Like Netflix Sets The 21C hotel in Lexington, Ky. redesigned one of its rooms to mimic the ceiling chess board in The Queen’s Gambit. Bloomberg | Feb 01, 2021
(Bloomberg) The U.S. hotel industry closed 2020 with a whopping 1 billion empty rooms for the year but the 21C hotel in Lexington, Ky., has an idea to keep at least one of its 88 accommodations off that list.
Taking inspiration from its hometown’s prominent role in the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit which has netted more than 62 million viewers the hotel redesigned one of its rooms in honor of the show’s protagonist chess savant, Beth Harmon.
‘Queen’s Gambit’ megahit is built on Lexington roots Chuck Stinnett, Special to The Gleaner
Bingeing on streaming TV shows became the national pastime during the ongoing pandemic, and nothing hit it out of the park like Netflix’s “The Queen Gambit,” a period drama about a girl chess prodigy named Beth Harmon.
It premiered in late October; within a month, it had become Netflix’s most-watched scripted miniseries ever with 62 million viewers.
The story opens in 1950s and 60s Lexington, Kentucky, where author Walter Tevis who wrote the novel the series is based on lived during that era.
Lexingtonians of a certain age instantly recognized the real-life local establishments peppered into the story: Ben Snyder Department Store on Main Street, where young Beth and her adoptive mother shopped. The old Henry Clay High School on East Main, site of some of the show’s chess tournaments. New Circle Road and the Chevy Chase neighborhood.
Phil Bray/Netflix
Anyone who has watched the popular Netflix miniseries ”The Queen’s Gambit” (all 62 million of you and counting) know it’s loaded with references to Lexington, Kentucky.
The popularity of the show which is set in Lexington but wasn’t filmed in the Bluegrass State – has not been lost on the city’s convention and visitors bureau.
Seizing on that interest, VisitLEX jumped on the idea to create ”The Queen’s Gambit Guide to Lexington,” according to the Louisville Courier Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network.
The self-guided driving tour includes nine locations for fans to visit and reminisce about the story of an orphan chess prodigy, Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy), and her quest to become the world’s greatest chess player while struggling with emotional problems and drug and alcohol dependency.