These properties (which we’re proud to call In-Room Plus clients) make for wonderful getaways any time of year, but beware, at Halloween time, you may have to share your delicious in-room snacks with an uninvited, plus-one!

The Hay-Adams Hotel, Washington D.C.

This stately, beautiful hotel is perhaps D.C.’s most famous – and infamous. Located on the former site of the homes of both former U.S. Secretary of State John Hay, and Henry Adams (related to both Presidents John and John Quincy Adams), the hotel opened in 1928 and played hosts to presidents, celebrities, and the who’s who of Washington.

Unfortunately, at least one of them may remain there...eternally. It’s rumored that the hotel is haunted by Henry Adams’ wife Marian “Clover” Adams, a photographer who committed suicide in December of 1885. Guests and staff report doors opening and closing without explanation, the sound of a woman crying, and the smell of almonds; Of note, the home darkroom chemical she reportedly ingested to end her life, also smells of almonds.

Those looking for a ghastly good time should plan their visit for early December, near the anniversary of her death, when unexplained activity seems to peak.

 

The Ritz Carlton - New Orleans

Sometimes even new, luxe hotels can’t shake the ghosts of their past. Take the Ritz-Carlton New Orleans, which opened in 2000 inside a historic 1908 building that was once the site of a bustling department store. Some things never change – the hotel is still bustling, not only with guests but with an exciting array of rumored spirits. A tall gentleman in a black suit and top hat, circa 1880s, who can sometimes be spotted reading in the library on The Club Level.

Two playful – but invisible – children who play all night laughing and bouncing on guest beds. The hotel even boasts whispers of a spirit in their spa, where massage oils shift and hydrotherapy tub lights flicker.

Still, with such sophisticated flair and easy access to the French Quarter, nothing can scare their many guests away.

Driskill - Austin, Texas

Everything’s bigger in Texas – even the ghost stories. The historic Driskill in Austin (the oldest in the city) is the perfect example. The cast of outsized undead include Civil War Colonel Jesse Driskill, a man who built the hotel in 1886 only to promptly lose it in a poker game just two years later; these days, he tends to reveal himself in the form of a sudden aroma of cigar smoke – usually in the rooms of women.

There’s also the 4-year old daughter, Samantha, of a Texas Senator who died in a fall on the grand staircase, who reportedly haunts the painting of a little girl on the 5th floor. Unnerved skeptics too nervous to eat their in-room snacks may be relieved to learn that, as the painting is both a replica and also not actually of Samantha herself, these claims seem dubious at best.

Still, the legends persist, so much so that in the early 1990s, rock band Concrete Blonde wrote their hit song “Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man” about these so-called permanent residents of the hotel – Texas Forever.

Emily Morgan Hotel - San Antonio, Texas

Is the Emily Morgan hotel haunted? Well, let’s see – the lobby of the neo-Gothic building where the hotel now stands was once a morgue, and the top floor was a crematorium.

Soo… definitely yes, right? Former staff and guests have often reported things that go bump in the night. But with such a prime downtown location across from the Alamo, guests don’t seem to mind much.

  

Grand Hotel - Mackinac Island, Michigan

Mackinac Island is frozen in time. It looks much today as it would have back during early European settlement of the island, including a ban on nearly all motorized vehicles. Perhaps it is for this reason that the island’s dead reportedly outnumbers the living. And if you were going to be eternally stuck on an island, wouldn’t you head to the swankiest hotel in town to wander restlessly?

When the construction crew dug the Grand Hotel’s foundation, they found so many human skeletons that they couldn’t keep track of them all. We’ll give you a minute to sit with that fun fact. No word on if any of those skeletons belong(ed) to the “evil” spooky black mass with glowing red eyes that supposedly frequents the hotel. Or to a wispy man in a top hat playing the bar's piano. Be sure to de-stress by grabbing an In-Room Plus prepared snack – or maybe even one for you and one for them.

These hotels and others are just waiting to be explored and visited by specter-seeking guests. Now is the perfect time of year to make sure your minibar offerings aren't "dead." Call or email us to discuss how you can liven up your minibar!