Photos Copyright Jeffrey Jacobs Photography
In the two weeks since opening The Guest House at Graceland, the 450-room luxury hotel has hosted two sold-out weekends and earned a AAA Four Diamond Hotel rating in the process. Graceland’s® already-popular resort hotel joins the exclusive ranks of top hotels and resorts in the country that have earned the coveted Four Diamond distinction.
“The AAA Four Diamond Award ratings are among the most well-known and respected distinctions in the global travel industry,” said Keith Hess, vice president and managing director of The Guest House at Graceland. “We are honored to receive the award as one of the most prestigious hotels in the country so early in our operation.”
AAA Four Diamond lodgings are defined by their refined and stylish design and décor, with upscale physical attributes, and they offer a high degree of hospitality, service and attention to detail. Resorts and hotels undergo rigorous evaluations from AAA’s professional inspectors, and must meet specific criteria to earn the award. The exclusive Four Diamond group represents just six percent of the nearly 28,000 AAA/CAA Approved and Diamond Rated hotels.
Inspired by Elvis’ personal style and the iconic Graceland Mansion, The Guest House at Graceland opened on October 27, 2016 and is the most significant enhancement to Graceland since it opened to the public in 1982. It is the largest hotel project in Memphis in over 90 years. The resort hotel, which is situated just steps from Graceland Mansion, features 430 guest rooms and 20 specialty suites with design and décor supervised by Priscilla Presley. The hotel also features two full-service restaurants, a lobby bar, a 464-seat theater, outdoor pool and conference, and event and catering facilities.
The primary design goal for The Guest House at Graceland was to create a resort which would complement and celebrate Graceland Mansion – almost as if Elvis was adding a guest house to his original home – without taking away the Mansion’s prominence as the focal point. The warm, welcoming spirit of southern hospitality that Elvis embodied at Graceland was a big inspiration to the design process and a key driver of the design.
HBG Design, also based in Memphis – one of the top ten leading hospitality design firms in the United States, designed The Guest House at Graceland, working closely with Priscilla Presley and the team at Graceland.
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