Hundreds of thousands of hotel guests sleep in the comfort of a bed not their own and perhaps wonder about the people who occupied the room before them. While the majority of those will remain nameless, faceless strangers, there are a number of hotel rooms where famous and historically significant individuals have rested their heads. There are even a few famous hotel rooms where people both significant and inconsequential have lost their lives and some are rumored to be haunted.
Now the National Civil Rights Museum, the Lorraine Motel is where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968 at 6:01 p.m. on the balcony in front of his usual room, # 306. Permanent exhibits draw attention to the war Dr. King waged for American civil rights with a timeline from enslavement to King’s assassination, on into the search for the assassin. Guests can sit on one of the buses from the Montgomery boycott just like Rosa Parks, observe an exhibit on the first challenge of school segregation and view Room 306 just as Dr. King left it moments before his death.
National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel
450 Mulberry Street
Memphis, TN 38103
901-521-9699
civilrightsmuseum.org
While supernatural occurrences are reputed to have occurred in a handful of the Stanley Hotel’s guest rooms, Room 217 is one of the most famous. The Stanley Hotel is the famed inspiration for Stephen King’s novel, “the Shining,” and Room 217 is where Stephen King and his wife slept during their stay. It is said that King reported being filled with dread, hearing faint strains of music and seeing a ghost child roaming the hotel’s halls. Guests in Room 217 report hearing strange noises and some have returned to find their bags packed. Ghostly occurrences at the Stanley Hotel, such as slamming doors and apparitions, have also been reported in rooms 219, 222, 318, 340 and 401, as well as other location on the hotel grounds.
The Stanley Hotel
333 Wonderview Ave.
Estes Park, CO 80517
800-976-1377
Stanleyhotel.com
Referred to by some as “London’s most famous hotel,” The Savoy has been the home away from home for celebrities, master artists and famed politicians since it first opened its doors in 1889. Newly renovated and re-opened in 2010, the Savoy now pays tribute to its famous guests with accommodations known as “Personality Suites.” There are four Personality Art Deco Suites individually decorated to honor Irish actor Richard Harris, German-American actress Marlene Dietrich, English playwright Noël Coward, and Old blue eyes, Frank Sinatra. The hotel also offers five Personality Deluxe River View Suites in memory of previous the guests of those rooms, including Winston Churchill, Claude Monet, Charlie Chaplin, Katharine Hepburn and Greek opera singer Maria Callas.
The Savoy
Strand
London,
United Kingdom
WC2R 0EU
800-257-7544
fairmont.com/savoy
