Hotels, by their very nature, are ripe for scandal. For some, staying away from home in a luxurious establishment, attended by discreet staff, offers a cloak of anonymity and a liberating sense of freedom in which to carry out all manner of misdemeanours. Add to that the fact that influential people are naturally drawn towards certain five-star institutions in major cities, and that business owners and property developers are increasingly turning historic infamy into unique selling points, and the list of hotels with scandalous reputations only grows.
Scroll on to discover the historic hotels that have, at times, made headlines for all the wrong reasons...
The scandal responsible for the suffix ‘gate’ being added to all future scandals, what happened at the Watergate complex in 1972, and the fallout from ensuing investigations, brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon. Initially the story of five men caught breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters, it soon spiralled into something else entirely.
As it became clear that the break-in was tied to Nixon’s re-election campaign, and evidence – which included secret White House recordings – of a cover-up mounted, the 37th president faced impeachment and chose to resign in 1974. He remains the only US president to do so.
Hotel owners the world over used to quiver at the notion of Keith Moon, and the rest of rock band The Who, staying at their establishment. Stories of the rock ‘n’ rollers drinking alcohol to excess and trashing their rooms, before leaving with a bill well into the thousands, are too many to mention. Moon himself had a bizarre fondness for blowing up toilets with explosives.
The drummer’s notoriety hit its peak when he supposedly celebrated his 21st birthday by driving a Lincoln Continental into the swimming pool of a Holiday Inn in Flint, Michigan. Debate over whether it happened or was a story invented by Moon rages to this day.
Those who are hooked on the morbid and macabre may well find themselves drawn to a night sleeping (or not sleeping) in the Lizzie Borden House – the location of a grisly double murder – like moths to a flame.
On the morning of 4 August 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were mercilessly hacked to death with a hatchet here. Lizzie, daughter of Andrew and stepdaughter of Abby, was put on trial for their killings but, despite public suspicion, was ultimately acquitted. This former crime scene is now a museum and bed and breakfast.
Considered by those with an interest in the paranormal to be among the world's most haunted hotels, the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, inspired the setting for Stephen King’s novel The Shining and Stanley Kubrick’s subsequent film adaptation. The hauntings date back to 1911 when the chief housekeeper, Ms. Elizabeth Wilson, was blasted through the floor of room 217 by a lantern explosion.
Wilson survived, but guests have experienced strange phenomena in the room ever since. Ghosts of the hotel’s original builder, Freelan Stanley, and his wife have been spotted floating around, with the disembodied laughter and yelling of children also reported by visitors.
As The Guardian’s Joel Golby put it in 2020, The Albion Rooms in Margate, on England’s southeast coast, is "less hotel, more gentrified flophouse". It was co-founded by indie band The Libertines, after their infamous co-frontman Pete Doherty moved to the historic Kent seaside town in 2017.
Once notorious for their drug addictions, as much as for their music, Doherty and his bandmate Carl Barât might strike you as surprising hoteliers. And yet this establishment bears all the classic markers of a boutique B&B, albeit one where bands record new singles and the atmosphere gets extra lively after dark.
Even if the walls at the 4-star Malmaison Oxford could talk, we doubt they would – after all, if the world of film and television is anything to go by, being a prison informant doesn’t usually end well for the person telling the stories.
Located near Oxford’s best-loved attractions, including the majestic colleges, the ethereal Christ Church Cathedral and the fascinating Ashmolean Museum, this converted prison is far more luxurious than it once was. Unlike the inmates who once slept here, though, you’ll have to pay for the privilege of staying the night.
We’ve all done it, haven’t we? Trashed a $1,200-a-night (£890) presidential suite and then blamed it on a rampaging armadillo.
Or at least, this was the wild, somewhat tongue-in-cheek excuse Johnny Depp reached for in 1994 after being arrested following an altercation with his then-girlfriend, model Kate Moss, at The Mark Hotel in New York’s Upper East Side.
To this day, the armadillo has never been found...
In 1892, a young woman named Kate Morgan, claiming to be from Detroit, checked into this hotel alone under the name ‘Lottie A Bernard’. Just five days later, on 29 November, she was found dead on an exterior staircase leading to the beach with a gunshot wound to the head.
The San Diego County coroner later judged the death to have been self-inflicted, although scepticism still surrounds this finding. Despite dying over 130 years ago, Kate’s spirit is said to still haunt the resort’s rambling grounds. Guests staying in her old room have reported everything from inexplicable breezes to malfunctioning television sets.
First built in 1790, The Russell Hotel is one of the oldest buildings in Australia. Rebuilt in roughly 1820, and restored many times since, it has served as everything from a hostel for seamen docked in Sydney Harbour to a hospital dealing with the bubonic plague. Rumours even abound that it once served as a brothel.
With such a dark and varied backstory, it’s perhaps no surprise that this historic establishment in The Rocks is said to be the country’s most haunted hotel. Room eight is particularly notorious for its ghostly experiences involving a murdered sailor.
With notable former guests including Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Patti Smith and Iggy Pop, this iconic and notorious hotel will forever be thought of as a diabolical den of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. Most infamously, Sex Pistols’ Sid Vicious was found wandering the hallway here in 1978, reportedly wailing that he’d just killed his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen.
The hotel, which closed in 2011 and then reopened after a decade-long renovation, is also famous for its connections to the poet, novelist and lifelong alcoholic Charles Bukowski. It’s also where Arthur C. Clarke wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Not the most creatively named hotel on this list, the smallest 5-star hotel in Paris makes up for its unoriginal moniker with a fascinating history. Oscar Wilde was a guest here when he wrote his final play, Salomé, and died here after living at the hotel for the last 18 months of his life.
During the 1960s and 1970s, this place was the hotel of choice for figures such as Salvador Dali, Princess Grace, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Taylor and Serge Gainsbourg. Put your ear to the walls here and you can almost hear the juicy gossip echoing through history.
Once dubbed “the most bombed hotel in Western Europe,” the Europa Hotel was targeted an astonishing 33 times during The Troubles. Despite the challenges and unimaginable horrors it faced during the bloodiest period in Northern Irish history, it somehow remained open throughout.
Serving as a refuge for journalists and visitors alike, its enduring spirit served as a symbol of resilience during Belfast’s most trying times. Its doors closed for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the Nazi Occupation of World War II, the Paris Ritz stayed open. While the French capital's people suffered devastating food shortages and malnutrition, high-ranking German officers like Joseph Goebbels (pictured) ate lavish meals and drank Champagne cocktails in this luxurious hotel’s dining room.
Controversially, legendary fashion designer Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel spent the war here with her lover, Nazi intelligence officer, Hans Gunther von Dincklage. Chanel tried to profit from the Nazi’s seizure of Jewish property and reclaim the perfumes she had signed away to the Wertheimer brothers, who had fled to the US when the Germans invaded.
Back in the sweltering summer of 1961, the Cold War was chilling the heart of British politics. And at the stately Cliveden House, a scandalous love affair between Christine Keeler (pictured), a 19-year-old mistress of a suspected Russian spy, and John Profumo, a Conservative Secretary of State for War, was brewing.
When the story of the pair’s illicit relationship broke, it sent shockwaves through the establishment. Known forever as the Profumo Affair, it raised questions over national security and permanently damaged Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's reputation.
Almost from the minute it opened its doors, the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles has been a haven for celebrity mischief. Perched on the edge of the Sunset Strip, it built its reputation on being a place where Tinseltown celebrities could go without the press, their bosses or their partners getting wind of what they were up to.
Wild stories have inevitably emerged, though. In 2012, Lindsay Lohan racked up a bill of more than $40,000 (£30,000) and was banned from the hotel after being unable to pay it.
Shut your eyes and picture the splendour of Venice. There’s a good chance you’ve just thought about the exterior of the Hotel Danieli, one of the most famous hotels in the world. This iconic building’s remarkable history can be traced all the way back to the 14th century.
In the winter of 1833, it was the scene of the scandalous love affair between George Sand and Alfred de Musset. Both prominent figures in 19th-century French literature, their steamy relationship unfolded in the now much-requested Room 10.
On a hot July night in 1923, a 22-year-old millionaire Egyptian playboy was shot dead by his glamorous French wife at London’s Savoy Hotel. Adding to the scandal was the fact that Princess Marie Marguerite Fahmy, the woman who pulled the trigger, was a known lover of the Prince of Wales.
Seen arguing with his wife in the Savoy’s restaurant hours earlier, Prince Ali Fahmy would be dead just hours later. His wife, a former prostitute, was found slumped over his body, crying out: “J’ai lui tiré” — “I’ve shot him.” It's thought her surprising acquittal was the result of efforts to save the British royal family from embarrassment.
In the Hotel Metropol's early days, the Russian elite lived it up like the good times would never end. Artists and intellectuals toasted the greatness of Imperial Russia beneath crystal chandeliers, fish swam in the central fountain before being served for dinner, and Rasputin held infamous parties behind shut doors.
After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the hotel’s luxurious dining tables and light fixtures were replaced by simple wooden benches and kerosene lamps. The once-polished floors became filthy, and the building transformed into the headquarters for Vladimir Lenin and his comrades. As the century went on, it became a gilded cage for foreign guests – one tightly controlled by the KGB.
Over the years, the Chiltern Firehouse has developed something of a reputation. The celebrity hangout and hotel, currently closed for complex restoration work following a fire in February 2025, was causing angry residents countless headaches until its run-in with the flames.
From amorous couples getting carried away outside in the street to anti-social behaviour and rowdy guests leaving the venue in the early hours of the morning, it’s a place no stranger to sordid shenanigans. A-listers to have been spotted here in recent years include Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, Kate Moss, Tom Cruise, Carla Delevingne, Adele and Stella McCartney.
The oldest continuously operating hotel in New York City opened in 1902. And while it's less scandal-ridden than some of the other Big Apple establishments on this list, it makes our list off the back of a club that started meeting here in June 2019.
The Algonquin Round Table, as it became known, was a daily coming together of critics, journalists, authors, publicists and actors. Gathering for lunch for 10 years, the group exchanged ideas, opinions and sizable portions of savage wit. Labelling themselves the “Vicious Circle,” one can only imagine how many people felt their ears burning whenever this lot congregated.
If you stayed in bed for a week, it would concern your loved ones but probably wouldn’t lead to a full-blown media frenzy. Yet when The Beatles’ John Lennon and his wife, the artist and singer Yoko Ono, did this not once but twice in the name of world peace, it caused an international sensation.
The first of the pair’s 'bed-ins for peace' stunts took place in Amsterdam, during their honeymoon in March 1969. In May that year, the duo did the same thing in Montreal. Checked into room 1742 of The Queen Elizabeth (which fans can still book today), they entertained guests, held interviews and recorded Give Peace a Chance.