Many historic train stations now have a second life as luxury hotels — and elegant meeting properties.
Travel by train may not be as popular as it once was, but many of those grand old historic train stations that had fallen into disuse have been repurposed into architecturally gorgeous hotels that bring nostalgia to life for transient travelers and meeting-goers alike. In fact, thanks to their large concourses, arched ceilings, grand halls and locations right in the heart of the city, many of these train station-hotel conversions seem custom-built for meetings and events.
Among the more notable train station hotels are:
St. Louis Union Station Hotel, Curio Collection, St. Louis. This U.S. train station terminal that opened in 1894 now is a 500-plus-room hotel with a restored Grand Hall that retains the elegant archways and décor of its train-station roots. It features more than 130,000 square feet of flexible meeting space and is attached to the St. Louis Aquarium.
Crowne Plaza Indianapolis Downtown –
Union Station, Indianapolis. America’s first “union station” when it was built in 1853, this now-hotel is connected to the Indiana Convention Center through an enclosed skybridge and is within walking distance of Lucas Oil Stadium and Gainbridge Fieldhouse. It also has 35 meeting rooms with 55,000 square feet of flexible space, including the Grand Hall that accommodates 800 guests. Twenty-six of the hotel’s 273 guest rooms are inside early 1900s Pullman train cars in the old trainshed; the more modern rooms are located in the main building.
Union Station Nashville Yards, Autograph Collection, Nashville. This 1900 Romanesque Revival station has been reimagined as a boutique hotel with vaulted ceilings, stained glass, and rail‑themed rooms. The Union Station Nashville Yards offers more than 11,000 square feet of event space, including six meeting spaces.
The Hotel Chalet at The Choo Choo, Terminal Station, Chattanooga, Tenn. A 1909 terminal converted into a One Key Michelin hotel, the Hotel Chalet offers both Pullman‑car accommodations and conventional rooms, plus gardens and public spaces on the old rail yard. The property offers a mix of indoor and outdoor spaces, as well as easy access to offsite team activities, for groups of up to 220.
The Crawford Hotel at Denver Union Station, Denver. This 1914 Beaux‑Arts train station’s former great hall now is a boutique hotel featuring bars, restaurants and more than 7,000 square feet of meeting and event space for up to 450 attendees in six unique venues.
But this phenomenon isn’t limited to just the U.S. For example, the Tokyo Station Hotel in the heart of downtown Tokyo, Japan, is a luxury business hotel with executive meeting rooms that host corporate events, private dinners and international conferences. It’s largest meeting space is the 3,100-square-foot Phoenix Room; it also offers a semi-circular 1,184-square-foot Youko room with natural light, and the more intimate KIRI meeting and event space. The hotel, which reopened in 2012 after restoration and preservation work on the station building, offers unique accommodations such as bi-level maisonettes, guest rooms positioned along the cupola domes of Tokyo Station, and the palatial Imperial Suite.
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