The Chateau Avalon-Kansas City
Check it out here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmS5QLIqgSk
Early September marks an important season in the Beck household-namely the Kansas City Renaissance Festival. To us, the KC Ren Fest is an event as important as Christmas and Halloween. It was the first renaissance festival I ever attended-one of Dave and my first dates. It also is also something of a ritual for Dave who has attended twenty-nine of the last thirty-including the drive through they held during Covid. In the community, that’s bragging rights. The love of my life is right up there.
But tights and turkey legs is only a small part of the experience. The trip gives us another chance to explore Kansas City-and another boutique hotel. As we were attending during Pirate’s weekend, what better way to extend the adventure than to sleep in a pirate hotel room?
Where do you find that? Chateau Avalon.
Chateau Avalon is a destination hotel and spa. With an elaborate fountain and opulent exterior, guests know the minute they pass through the gates that they have arrived. Adjacent to the estate-like building is a glass structure that resembles an industrial-sized greenhouse. But the only plants inside are floral arrangements. It is a reception space and wedding venue. And I can imagine it is hugely popular. The space was in full use both nights and as I could see through the windows (don’t act like you wouldn’t peek if given the chance!) as a part of the celebration as part of the scenery.
Besides elaborate rooms specially decorated in various themes ranging from Venice to Egypt to Camelot and Hemmingway, the Hotel Avalon boasts a spa and a dive bar appropriately named the d’Nile.
Shout out to the bartenders at d’Nile. They do a fantastic smoked bloody mary.
The hotel staff as a whole are very friendly and efficient. Some businesses court a clientele that is a snooty and demanding type. Upscale hotels in Kansas City are certainly one of them. In spite of these continuing annoyances, of which I observed plenty, I watched the front desk staff handle each entitled bore with dignity and tact. Never once did I see a self-deluded diva get under their skin-a professional and admirable to be sure. For a job that begins and ends in service, the staff there are amazing.
I also cannot say enough about the kitchen and house staff. They were responsive and diligent to a near-precognitive level. A card to order room service is left on the table, one for each day of stay where guests can custom order their perfect breakfast by checking the corresponding boxes. Dave and I made sure to take advantage of this blog. The results of this ‘experiment’ were highly successful.
The room we got was roomy and spacious, with a large pirate mural on one wall, small dining table and a platform with a king sized bed. The railing surrounding the platform was adorned with cross bones and skulls-a solid effort, to be sure. The bathroom was standard and ordinary but for the shower. The shower was suspended over the room’s jacuzzi-concealed inside a bucket. It was so charming! We spent a lot of time in that jacuzzi in one form or another.
The room was reasonably priced. The weekend cost a little over three hundred dollars. So were the costs of our meals and drinks-which aside from the libations we enjoyed at d’Nile, we all added to the bill for convenience at checkout. While Dave finished clearing our tab, the housekeeping staff let me peek in at some of the other rooms in the Chateau.
We will definitely return and get another room.
My takeaway: Get a new room-and a new theme every time!
Do you have a hotel or inn you think I should review? Let me know on Facebook, Instagram or shoot me an email at toilandtroublemediagroup@gmail.com
