The backgrounds of the hotel stages were designed by freelance artist Trici Venola. After seeing "Hotel Mario"'s first version—which Venola called "mechanical" and "visually no fun"—she and art director Jeff Zoern decided to use elements from Disney and J. R. R. Tolkien to improve the game's visual style. Drawings of the stages were made out of several blocks, each of which featured one detail. The first item Venola created for all hotels was the door. Every building took one week to complete and was designed according to a specific theme. For example, a gothic design was used for Bowser's hotel.