26 Luxor’s Sky Beam Attracts Wildlife
The “Sky Beam” at the Luxor Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas attracts so many insects that it has created a unique ecosystem of moths, bats, and owls.
27. Len, the band behind Steal My Sunshine, received a $100,000 budget for their music video but spent so much of it on alcohol that they broke the hotel service elevator while trying to transport it all.
28. The Stanley Hotel, which inspired The Shining, plays the movie adaptation on a continuous loop on Channel 42.
29. The International Debutante Ball, a prestigious, invitation-only event held biennially at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, presents well-connected young women from elite families to high society. The participation fee alone starts at $22,000.
30. A luxury hotel in Brunei, winner of the 2003 Presidential Suite Award, charges $23,000 per night for its opulent suite. The suite features Italian marble lined with 24-carat gold, a Baccarat crystal chandelier, walk-in closets the size of a studio apartment, a private pool, and a bar. Despite the high cost, it remains in high demand.
31 Douglas Adams Locked to Write
Douglas Adams wrote So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish only after his editor, Sonny Mehta, locked him in a hotel room to force him to finish the book. Frustrated by Adams’ constant procrastination and missed deadlines, Mehta took extreme measures to ensure its completion.
32. Bolivia’s Palacio de Sal Hotel, located on the edge of the world’s largest salt flat (Salar de Uyuni), is built entirely of salt. The floors, walls, ceilings, beds, tables, chairs, and sculptures are all made from salt. Guests are strictly prohibited from licking the walls.
33. The phrase “the customer is always right” originated with an indigent Prussian migrant who worked in the hotel industry. George C. Boldt went on to invent room service, amass a multimillion-dollar fortune, purchase an island, and build a castle for his beloved wife. Tragically, she died before its completion, and he never set foot on the island again.
34. Whitney Houston died in Suite 434 of the Beverly Hilton Hotel. After numerous insensitive guests partied in the room “like Whitney did” and took photos of themselves lying in the bathtub where she passed away, the hotel permanently removed the room from service.
35. In 1997, over 11 months, police in Clearwater, Florida, received 161 emergency calls from rooms at the Fort Harrison Hotel. However, each time officers arrived, Scientology security denied them entry, claiming there was no emergency.
36 Unsolved Chlorine Attack at Convention
In 2014, an unknown assailant released chlorine gas at a hotel hosting a furry convention, injuring 19 people. The apparent chemical attack remains unsolved, and the source of the chlorine has never been identified.
37. Before the invention of elevators, the most expensive hotel rooms were located on the lower floors to avoid the inconvenience of climbing stairs.
38. Gerald Foos, the former owner of the Manor House Motel in Aurora, Colorado, purchased the establishment to fulfill his voyeuristic desires to spy on guests having sex. He specifically chose it because the attic was tall enough to stand in. Over the years, he cut peepholes disguised as ceiling vents into several rooms, watched guests for decades, and meticulously documented his observations.
39. Agatha Christie disappeared mysteriously in 1926. Thousands of volunteers, along with search planes and tracking dogs, scoured the area for 11 days. A musician finally recognized her at a hotel, where she had been staying under a fake name. Christie never explained her disappearance before her death.
40. The difference between a hotel and a motel lies in their design and purpose. Motels, short for “motorist hotels,” typically feature large parking areas, allow guests to park directly in front of their rooms, and provide quick access to major roads.
41 Smuggler’s Inn Borderline Views
The Smuggler’s Inn, a BnB located directly on the US-Canadian border, offers a unique attraction-guests can watch smugglers cross the border using night vision binoculars.
42. The MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas experienced its worst financial week ever when it hosted a physicist convention, as attendees spent little money on gambling and entertainment.
43. Taco Bell attempted to open a hotel in 2019, and astonishingly, all available rooms sold out in just two minutes.
44. Although Communist Romania despised the Dracula story, the country depended on Western tourism. A clever functionary in Bistri?a County tricked authorities into approving two Dracula-themed hotels, including one inspired by the inn where Jonathan Harker stays in Dracula.
45. Luxury hotel guests once used the Teleseme, a signaling device with a dial that allowed them to request over 100 different services, including cocktails and personal attendants. However, by the 1910s, hotels phased out these devices in favor of telephone systems.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
46 Super 8’s $8.88 Room Origins
Super 8 Motels got the “8” in its name from its original $8.88 room rate. The chain ensured early success by strategically building new locations near Holiday Inn hotels.
47. In 1981, two walkways at a Hyatt Regency hotel collapsed during a crowded party, tragically killing 114 people and injuring 216 others.
48. The Grand Hotel in Scarborough, England, features 365 rooms to represent the days of the year, 52 chimneys for the weeks, 12 floors for the months, and a V-shaped design to honor Queen Victoria.
49. The world’s oldest continuously operating business is a hot springs hotel in Japan, which has remained in operation since 705 A.D.
50. In 2010, hotel staff discovered Greg Fleniken dead inside his locked Texas hotel room. While he had no external injuries, authorities found massive internal damage, leading them to classify his death as a homicide. After an eight-month investigation, detectives uncovered the shocking truth-a drunk guest in the next room had accidentally fired a gun, and the bullet pierced the wall, striking Fleniken in the scrotum.
RE: Fact #29 (Waldorf Astoria’s Exclusive Debutante Ball) – I can’t believe people still do this.
RE: Fact #37 (Why Lower Floors Were Pricier) – My wife’s old office building had a crazy elevator accident once. Two guys were fixing it – one up high, one down low – and they totally missed a safety rule. Yikes! Her boss raced down, looked like he’d seen a ghost, and just said, “Call 911, stay away from that thing!”
RE: Fact #1 (Coney Island’s Elephant Hotel Burns) – Seriously? You were rehearsing a play in an elephant, half-naked, with some guy, in the middle of the night?!
RE: Fact #8 (Lorraine Hotel Resident Protested Museum) – That museum’s awesome; they even kept the spot across the street where James Earl Ray fired the shot, and the original concrete where MLK was hit. It’s a powerful place.
RE: Fact #23 (Singer Injured by Falling Frame) – Being from California, I’m super careful about hanging heavy stuff above my bed – earthquakes are no joke! I really dislike it when hotels do that too.
RE: Fact #34 (Whitney Houston’s Hotel Room Retired) – How do I cancel a hotel room?
RE: Fact #12 (The Origins of Continental Breakfast) – Lots of Brits still just call mainland Europe “the continent,” I bet.
RE: Fact #11 (Hotels Use RFID for Towels) – Hotels are total jerks about their minibars. They’ll charge you even if you just *touch* something! They’ve got sensors and everything.
That happened to me, and I was furious! Never again.
I fought them about it, of course. They didn’t even look into it, I had to argue to get the charge removed. Having to argue with the front desk about something I didn’t do? Nope, never staying there again.
RE: Fact #36 (Unsolved Chlorine Attack at Convention) – Seriously, what’s with all the furry hate? Yeah, some are weird, and some are messed up, but you can say that about any group. Most furries are actually pretty cool. My ex was one, and I went to a few conventions with her—everyone was super friendly. Judging them all just shows how narrow-minded you are.
RE: Fact #49 (World’s Oldest Hotel in Japan) – That guest book would be seriously huge.
RE: Fact #47 (Hyatt Walkway Collapse Killed 114) – Funny thing, I learned about this at my hotel. It was a little creepy standing where 114 people died.
RE: Fact #38 (Motel Owner Spied on Guests) – Wow, that was way longer than I thought, but I couldn’t stop reading.