Winning tip: Madonna Inn, San Luis Obispo, California

The Madonna Inn embodies the glorious wackiness of California, but with immense style and heart. If you're passing through, pull off Highway 101 to gaze at the ornate pink dining room and marvel at the waterfall in the gents' toilets. If you stay, you have to decide which of the 110 imaginatively themed rooms you want: Yosemite Rock, Paris Violets … one night will not be enough!

carinabee

• Double rooms cost from $109 per night (+1 805 543 3000, madonnainn.com)

California

Curly Redwood Lodge, Crescent City

The Curly Redwood Lodge in northern California is a decent, clean and kitsch motel, built from the lumber of one giant redwood tree. We can also recommend the Chart Room diner on the dock (chartroomcrescentcity.com), a good place for a genuine local experience – good food and good company.

bigw00

• Doubles from $55 per night (+1 707 464 2137, curlyredwoodlodge.com)

Phoenix Hotel, San Francisco

For a potent San Francisco experience, the Phoenix delivers on all levels. It's a 1950s motor lodge, complete with kitsch central pool and vintage furnishings, that will make you feel like you're in a Quentin Tarantino film. Team this with its grungy Tenderloin location and the fact that tour buses regularly pull up to deliver touring rock stars as guests, and you've got yourself one hell of an American Dream.

foxbasealpha1

• Doubles from $109 per night (+1 415 776 1380, jdvhotels.com/hotels/sanfrancisco/phoenix)

Breakers Inn, Gualala

When at Breakers Inn, you can be in Sweden, Canada or perhaps England or Ireland – there are 28 individually decorated rooms. We stayed in Holland – bright, fresh, clean and with all you would want in a motel room with a few extras: bright wooden tulips and mini china clogs hanging from the wardrobe handles. With views of the Pacific Ocean and the Gualala river, Breakers is a brilliant motel to spend a night or two when exploring northern California.

SuzieC

• Doubles from $110 per night (+1 707 884 3200, breakersinn.com)

New York City

Chelsea Pines Inn

A kitsch and cute classic film-themed hotel on West 14th Street with an in-house cat and lovely staff. Each room is named after a film star (we were in the Kim Novak suite) and filled with posters of the movies they starred in. It feels like a home from home in the heart of New York – you're right on the corner of Chelsea, the Meatpacking District and the West Village. Staff post a newsletter under your door every morning with suggestions of things to do and will book you tickets to anywhere you want to go. We went on our honeymoon and they sent flowers to our room.

MissCBristol

• Doubles from $169 per night (+1 212 929 1023, chelseapinesinn.com)

Carlton Arms Hotel

This uniquely decorated "hotel" on East 25th Street is more like a hostel but is particularly cheap for New York and the amazing artwork is like no other.

NataliePurple

• Doubles from $110 with a shared bathroom, $130 with private bathroom (+1 212 679 0680, carltonarms.com)

Arizona

The Shady Dell, Bisbee

They have a kitsch diner on site (Dot's Diner), and you stay in one of a collection of vintage trailers, including a 1949 Airstream. There's also the 1947 Tiki Bus Polynesian Palace … in fact all their trailers are kitsch classics.

smudger1

• Doubles from $50 per night (+1 520 432 3567, theshadydell.com)

Washington DC

The Helix Hotel

The first thing that stands out about the Helix is that it's in DC, which doesn't usually strike you as a kitsch and funky city. But for suits who want to show their wild side, it's the place to go. It's very 60s – lots of multi-coloured lights, mirrors, swirly patterns and Austin Powers-style egg chairs. In my room there was carpet on the ceiling and Andy Warhol-esque paintings. But the best bit was the leopard print bathrobes that had me poncing about like a diva!

Matelder

• Doubles from $189 per night (+1 202 462 9001, hotelhelix.com)