From Abba’s Bjorn to Dolly Parton, hotels owned by world’s biggest musicians
IT’S not every day you get the chance to interview a member of Abba.
So when I met Benny Andersson in Stockholm, I finished off with a question that, as a fan, had been bugging me for years.
I asked: “Just what was so bad about the hotel room in Glasgow that it led to that outpouring of misery in Super Trouper?”
"I don’t know,” said Benny after a small pause. “You’d have to ask Bjorn. He wrote the lyrics.” Not my finest interviewing moment.
But thanks to all the tours they do, many of the world’s top musicians and pop stars are hotel experts. And a growing number of them have opened hotels.
I met Benny when he opened the Rival (, from £100, including breakfast). It is one of my favourite places to stay — supremely stylish in a light, Scandi way and equally practical, with sound systems in the rooms as well as ironing boards and rates that always include breakfast (three things in the world that make me happy).
Ocean Drive
These days, Bjorn has his own hotel in Stockholm as well, with Pop House (, from £68 including breakfast). The hotel is next to Abba The Museum and fans can book into a taverna-themed Mamma Mia suite.
It has great food, power showers and brilliantly comfortable beds. The Swedish popsters are not the only ones to have become hoteliers.
On Miami’s South Beach, you will find Gloria Estefan’s Cardozo South Beach (, from £111, room only). The singer bought this curvaceous art-deco gem more than 30 years ago and it has been a real passion project.
Last year it was given a luxurious revamp. There are just 41 rooms and suites, gourmet Cuban food and a veranda overlooking Ocean Drive. It is such a landmark that the hotel has been used for films including The Bird Cage and There’s Something About Mary.
Want something more rustic? Then head to Loretta Lynn Ranch (, from £16 a night) in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. With cabins, RV hook-ups alongside swimming creeks, cookout areas and live music, it is as country as country legend Loretta herself.
At its heart is a replica of the ranch in which Loretta grew up. Also in Tennessee is Dolly Parton’s Dollywood theme park and her hotel the DreamMore resort in Pigeon Forge. In typical Dolly style, it is big — with more than 300 rooms.
The restaurants serve good old Southern fare (, from £274, room only).
If you are a fan of Eighties band The B52s, Woodstock in upstate New York is where band member Kate Pierson runs Kate’s Lazy Meadow — a series of fabulously kitsch cabins filled with zany Fifties furniture and views over the Catskills Mountains (, from £153, room only).
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In the Seventies, reggae great Bob Marley had a house in the Bahamas and in 2007, it was opened as a hotel (, from £120, room only). The 16 suites on Cable Beach are full of family memorabilia while the Stir It Up Bar is perfect for chilling out.
British pop stars are also in on the hotelier act. In the beautiful town of Taormina in Sicily, Jim Kerr of Simple Minds owns the posh Villa Angela (, doubles from 265 euros/£233, including breakfast).
It boasts views of Mount Etna, terraces and a pool. Perhaps the Glasgow-born singer will open a branch in his home town for when Abba finally do their reunion tour.
- Prices correct at time of going to press but subject to change and the lifiting of goverment advice against travel.
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