Frommer's Review
For years, The Peabody has enjoyed a reputation as one of the finest hotels in the South. While standard rooms aren't overly spacious or extraordinary, the public spaces dazzle. Marble columns, hand-carved and burnished woodwork, and ornate gilded plasterwork on the ceiling give the lobby the air of a palace. Its dominant feature is its Romanesque marble fountain. Here, the famous Peabody ducks, one of Memphis's biggest attractions, while away each day. Chez Philippe, serving Asian- and French-inspired cuisine amid palatial surroundings, has long been among the best restaurants in Memphis.
The Peabody Ducks -- It isn't often that you find live ducks in the lobby of a luxury hotel. However, ducks are a fixture at the Peabody Memphis. Each morning at 11am, the Peabody ducks, led by a duck-master, take the elevator down from their penthouse home, waddle down a red carpet, and hop into the hotel's Romanesque travertine-marble fountain. And each evening at 5pm they waddle back down the red carpet and take the elevator back up to the penthouse. During their entry and exit, the ducks waddle to John Philip Sousa tunes and attract large crowds of curious onlookers that press in on the fountain and red carpet from every side.
The Peabody ducks first took up residence in the lobby in the 1930s when Frank Schutt, the hotel's general manager, and friend Chip Barwick, after one too many swigs of Tennessee sippin' whiskey, put some of his live duck decoys in the hotel's fountain as a joke (such live decoys were legal at the time but have since been outlawed as unsportsmanlike). Guests at the time thought the ducks were a delightfully offbeat touch for such a staid and traditional establishment, and since then ducks have become a beloved fixture at The Peabody.
Facilities:
2 restaurants; 2 lounges; athletic facility with small pool; steam room; sauna; concierge; 24-hr. room service; massage; valet; laundry service; shoe-shine stand
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without
notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before
planning your trip.
