Three Haunted Hotels

Travel Briefs, By Colleen's Contributor Patti Elrod-Hill

This week, I’m winging my way to St. Petersburg, Florida, for a conference I attend annually at the Leows Don Cesar Hotel. The Don Cesar has become one of my favorite hotels because it’s funky, elegant, pink and HAUNTED!!!

This will be my fourth year attending this conference, and, thus far the scariest thing that has happened to me at the hotel is when I accidentally got in the way of the conference attendees heading for the Hagen Das bars in the ice cream freezer at the Friday afternoon break. Whew! Just barely got out of there with my hand intact! This year, though, I’m going to go ghost hunting.

The hotel has all of the amenities I enjoy- several really good restaurants, a spa, and a pool bar right next to the beach. In addition, it has the added bonus of being very old, and having its very own ghost. The original owner, Thomas Rowe, opened the Don Cesar with a grand ceremony in 1928. Unfortunately, the next year the economy tanked and the big pink luxury hotel went through some hard times. The hotel changed ownership many times until the army bought it for use as a hospital, a convalescent home for soldiers, and an office of the Veterans Administration. Restored to glory in the 1970s, the hotel is now host to many conferences and weddings.

According to legend at the Don Cesar, Thomas Rowe was in love with a young lady named Lucinda. Thomas, then attending boarding school in England, was to meet Lucinda by a fountain before they were to elope to the United States. Lucinda’s parents learned of the plan and kept Lucinda locked in her home. Thomas left the fountain broken-hearted and returned to the U.S. alone. When he later married, became wealthy, and built the Don Cesar, he made sure that the hotel had a fountain where Lucinda could meet him. On her deathbed, Lucinda wrote a letter to Rowe, telling him she still loved him. Rowe died at the hotel in 1940, and he and Lucinda reunited to roam the hotel and the surrounding beach. Employees tell of sighting a white-haired old man and a woman walking hand-in-hand through the lobby of the hotel.

The Don Cesar sits right on the beach at St. Petersburg and is the site of some very spectacular sunsets. You can enjoy those sunsets – and meet the ghosts of Thomas and Lucinda – with the Spooky Suites special October 25-31, 2011.  The package includes costumes, a goody bag, and a “ghoulish amenity.” You can view this special at http://www.loewshotels.com/specials/promotions/spookysuites.

The Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, California, is another grande hotel with its very own ghost. The Hotel Del Coronado is an elegant, rambling sort of hotel full of places to sit and watch the world go by. Built in 1888, the Del Coronado was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1977. The original building, now known as the Victorian Building, is home to the ghost of Kate Morgan. Kate stayed at the hotel in 1892, waiting for five days for her lover to arrive. Although it is not known whether the lover ever arrived, Kate was found dead on an exterior staircase with a gunshot wound to her head. Though her death was ruled a suicide, some skeptics doubt she killed herself. Since her death, Kate occasionally occupies her old room – # 3502- and pulls a few pranks on the employees and guests. Her favorite prank is “throwing” glassware off the shelves in the gift shop.

The Hotel Del Coronado has a Hallo-wine and Spirits Party™ on October 29. Check out the Halloween specials at http://www.hoteldel.com/holidays.aspx.

The Grove Park Inn, another of my favorite haunts, also hosts someone from the spirit world. The Pink Lady, who allegedly fell to her death in the hotel’s Palm Court, tickles the toes of visitors when they are trying to sleep at night. Guests can hear laughing and slamming doors from rooms where no one stays. The hotel apparently gets very cold near the room where Pink Lady stayed before she died.

The Grove Park Inn is hosting a Haunted Special over Halloween weekend. For $199.00 per night you can stay in the haunted part of the Inn and the hotel will give you a map of all of the ghosts of Asheville, North Carolina. www.groveparkinn.com/Leisure/PackagesAndSpecials

I hope you all enjoy your Halloween. I plan to see Thomas and Lucinda – and to get to the Hagen Das bars before the other hungry conference attendees!