Inn-Escapable: McMenamins Old St. Francis School
With 10 hotels and dozens of pubs, theaters and bars spread across the Pacific Northwest, the McMenamin brothers’ empire might sound like a hospitality chain. But Marriott and Hilton never hoteled it up like this. The McMenamins turn old, historic campuses — such as Bend, Oregon’s Old St. Francis School, which was built in 1936 — and renovate them into whimsical lodgings. Classrooms are converted into comfortable guest rooms. Secret passages abound. And there are restaurants and pubs at every turn.
A night at Bend’s McMenamins offers ridiculous fun, from the saltwater soaking pool straight out of a Maxfield Parrish fever dream to the secret pub hidden inside a closet, the door tucked behind a row of Quidditch-ready brooms. We overheard one guest call this hotel “Disneyland for grown-ups.” She was not wrong.
ZZZZ’S: The former schoolhouse opened as a small hotel in 2004, but the addition of the campus Art House and Ed House last year brought the room total to 60. Our large, wood-paneled Art House room was filled with quirky artwork, from the painted headboard on the comfortable kingsize bed to the paintings hanging on the walls, in the halls and down stairwells.
SPLASHES: Throw one of the hotel’s white terrycloth bathrobes on over your swimsuit, then mosey over to the theater building for a steamy soak in the ornate blue-tiled, Turkish soaking pool.
EXTRAS: The property includes five bars and pubs, ranging from the tiny Broom Closet to the Old St. Francis Pub, which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. Catch a flick at the Old St. Francis Theater, where movie tickets are $4, and the theater bar will deliver pizza, burgers and bites straight to your cozy love seat.
DETAILS: Rooms and suites start at $135 (plus $15 for pets). 700 N.W. Bond St., Bend, Oregon; www.mcmenamins.com.