These Hotels Are Dazzling Guests with Immersive Theater and Live Performances

Hotel opening parties often play out the same way: a black-tie affair with an open bar, a musical guest, and Instagram-ready decorations like ice sculptures or over-the-top floral installations. By all means fun, but rather formulaic. In an age of ever-shortening attention spans, hospitality brands are quickly realizing the need for more creativity to captivate their audiences, make waves, and set the tone for excitement.

Boutique U.S. brand Marc & Rose Hospitality has devised a novel way to entertain its guests—venturing far beyond the norm. CEO John Grossman has built a relationship with the L.A.-based, Shonda Rhimes–backed IAMA Theatre Company to stage one-off immersive productions for each of his openings over the past few years. These performances transform each hotel’s lobby, bars, terraces, and guest rooms into mini stage sets, across which multiple short stories interconnect—offering glimpses into the building’s history, recounting important local events, and painting a vivid picture of its context.

Actor and IAMA co-founder Katie Lowes, who recently starred in the smash television series The Hunting Wives, explains how these events typically unfold: “You have some nosh, and some drinks, and then all of a sudden, actors who were standing next to you at the start of the evening jump out,” she says. “Then you follow your group—you watch a scene at the bar, another scene at the pool, and then in two connecting rooms. You’re getting to see and experience the hotel without it feeling mundane.”

These events offer a high level of exclusivity—the performances happen just once, so attendance becomes all but essential. Live theater also forces audiences to stop and live in the moment. It’s almost impossible to be distracted by a phone when you’re standing just a few feet from the actors. “We ask people not to film or take photos at any of our events, to keep them focused and present, because I think that’s more and more valuable today,” Grossman explains. “Not everything needs to translate to the digital world.”

The first performance of this partnership took place in 2022 at High Country Motor Lodge, a renovated motel on Route 66 in Flagstaff, Arizona. The story revolved around 1960s protests against the damming of the river that runs through the city, and explored wider themes of liberation from the era when the hotel was first built. A script by playwright Christian Durso, direction from Eli Gonda, and a troupe of professional actors all added gravitas to the evening. “It’s so additive and win-win for everybody,” Lowes says. “Guests get a magical night that stands out from all their others, the hotel gets to sparkle in a way that truly shows it off, and the artists get to do what they love for a live audience.”

Following the success of the inaugural event, the same team regrouped in 2024 for the reopening of La Playa Hotel, the 120-year-old “Grande Dame” of Carmel-by-the-Sea. The city’s bohemian past inspired interconnected storylines that unfolded throughout the night. A third production followed later that year at Casa Loma Beach Hotel on the cliffs of Laguna Beach, where a narrative about a gay surfer wove together themes of ocean, identity, and place.

“What’s cool about immersive theater in a hotel is that it’s not a proscenium,” Lowes notes. “There’s no distance between the stage and the audience—they’re right inside the story.” Some guests are initially bewildered, she observed, but “all of a sudden they understand the assignment, relax into it, and let it happen to them. By the end, they’re like, ‘That totally took me out of my day-to-day.’”

Music festivals are becoming an increasingly popular amenity for luxury hotels worldwide. In October 2025, the Octant Festival Douro debuted in Portugal’s famed wine region, offering three days of Michelin-starred dining, live music from artists such as José González and the Orquestra das Beiras, and a program of talks and workshops. It forms part of Octant Hotels’ Latitude Project, launched in 2022 to deepen cultural immersion across its properties. In Turkey, Villa Maçakızı, Maçakızı Hotel, and the ancient ruins of Iassos co-host the MedBodrum festival, celebrating gastronomy, music, art, and sustainability. Held each May, the curated program brings guests and locals together in a shared celebration of the arts.

A more intimate approach is taken at Naviva, a Four Seasons Resort, a luxury tented camp on Mexico’s Punta Mita peninsula. Its Unplugged series invites musicians to perform acoustic or piano sets for small groups of around 30 guests. The sessions are recorded and later released. “When you remove excess, connection naturally follows,” says Naviva’s General Manager, Eduardo Sampere. “These evenings are about music, nature, and people coming together in an honest way.”

While countless hotels offer live music in their lobby bars and restaurants, these highly curated experiences that highlight the performance as the main draw—not just the background entertainment—are indicative of a wider shift towards experiential travel. “Live experiences invite guests to slow down and be present,” Sampere adds. “That level of shared stillness is increasingly rare.”

From opening-night theater to annual festivals and intimate concerts, these immersive experiences all foster meaningful connections and lasting memories between guests and the hotels they choose to visit, elevating their hospitality experiences far beyond expectation. “You feel like you’re part of something bigger than yourself,” Lowes says. “That is very rare these days.”

And as digital fatigue grows, we can expect more hotels to embrace live performance and artistic expression. As Grossman puts it: “I would love for people to try and copy us. Rising tides float all boats—and competition spurs creativity.”