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Every once in a while you hear about a hotel (or a chain of them) that is, should be (or, if they’re no more, were or should have been) under the “quirky” label.

Hooters restaurant, known for its wings and breasts, dabbled with the concept of a Hooters Hotel in the late 20th century. Located in Lakeland, FL, and attached to a Hooters restaurant (of course), it was visible from I-4 on your way from Orlando to Tampa. As Central Floridians, we passed it dozens of times, but never visited it. However it’s probably just as well because it was described as, well, not very good. More like horrid, not clean, not quiet, not comfy and even “I couldn’t believe Hooters had their name on that place.” It closed sometime before 2010 or so. Hooters tried again with the Hooters Casino Hotel in Las Vegas, but it was sold for $70M and rebranded as an OYO Hotel & Casino circa 2019.

Moxy is another brand that started off as quirky…at least before its type of concept became mainstream. They were one of the first, if not THE first hotel that purposefully focused on younger people (although they say they’re fine with any guest with a youthful spirit…which is a good thing because my husband Joe and I stayed in a Moxy in Arizona several years back – we loved it). This was the brand with things such as LoveSac seats in the rooms at some locations, and a naughty mini golf course (R.I.P.) in their NYC location.

And, of course, any worldwide chain of hotels that advertises how it offers free on-demand porn goes into the “quirky” category.

The quirky hotel brand you probably never heard of

There’s a now-defunct brand of hotel that I bet you never heard of. Just as Hooters Restaurants begot those 2 forms of Hooters Hotels, it was the brainchild of those who, at the time, owned Kentucky Fried Chicken. Yep, it was the Colonel Sanders Inn.

The Colonel Sanders Inn

Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) was founded, of course, by Harland Sanders (Sanders had been in the armed services, but was never an officer; he got the “Colonel” title as an honorary one, in the 1930s). Known for the fried chicken he had been selling from his roadside roadside restaurant during the Great Depression, Sanders realized that franchising was the way of the future. The first KFC franchise opened in 1952.

Born in 1890, Sanders was already over 60 when he started Kentucky Fried Chicken, and he decided to sell the chain in 1964 when he was 74 years old. The buyers were a group of investors led by John Y. Brown Jr. and Jack C. Massey. Part of the deal included Col. Sanders being in commercials for the chain, even though he didn’t own it anymore. He also received a lifetime salary, it was agreed that he would be the company’s quality controller and his face would be part of the company’s iconic trademark.

In the late 1960s, while in the midst of a “war” between all the various fast food restaurants, Brown and Massey decided to try opening, besides a chain of Kentucky Roast Beef restaurants that failed miserably, a KFC-branded hotel, so their brand would stand out from the rest.

The first Colonel Sanders’ Kentucky Inn opened in Shelbyville, Kentucky in 1968. The powers that be quickly removed the “Kentucky” and the hotel was eventually just known as the Colonel Sanders’ Inn from that point forward.

The chain, which was typical of a mid-level hotel at the time, say, a Holiday Inn, eventually became a chain of 3 hotels – Shelbyville, Houston, and Lawton, OK. The chain boasted temperature-controlled swimming pools, color TV (in the late 60s, that was still a big deal), radio and “mood music”, as well as valet and room service. Some locations could also host meetings in their meeting rooms available to hold 10 to 200.

Failure and closures

Unfortunately, Colonel Sanders’ Inns didn’t do as well as Brown and Massey would have hoped, and by 1972, all 3 locations had been closed and sold.

But for a while there, yep, there was a chain of hotels based on Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Have you ever heard of it? Better yet, did you ever stay at a Colonel Sanders’ Inn?

H/T: Tumblr  / Defunct Brands Wiki / History Channel

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