April 27–As the first guests enter the hotel inside Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid this Wednesday, they’ll be met by a hunting lodge paradise: Big game heads stand watch on the walls, basked in the light of elaborate antler chandeliers perched high above the hotel lobby.
With 103 rooms, Big Cypress Lodge is the first hotel in the nation to be located inside a Bass Pro Shops retail store. The wilderness theme stretches from the retail floor below to every detail of the rooms, from the beams in the peaked ceilings to the moose-themed light switches in the bathrooms.
But perhaps more striking than the d?cor is the price tag. Standard rooms at the outdoorsman’s mecca start at $259 and go up from there. In mid-July, the hotel’s standard double queen rooms are running $345. The hotel’s top lodging, a “Governor’s Suite” that measures 1,995 square feet and accommodates up to eight guests, is priced at $1,009.
And that’s on a Thursday night.
Big Cypress Lodge joins a Memphis hotel market where the average daily rate last year was $84. STR, a Hendersonville-based company that tracks hotels nationwide, shows that rates last year were higher than they’ve been since at least 2009.
Lana McDonald, the hotel’s manager, is betting on the experience of Bass Pro to put heads in beds.
“I believe it’s going to offer a unique experience that the other hotels don’t really have, but I believe we’ll all be able to complement each other in what we’re trying to do: bring more tourism to our wonderful city,” said McDonald, who comes to Big Cypress Lodge from the Marriott Memphis East. “To compare this property, this hotel with other hotels — it’s kind of hard because it’s not apples to apples, since this is a destination.”
Scores of workers scrambled Monday to ready that destination, as Bass Pro prepares to open to the public Wednesday. From installing lampposts to nailing down molding, construction workers were hustling to put it all together before their formal debut.
The new Memphis hotel occupies the third floor in the repurposed Pyramid, which will include 535,000 square feet of retail space.
From the lobby, workers could be seen assembling the store below, where pontoon boats float in the artificial cypress swamp, and departments promise custom sunglasses, T-shirts and camping gear galore. In the midst of it all, a 300-foot illuminated elevator takes guests to the Pyramid’s top, where an observation deck awaits.
In addition to experiences inside the Pyramid, McDonald said the hotel will offer package tours, similar to those at its sister hotel, Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale, Missouri.
“We are planning on putting together some wonderful package opportunities for hotel guests to stay with us, if they want to go on a guided hunting tour or guided fishing trip,” she said. “We’re planning on putting all of those packages together, so that their adventure will be in this building, but then there will also be opportunities outside this building that we will help facilitate.”
Doug Browne, general manager of The Peabody, said he expects Bass Pro to become another Memphis attraction for some of his guests. But he doubts that there will be much overlap between overnight clientele, although the rates of the two hotels are similar.
Rooms at the Peabody typically run $200 to $400 a night, but the signature Memphis hotel has Bass Pro beat on the high end. Its Presidential Suite, which includes monogrammed robes and VIP treatment, rents for about $2,200 a night, Browne said.
Browne said he expects Big Cypress Lodge to appeal to a very focused customer base.
“It’s like staying in a ski lodge,” he said. “It’s very impressive everything they’ve done in the facility.”
