Hotel Stationery: Hotel Monaco

I often judge a hotel on its stationery. It's one of those items whose presence - like a bowl full of brown-less M&Ms - indicates a particular attention to detail. And, the better the stationery, the more props I'm inclined to throw a particular hotel's way. But, every once in a while, it's not about good or bad, but "huh?" 

A summer or so ago, I checked into the Hotel Monaco in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington, D.C. And, as I always do when settling into a hotel room, I immediately went to the desk in search of hotel stationery. What I found perplexed me. There were several 8.5" x 11" sheets of fair quality stationery, printed with the hotel's logo and bearing the hotel's address and contact information. And in place of number 10 sized envelopes were a set of fine quality A6 envelopes, printed with the appropriate hotel information. For the uninitiated, A6 envelopes measure 4.75" x 6.5".

I'm not sure why the Hotel Monaco decided to offer me incompatible stationery and envelopes, but not to be a beggar and a chooser, I took them both. And, when I finally decided to use some of the hotel stationery, it gave me the opportunity to craft my own brightly colored envelope.

This stationery was sent off as my first letter to a new pen pal from Australia. I really wanted it to stand out in her stack of afternoon mail. So, in addition to using attention-grabbing paper for the envelope, I used a sticker type seal from Papyrus (they include a pack of these seals with every set of envelopes) for glint. And, as a goodwill gesture, I bound the pages of the letter with a fountain pen nib paper clip/bookmark/neat thing from Levenger.

The letter should have arrived in Queensland a week or so ago, I can't wait to hear back from my new Aussie pen pal.

Hotel Stationery: Shula's Hotel and Golf Club

It's no secret, if you're a reader of this blog, I love letterhead. What may not be so obvious, however, is how much I crush on hotel stationery.

When first entering a hotel room, many people run to check out the bathroom or jump on the bed; I go to the desk to see if there's hotel specific stationery. Hotel stationery is an extension of a time gone by, when people would go on holiday for weeks on end, settle into a hotel or club - actually put their clothes in the provided bureau or armoire - and use their vacation digs as a temporary home. To accommodate this regular use, and the upper class convention of having engraved stationery for each of their homes, hotels and clubs provided stationery for guest use.

Today, unfortunately, few people are able to stay in a hotel long enough for use of its stationery to be anything more than a novelty. So, most folks I know don't bother to even check for stationery in their vacation accommodations, but I collect it. I get such a kick from it, my wife brings it back for me on her vacations as a souvenir. It's cheaper than a t-shirt, right?

Call it a quirk. Am I alone?

Roaring 20's Themed Letter

I must tell you about my latest fascination: vintage letterheads. I have been finding scans of vintage letterhead online and trying my hand at photo editing to obtain clean images that I can print (on my office color laser printer for max effect) onto quality paper.


This letterhead is from what I assume to be complimentary hotel stationary from the Hotel Mecca in Cleveland, Ohio. The original date (that I digitally removed from the image) was 1920. So, I picked up on that theme and decided to use an envelope I made from a liquor advertisement.


To top it off, I used a vintage black cinema stamp, commemorating the film Hallelujah, released in 1929, and a pair of classic Tiffany lamp 1 cent stamps.


If you would like to use the Hotel Mecca letterhead for your own correspondence, I have posted it for download here. It was free to me, and although I took the time to clean the image up, I see no reason why it shouldn't be free to you.