This Tennis Pop-Up Turned an Event Space Into a Hotel We Wish Existed

Our VR Sports Club collection has spent the season following the places where sport and a good gathering meet, and tennis keeps giving us material. The clothes are cute, the clubs have history, and a match already comes with its own built-in social world. At this year’s Charleston Open, Beemok Hospitality Collection took that idea considerably further with Hotel COCO, a fictional boutique hotel created for tournament guests by experiential studio Heaps + Stacks.

 

BHC arrived with the name; Heaps + Stacks invented everything that came after. Guests passed through a hotel corridor, checked in with a bellboy, ordered caviar and chips and COCO cheeseburgers, watched the match from a country-club courtyard, and left with custom tennis balls and retro matchboxes from a hotel that existed only for the tournament. It’s exactly the kind of gathering we save: a simple premise pursued all the way down to the coaster.

 

Reported by Morgan Johnson
Photography by Cameron Wilder

 

 

How Hotel COCO Became a Hotel

Hotel COCO began as a name. Beemok Hospitality Collection had already chosen it when they found Heaps + Stacks through Pinterest and asked the studio to turn it into a real experience for the Charleston Open. The assignment was to create a VIP hospitality space that felt polished, playful and distinct from the tournament grounds around it.

From there, the team looked to classic hotel glamour, country clubs and the theatrical precision of Wes Anderson. Color blocking, monograms, retro matchboxes and tennis-inspired artwork gave the fictional property its character, while the hotel idea gave them plenty to play with: corridors, check-in, uniforms, signage, menus and all the small things that make a place feel considered.

 

 

Room Service, Courtside

Once checked in, guests landed at the hotel bar and country-club courtyard, where the Charleston Open played on a big screen and food came out all day. The menu stayed squarely in Hotel COCO territory: caviar and chips, mini hotdogs, shrimp rolls, COCO cheeseburgers and crispy buttermilk chicken tenders. A VIP ticket covered the whole thing, which made spending an afternoon watching tennis feel a little like having a standing reservation at the club.

 

 

Proof of Stay

The best hosts know the appeal of a small souvenir: a matchbook slipped into a pocket, stationery taken from the desk, a luggage tag that survives the trip. Hotel COCO borrowed that instinct. Heaps + Stacks made custom matchboxes, tees and tennis balls, then carried the same colors and monogramming through menus and coasters, so even the disposable pieces felt collectible.

For a hotel that never technically existed, that ephemera did something useful. A matchbox or tennis ball became a postcard from Hotel COCO, giving a one-week pop-up the staying power of a hotel stay booked months in advance.

 

 

Keep the Rally Going

• 🏆 Welcome to the VR Sports Club: Tennis courts, golf weekends, ski lodges and the hotels making sport part of the social plan. Explore the full Venue Report Sports Club collection. [Right this way →]
• 🎾 The Ultimate Tennis Group Getaway List: Pack the racquets and bring the group. We rounded up the hotels and resorts where great courts come with an equally good reason to make a weekend of it. [Right this way →]
• 🍸 A Little Tennis for the Party: From courtside tables to country-club details, borrow a few ideas from tennis for your next celebration. [Right this way →]
• 🛎️ Room Service by Venue Report: Turning the group chat into a tennis trip? We’ll help find the hotel, secure the room block, compare rates and keep everyone under one roof. Free of charge. [Right this way →]