Retro Pop Culture: Atari Hotels to Open to Open Nationwide

Atari Hotels

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to stay inside of an old Atari 2600, the answer may be coming soon — and hopefully with less dust.

Thanks to a new deal with GSD Group, Atari is getting into the hotel business with a chain of video game-themed Atari Hotels. Under the new agreement, GSD has the rights to build Atari Hotels in the U.S., with the first location set to break ground in Phoenix later this year. The hotels are described as “a unique lodging experience combining the iconic brand with a one-of-a-kind, video game-themed destination.”

Atari Hotels will include entertainment and experiences for all ages and gaming abilities and will feature both virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) games. Select locations will also include esports venues and studios. Additional locations are planned for Las Vegas; Denver; Chicago; Austin, Texas; Seattle; San Francisco; and San Jose, California.

“When creating this brand-new hotel concept, we knew that Atari would be the perfect way to give guests the ‘nostalgic and retro meets modern’ look and feel we were going for,” says Napoleon Smith III of GSD Group. “Let’s face it, how cool will it be to stay inside an Atari?”

Smith served as a producer of Paramount Pictures’ recent live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films and will develop the hotels with GSD’s Shelly Murphy and True North Studio.

Let’s just hope the TVs don’t require a UHF adapter switch in order to play the games on channel 3, though that might be a sweet idea for a truly retro Atari room!

Photo: Atari Hotels

About the author

James Zahn

James Zahn, AKA The Rock Father, is Editor-in-Chief of The Toy Book, a Senior Editor at The Toy Insider and The Pop Insider, and Editor of The Toy Report, The Toy Book‘s weekly industry newsletter. As a pop culture and toy industry expert, Zahn has appeared as a panelist and guest at events including Comic-Con International: San Diego (SDCC) Wizard World Chicago, and the ASTRA Marketplace & Academy. Zahn has more than 30 years of experience in the entertainment, retail, and publishing industries, and is frequently called upon to offer expert commentary for publications such as Forbes, Marketwatch, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USA Today, Reuters, the Washington Post, and more. James has appeared on History Channel’s Modern Marvels, was interviewed by Larry King and Anderson Cooper, and has been seen on Yahoo! Finance, CNN, CNBC, FOX Business, NBC, ABC, CBS, WGN, The CW, and more. Zahn joined the Adventure Media & Events family in 2016, initially serving as a member of the Parent Advisory Board after penning articles for the Netflix Stream Team, Fandango Family, PBS KIDS, Sprout Parents (now Universal Kids), PopSugar, and Chicago Parent. He eventually joined the company full time as a Senior Editor and moved up the ranks to Deputy Editor and Editor-in-Chief.

Atari Hotels Will Give You a Chance to Stay Inside the Game

About the author

James Zahn