The Informed Traveler
The Informed Traveler
Mobile, Alabama: Historic Charm, The Battle House & A City on the Rise
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
I just got back from the Travel South USA Media Marketplace in Mobile, AB. So on this week's show we'll share a couple of conversations we had. One is with the Battle House Renaissance Hotel and Spa. That's where we stayed while in Mobile. It's beautiful hotel that dates back to the 1800's. So we'll share the story about it's historical past and what it's like now. The other is with Visit Mobile sharing the historic past, the colorful present and exciting future plans for Mobile.
Well, hello and welcome to the Informed Traveler Podcast, a weekly travel podcast where our goal is to help you become a more informed traveler. And I'm your host, Randy Sharman. I just got back from the Travel South USA Media Marketplace in Mobile, Alabama. It was three days of touring around Mobile and meeting up with the destination representatives that make up Travel South USA. Takes place every year at a different destination in the southeastern part of the United States. And this year it was in Mobile. So I was very fortunate and excited about being invited because I've never been. So on this week's show, we'll share a couple of conversations we had. One was with the area director of sales and marketing for the Battlehouse Renaissance Hotel. That's where we stayed while in Mobile. It's a beautiful hotel that dates back to the 1800s. So we'll share the story about its historical past and what
Visit Moble
SPEAKER_02it's like now. But first, let's begin with our conversation we had with Ashley Rains. She is the senior public relations and communications manager for Visit Mobile. Ashley shares the historic past, the colorful present, and exciting future plans for mobile. Mobile.org is the website. So here's our chat now. Let's talk about mobile. I made some notes here about uh it has an interesting past. It's a great place to be in the present, and you've got a lot of things happening down the road. So let's talk about the past, uh, the fascinating uh history. Give us the cold notes version.
SPEAKER_00Oh my goodness. Wow, that that's a lot uh considering that we're about 325 years old. So we're old older than the state of Alabama, and um we have a an incredible cultural past here. We've just a whole dynamic in our culture considering that we were founded by the French, we have been ruled by uh the British, uh the Spanish. Um, you know, obviously we became a U.S. territory, but uh indigenous people, of course, were here ahead of us. Our African culture is absolutely incredible. And it's just amazing in the ways that you can see that. Like you were talking about our past, our present, and our future. Um our culture is really everywhere.
SPEAKER_02Well, it is. You see it everywhere. You've done a great job in preserving the past as far as the buildings, the architecture, um, some of the historic uh stories, whether it's good or bad, right? Aaron Ross Powell, Jr.
SPEAKER_00That's correct. You know, uh I think that a place that we are going in America is being honest about our past, even if it's not pretty or even if it is traumatic. And so telling the story um specifically of the Clotilda slave ship uh that was the last known uh ship to bring enslaved people from Africa, and it came into Mobile Bay uh and was burned um later in the river. And the descendants from that ship, uh once they were freed, created a community so that they could stay together and they could, you know, worship the way that they had learned to worship in Africa and speak the way that they had learned to speak. And that community called Africa Town is thriving in Mobile today, and it's incredibly interesting to learn their story.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. Uh yeah, we took a tour of that fascinating story, way too long for us to explain. You just have to come down and visit Mobile. And let's talk about Mardi Gras, something you're very proud of.
SPEAKER_00Yes, we are very proud of uh being the birthplace of Mardi Gras in the United States. It is Mobile, it is not New Orleans. Uh you know, we were founded in 1702, and the next year we decided to have a party. So Mardi Gras started in Mobile in 1703, and if you talk to a Mobilian uh for long enough, they're going to let you know that we are the birthplace of Mardi Gras in the United States, who are incredibly proud of our tradition.
SPEAKER_02It must be something to be here for Mardi Gras. And I I've heard Mobile being described as uh a smaller New Orleans because there you do get that sort of sense because the s the the architecture is very similar, obviously the food is similar.
SPEAKER_00Right, you do, uh and and that's that's not something that is unfamiliar to anybody from Mobile is to be called a a small New Orleans, but we were founded by all the same people and we do have a lot of the same traditions. I would say that Mobile Smarty Gras is a more fr family friendly uh version. It's not, you know, what you're used to seeing on TV or you know the bourbon street kind of vibe in New Orleans. It is uh very family friendly. You're gonna see a lot of families together, you're gonna see groups of families together. Um, you know, for instance, my family um has has been doing Mardi Gras since before I was born. Um and my family stay we stand on the same street corner for every single Mardi Girl parade, and we have my whole entire life.
SPEAKER_02It's got a mark on their Ashley spot. And if you're uh a cruiser, uh mobile is becoming even uh more popular for cruising.
SPEAKER_00That's right. So, you know, we have had the carnival spirit here um for a six-month cruise uh season, um, you know, obviously, which would, you know, give us an off season. Um, and we're very excited that in uh April 2027 we're going to be welcoming the Carnival Valor, which is you know a larger ship, and uh that is going to be the return of year-round cruising in Mobile. Yeah. Excellent.
SPEAKER_02And and for nature lovers too, one of our tours was the uh Amazon of America as it was known. And so do you get to learn uh more about the uh uh wildlife of the Delta and the eco-culture there?
SPEAKER_00Right. So it's incredibly um amazing to learn about what we call America's Amazon or or what is called America's Amazon, and that's our Delta area, and it's one of the most eco-diverse biosystems in the world. It's where five rivers uh converge into the Delta that leads into Mobile Bay and the flora and fauna that come out of this very unique ecosystem and how they all balance and live together, and how it just creates a vibrant um way of of sea life. Um, you know, and it's everything from you know, crustaceans to alligators and um, you know, pitcher plants and things that you might not even think of, um, how algae might you know exist so that you know these bugs that s can survive and then you know the cranes and the eagles can can you know feed on them. And it's just absolutely amazing to be able to live surrounded by something just so incredibly beautiful.
SPEAKER_02And if you're a bird watcher, well it's another place to mark off your places to visit, right?
SPEAKER_00Right. So uh birdwatching, especially out on the Delta, is completely amazing because you're talking about everything from I mean, I've seen bald eagles um out there, but you know, these hawks and cranes and um, you know, these tiny birds, but also um Dauphin Island, which is just uh a little bit south of Mobile, it's still in our county, they have a uh Audubon Bird Trail, and that is part of a migratory uh trail for birds, and uh just the information that you can get from walking this trail down there is is simply amazing. Really nice, good.
SPEAKER_02Um the downtown area. This is uh I didn't know what to expect because I've never been here, but it's uh it's really nice. Like it's clean, it's it's well organized, it's it's walkable.
SPEAKER_00That's that's something that we absolutely love about our downtown area is that it's it's our entertainment district. Um it's completely walkable. It's very much what you think of when you think of like those lattice work streets where you have north-south streets, east-west streets, and you know, you have a new adventure depending on where you where you turn. And um one of the amazing aspects about our uh downtown entertainment district is that it includes uh you know anywhere from 55 to 60 restaurants, and most of those are locally owned, some of them are chef owned, um, but it also includes a lot of very important attractions. The National Maritime Museum, the History Museum, the Mobile Carnival Museum, these are all within the Swalkable um downtown entertainment district. There are green spaces and art galleries and art collectives and you know, bars, restaurants, live music. Um it's just a a really incredible place to be. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So when you're out uh at a restaurant, what's your favorite dish? I'm gonna put you in the spot.
SPEAKER_00Oh gosh. Um well, you know, being born and raised right here on the water, I love seafood. I love seafood so much. I love anything, anything that's made with crab and almost every kind of fish. Um, I it it's very difficult for me to say say no to. And hey, it's crawfish season, so you might you might see me with some crawfish too. Nice.
SPEAKER_02Let's talk about the future now. Lots of things going on. New airport.
SPEAKER_00That's right. So we're on uh the precipice of just some very exciting things. Um we are finishing out, you know, from the bottom up, brand new builds of an international airport that is going to be opening. It's it will be approximately three to five minutes from downtown. Um, you know, major carriers are just you know going to move uh from our current uh airport to that one. And then we're looking at you know bringing in some of those smaller carriers. Um at around the same time, we have a $300 million from the bottom up brand new uh arena complex that's being built. This is going to house everything from Mardi Gras balls to major concerts. Uh, we're gonna have a minor league hockey team uh named to be announced. We're very excited about that. We we used to have a hockey team actually, and so we're we're getting another one. But that's uh Regions Arena, and uh you know we're we're we're getting ready to open that. Like I said, you know, cruising is getting bigger and better. Um Angamtrack uh rail service has returned and is just exceeding expectations, and so it there's just a lot of excitement in Mobile right now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the future is very exciting. Anything you want to add that I might have missed?
SPEAKER_00Uh uh to take something that you said, uh our uh one of our slogans is upgrade your expectations. Because a lot of people will say, Well, I didn't know what to expect, but it was it wasn't this, it wasn't all of this really cool things you know that I'm seeing to do. And so we like to say, well, upgrade your expectations, and that's what mobile is gonna be. Nice, very nice.
SPEAKER_02Uh Ashley Rains is the senior public relations and communication manager with VisitMobile. Mobile.org is the website. So uh thank you. So nice to chat with you.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_02This is the Informed Traveler Podcast. I'm Randy Sharman. Just want to remind you of our website, theinformedraveler.org. That's where you'll find our contact page if you have any questions or comments about the podcast. You can also email me too with any questions you might have. My email address is randy at theinformtraveler.org. You can check out our social media pages too, facebook.com slash informed traveler, Instagram at Informed Traveler, or on X at Informed Traveler. That's where you'll find videos and images from our stops in Savannah, Macon, and Atlanta, Georgia that we visited on last week's show. Plus images and video of our stay in Mobile, including the Battlehouse Hotel. That's where we stayed
Battle House Hotel
SPEAKER_02while we were in Mobile. It's a beautiful hotel, dates back to the 1800s. And while I was there, I sat down with Mary Louise Hilbin. She's the area director of sales and marketing for the Battlehouse Renaissance Hotel in Spa, and she shares the story about its historical past and all the great amenities it has to offer. So here's that conversation now. Let's talk about the name. I I was joking a little bit about uh, you know, if you when you see the word battle in a hotel, it's gotta have a good story behind it.
SPEAKER_01The story is that it was the battle brothers who actually built the building, so named it after their last name.
SPEAKER_02Has nothing to do with the Civil War, has nothing to do with any battle, it's just the name.
SPEAKER_01It has nothing to do with any battle, but we do have some folks that stayed at our hotel back in the day during the War of 1812, but it has nothing to do with the hotel's name.
SPEAKER_02And that's a good introduction to how old this hotel is. Uh, when you're going back to 1812, obviously it's got a very storied history.
SPEAKER_01Yes, it became the Battle House in 1852. Prior to that, two other hotels had been in the same location under different names, but both of those hotels actually burned down. So it was rebuilt in 1852 by the Battle Brothers.
SPEAKER_02And so what are we seeing today? If I uh I mean when you walk in through the lobby, uh it's it's a pretty grand entrance. Um, and you can tell the history and and some of the work that's been behind it. So what is the what's still original and what's new?
SPEAKER_01A lot of it is still original because even after 1852, when it was rebuilt, there was actually yet another fire. So in 1905, it was rebuilt yet again by the Bottle Brothers, this time using steel and concrete instead of what was used previously. So that hotel was then later added onto the tower side of things in 2003 when retirement systems of Alabama bought the hotel. But actually the original hotel shut down in that in 1974 and was actually boarded up for approximately 30 years. It sat empty, boarded up, nobody was here, only probably the rats. But uh in 2003, our uh parent company who owns the building rebuilt it, added the adjacent office tower, which is now the RSA Tower.
SPEAKER_02And like when you come to the to the front entrance off uh the main street out here, it doesn't look like it's a huge hotel. Doesn't it looks like oh it's a fair size hotel, very nice entrance, walk through the lobby way, and then you realize how big it really is.
SPEAKER_01It goes deep, yes, from the front facade. You can see the columns, you can see the balcony, and that is the historic side of the hotel, which is actually eight stories tall. But out of our 238 guest rooms, half are housed on the historic side of the hotel, and half of them are housed on the tower side.
SPEAKER_02So are the rooms different? Let's talk a little bit about the rooms. Are the rooms different from the uh tower side to the historic side?
SPEAKER_01As far as far as the amenities go, the amenities are exactly the same on both sides. However, on the historic side, we were dealing more with the the old hotel, and the size of the rooms vary from one room to the next, from floor to floor. Some of them maybe a little bit larger, some of them a little bit smaller. Where on the tower side, those were built from scratch when that building was uh developed. So those are more of a cookie cutter, same size. But on the historic side, it's when we have the quirky little rooms that are not the exact same size.
SPEAKER_02And even on the tower side, um the rooms are still they still got that historic sort of feel to them. You managed to maintain that.
SPEAKER_01Yes, and that was our goal because we are part of the historic hotels of America. We wanted to have that feel from the outside, even though it's all a brick facade. When you come in, is the lobby that causes you to take a breath and look up and uh admire the the glass dome.
SPEAKER_02Okay, now talk about some of the amenities here. Uh obviously, uh being a historic hotel, it's it's still got all the modern amenities uh people are looking for.
SPEAKER_01We do, absolutely. We want to provide those business travelers everything that are that they're looking for, whether they're traveling to Mobile, whether they're traveling to Atlanta, whatever city in the US that they're traveling to, we want to make sure that we're catering to their needs.
SPEAKER_02And the location you can't beat it. I mean you walk out the front door and you it's you're right in downtown Mobile.
SPEAKER_01Yes, we are a very compact city. We we uh mirror ourselves to what New Orleans is, except that our city is uh more compact. You can get from one end of the downtown area to the other by walking five, ten blocks. You will see off of Dauphin Street most of the major restaurants and bars and activities to be done and seen are right outside our front doors.
SPEAKER_02Um any ghost stories? I mean, in it's an old hotel. There's sometimes there's you know spirits lurking in the hallways.
SPEAKER_01There's probably stories. I have never experienced any of them myself, but yes, there's stories to be had. Uh I have I I don't think that I would do it justice. There's actually a tour guide in Mobile that that brings their folks through the hotel, tells stories, but I I don't know that they're all quite factual.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's the idea of a story, right? You got to embellish. What do you like about the hotel? Obviously, you work here, your job is to to promote it, sales and marketing thing. But what personally do you like when you walk to work going, yeah, I like this part?
SPEAKER_01Uh actually, I've been in hospitality for over 30 years. And uh when I moved to Mobile and I moved to Mobile from New Orleans, I wanted to make sure that I was working for a company that I could be proud of. And I'm very proud of this hotel. Folks from all over the world and not just within the US, but uh that come because we do a lot of business with folks from uh Europe, when they come into the battle house, they don't expect this quality of a hotel to be in a small town like Mobile is.
SPEAKER_02Anything else you want to add? I might have missed some stories, some uh personal touches, uh feedback from guests.
SPEAKER_01I would say that one of the things that most folks are surprised by is that Mobile is the hometown of Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras did not originate in New Orleans, but rather in Mobile. And coming from New Orleans, I did not know that until I moved to Mobile. So the parades actually roll right in front of our hotels on Royal Street.
SPEAKER_02It must be a popular spot, then people must be clamoring to get the sort of front row of seats uh kind of look.
SPEAKER_01Oh, absolutely. We are sold out. Mardi Gras takes place over three weekends. The last two weekends of Mardi Gras, our hotel uh does sell out. The Mardi Gras balcony that's above us on Oakley. I mean, that's one of the prime spots to watch the parades, to catch your beads, to really enjoy what the crowds are doing down on the floor level.
SPEAKER_02Marilouz Hilbon is the uh area director in of sales and marketing for the Battlehouse Renaissance Mobile Hotel and Spa. Uh, the website is renaissance mobile.com. Uh, thank you so much for taking the time to do this.
SPEAKER_01My pleasure, and I would say we welcome all of your folks that listen to your podcast. Uh, we have wonderful weather year-round for the most part, especially for Canadians. Our winters are very mild, so whether you come in December, January, or February, our weathers are going to be much better than in Canada.
SPEAKER_02So that concludes our three-day stay in Mobile, Alabama, attending the annual Travel South USA Media Marketplace. We want to thank all our wonderful hosts who took such great care of us. From Visit Mobile, the Battlehouse Renaissance Hotel and Spa, and the great people at Travel South USA. You can check out our social media pages too to see the photos and video highlights of our time in Mobile at facebook.com slash informed traveler, Instagram at Informed Traveler, or an X at Informed Traveler. In the meantime, thanks for listening. Travel safe and be an informed traveler.