Groups can experience the star-studded pasts of these global abodes.
Some of the most renowned and infamous public figures have made or sought to make history from the confines of their hotel rooms. Here are five of the world’s most famous hotel rooms that attendees can experience:
Room 702, Hilton Amsterdam, Netherlands
John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s famed honeymoon “Bed-In for Peace,” to protest the Vietnam War took place in Room 702 of the Hilton Amsterdam 50 years ago this week.
Hilton in celebration of the anniversary has created a new limited video series called Room 702. Each video explores how a Hilton team member’s entrepreneurial spirit is having a positive global impact. Stories include a video of Serby Castro, a suite attendant at an Embassy Suites by Hilton in Orlando, where she leads the hotel’s Clean the World soap recycling initiatives.
Guests can also stay in this presidential suite, decorated with John and Yoko memorabilia.
The Al Capone Suite, The Biltmore Hotel, Coral Gables, Florida
Legend has it the Everglades Suite at Florida’s famed The Biltmore Hotel played host to none other than Al Capone during Prohibition. The mobster used the 13th-floor suite to run a speakeasy. The 13th floor of the hotel is also infamous as the place where bodyguard Thomas Fats Walsh in 1929 was shot to death after using it to run a gambling suite for mobsters. Walsh’s ghost allegedly prowls the Biltmore to this day.
Today the two-story Everglades Suite is a spectacle with its hand-painted ceiling frescoes depicting scenes from Florida’s tropical wetlands and baby grand piano. Groups can host a stand-up party in the suite for up to about 25.
The Oscar Wilde Suite, L’Hotel, Paris
Literary fans can book Room 16, better known as the Oscar Wilde Suite, in Paris’ L’Hotel. Wilde lived his last years at the then Hotel D’Alsace, and died there in 1900 after a long illness. He is said to have died penniless.
The room features framed letters from management demanding that Wilde pay his bills. Though the wallpaper has been long replaced, he notoriously commented on the room’s decor with his famous quote:
“My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go.”
The Savoy Suite, The Savoy, London
French impressionist Claude Monet painted his series of London bridges during the first of his three long stays at The Savoy from 1899 to 1901. The recently updated extravagant room currently offers views of the River Thames and iconic London landmarks.
With a nod to Monet, the suite also features a rotating collection of private collections from contemporary artists.
Room 217, The Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, Colorado
One of The Stanley Hotel’s “Spirited Rooms” – rooms with high paranormal activity – inspired Stephen King to write “The Shining.” The author and his wife were staying in Room 217 (Room 237 in the movie version) at the hotel in 1974 and was the inspiration for the Overlook Hotel, the eerie setting of his 1977 best-selling novel.
Attendees can learn more about Stephen King’s stay and the 110-year-old hotel’s resident ghosts during its 75-minute The Stanley Night Tour. Groups can also book the same room if they dare.
