Blackpool is synonymous with many things - the pungent whiff of fish and chips, sickly sweet bright pink rock, trams and a blast of sea air on the Promenade as it is lit up by the Illuminations in autumn.
Five-star hotels do not usually feature on this list - it is more reminiscent of cheap as chips guest rooms with paper thin walls.
This is all about to change as demand for high-quality accommodation is booming and the resort's first five-star hotel should be open by next year, which will boost its economic fortunes.
The rush to build new hotels - and expand existing ones - has not been slowed down by the coronavirus pandemic, either.
Until today (Saturday September 26), the resort had been the only area of Lancashire currently not to be in local lockdown restrictions.
Unfortunately, this changed at midnight as the council introduced new measures after a recent spike in cases - but tourism should not be massively impacted.
Visitors have flocked there as millions of Brits have enjoyed staycations, with warm weather enticing them in droves last weekend.
This September is well on course for being a record-breaking month for visitor numbers at the Illuminations.
The resort attracts 18 million visitors a year, and according to the Local Government Association, they generate £1.5 billion in visitor spend.
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Its first five-star hotel, the Sands Venue Hotel and Spa, is being constructed on the Promenade, and will feature a real tree running through its eye-catching entrance atrium. The theme is 1930s Art Deco glamour.
The development was dreamt up by multimillionaire businessman Peter Swann, the chairman of Scunthorpe United FC.
While there are elements of the theatrical appeal of Las Vegas - the vibe at the new Sands is more cool chic of Manchester's Lowry Hotel rather than the MGM, and it will be managed by the same company that runs the Lowry Hotel.
The redevelopment of the site will create a 96-room hotel, with a spa, restaurant, bistro, hairdressers, nail salon and hotel shop.
The hotel has a cavernous penthouse room, which, at 200 sq metres, is bigger than many family homes.
The building will house the museum of Blackpool, too, which is scheduled to open in June 2021.
It will offer enviable views of the Prom and the Comedy Carpet with the grey Irish Sea and the tankers on the distant horizon.
Alan Cavill, director of communication and regeneration at Blackpool Council, is pleasantly surprised by the continuing demand for good quality hotel rooms.
Although the conference trade is clearly stymied by coronavirus, it will return one day, he says. And the resort will be ready.
He describes touring the building site of the new five-star hotel and standing in the shell of the penthouse room, saying it was 'so big, I could barely see a colleague standing in another corner of the room'.
He said: "It is not just the conference trade that wants high quality accommodation - it's what the modern-day visitor wants, too, and we are competing with the rest of the UK and the world.
"They are used to booking their hotels on booking.com.
"We felt that we needed to increase the number of three and four-star hotels to 5,000 rooms.
"We are well on the way to achieving this and now have 2,500 with another 500 currently in development, which is a lot closer to the target."
The brutalist old Wilko building near the Blackpool North train station is being demolished and a Holiday Inn will be built on the site.
The Hampton by Hilton hotel, which opened in May 2018 on the South Shore with 130 bedrooms, is expanding after it got planning permission, days ago, to add another 74 bedrooms, as a result of growing demand.
The extended hotel is expected to be finished by the end of next year and will see a bigger kitchen area and new meeting spaces.
The hotel will be able to give further support to the new Blackpool Conference Centre and anticipated Winter Gardens exhibition centre extension, as well as helping to boost the local economy.
Building work will start in 2021 and could take up to a year.
During lockdown, the hotel provided accommodation for key workers at the height of the pandemic.
Separately, Blackpool North Pier's Premier Inn, with 170 rooms, is expected to open before Christmas - a big hotel by Blackpool standards where the average size is 20 rooms in the more traditional B&B set-up.
The hotel is in Talbot Square, close to the Tower.
Richard Aldred, Whitbread's Head of Construction in the UK regions and Ireland, said: "We are looking forward to opening our newest hotel and restaurant near Blackpool's North Pier, so that even more people will now be able to enjoy all that the area offers.
"As a business, we're absolutely committed to investing back into the areas where we operate and are really pleased to have been able to bring so many new year-round jobs to the town."
Alan Cavill explains that the resort doesn't have 'that many big hotels, other than the older style hotels like the Imperial'.
He said: "We have done very well in lockdown as despite the many challenges, the demand for the new hotels has not gone down.
"People have still come here - one of the challenges has been encouraging them to not let their hair down and abandon the rules when they get here. But businesses have been very good at toeing the line."
Not all the traditional B&B operators are thrilled with the flurry of swish hotel rooms.
Mr Cavill admits that those at the bottom end of the market are not happy. But he points out the visitors seeking a £100-a-night room are hardly going to be competing with '73 Acacia Avenue at £20 a night'.
He said: "They are the ones that are most nervous about, in truth. But we are in discussions with them."
He said that quite a few of the operators have gone into the boutique market, where they can charge a decent price for their rooms. They are happy with the influx of visitors and the impact on the economy.
Although the news that Strictly Come Dancing is not heading to Blackpool this year is disappointing, it won't have a devastating impact on the economy, Mr Cavill believes.
"Obviously people like to see the dancers walking around town with their bouncers," he said.
"And we might have 200 to 300 crew members here, but we recognised that having 300 people not in a social bubble walking round the resort is not a good idea.
"Strictly are doing a 'Best of Blackpool' this weekend and they will be recreating Blackpool at Elstree studios later in the series."
Gill Mathison, who is Create Group brand director, which is completing the extension at the Hilton by Hampton hotel, says: "It is incredibly important to have quality hotels to attract both leisure and corporate visitors to the town.
"Hilton is a worldwide brand and their reward scheme attracts many visitors to the resort.
"The hotel has been incredibly successful already.
"The new extension allows us to reconfigure the public spaces and increase the breakfast area, as well as giving us some much-needed meeting rooms.
"Our corporate facilities will be invaluable as the resort opens its new conference facility and hopefully attract back some much-needed conference business."
She describes how Blackpool has undergone an "incredible transformation in recent years," as more than £500m has been invested in hotels, transport links and infrastructure.
The electrification of the train line between the resort and Preston has 'meant a new high-speed service direct from London'.
And, the 12,000 seat conference centre under construction, along with the new hotels in the pipeline are 'all positive signs for the resort'.
"I think we are all facing difficulties with the unknown of the pandemic, but its about adapting our operations to meet the government guidelines," she went on.
"Being part of an established brand does help us to react and things such as our virtual check-in and digital key system has really helped.
"Blackpool has been through good times and bad times - but the recent investment in the resort has really started to put the town back on the map.
"It is a great family resort with something for everyone and its ethos is about having fun."
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