The Mighty Pen: The Westin Hotel, Memphis Tennessee

Posted by Jeff on October 13, 2016 at 1:10 pm

The blogosphere is weird, even weirder than that word, ‘blogosphere’, which was created from nothing to bundle the wide world web of blogs into one identifiable entity:

I wrote a somewhat silly, totally off the cuff post on Facebook today about ‘giving it all up’ to start from scratch with a podcast and blog that only reviews free hotel pens. The reaction was so surprisingly spry and encouraging that I thought, yeah, why the hell not? I love good art & design, hotels, free stuff, and quality writing instruments, so let’s have photo shoots with some of the pens I’ve collected traveling around the world.

And that brings us here, to The Mighty Pen (name subject to change), because the quality of a free hotel pen is a tiny window into the quality of the hotel itself. A high quality free pen or two in every guest room is one sign that a hotel, its management and its staff, pays close attention to the tiniest of details in crafting a holistic experience for their guests. Of course, the opposite is also liable to be true.

First up on The Mighty Pen: the smooth, slate grey beaut I snagged from The Westin Hotel just off Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. I was in town for just a night, to volunteer at the St. Jude Day of Play alongside the cast and crew of Carnival Cruise Lines, but one night in a hotel is more than enough time to add a sweet pen to the collection.

Let’s take a look at this free hotel pen from The Westin in Memphis, TN.

Notice the soft grip and the contoured cut where your thumb and index finger will press up against the body while writing. Nice touch!

The free Westin pen has a nice hand feel, with a slight weightiness that, when held, wouldn’t fool anyone into thinking it was a pricey writing instrument but, if not for the hotel name and website address emblazoned on its sides, might just trick the eyes into thinking this pen was something grander than a freebie from a chain hotel. Well done, Westin!

The Westin pen is a handsome instrument with a tight, reliable clip, and a sturdy button unleashing an admirable black ink that does, it must be said, hesitate ever…so….slightly upon first being pressed onto paper but seems to get its sea legs after a half sentence or thereabouts. After that, there’s ink at the ready the very moment you call upon it.

This pen aims to speak to the upscale refinement and casual elegance of the Westin, and it succeeds. The free hotel pen from the Westin in Memphis is not flashy, but is eloquent in its function and its form.