Hotel del Coronado

The beachfront luxury hotel, the Hotel del Coronado, just across the bay from San Diego, CA, will celebrate its 125th anniversary in 2013 with a yearlong calendar of activities and a series of community events, charitable promotions and guest packages.

Never-seen-before images will be featured in the release of a 208-page coffee-table history book including behind-the-scenes snapshots of Marilyn Monroe during the 1958 filming of Some Like It Hot! Go back in time and relive the resort’s earliest days with vintage memorabilia … menus, brochures and personal photos dating back to the 19th century.

As stated by historian Christine Donovan: “Many hotels could not survive the long years of the Great Depression and World War II, but, again, wartime build-up favored The Del with an influx of Navy, including fighter pilots trained in Coronado and housed at the hotel.” According to Donovan, after the war, massive urbanization efforts brought down many of America’s last surviving grand resorts, leaving the Del as one of a very few to remain.

The famous Hotel del Coronado has long been popular with ghost hunters.  For many years, the luxury hotel near San Diego has had reports of a resident ghost.  Here’s a link to a ghost story article we published several years ago.

In honor of this 125 year milestone, the Del is helping to fund a year –long partnership with United Through Reading (UTR). This national military program gives deployed parents the opportunity to read and record books for their children to watch as DVDs helping to ease the stress of separation. With the sale of each new coffee-table history book, the hotel will donate $1.25 toward this program and will sponsor additional fund-raising events throughout 2013.

Activities planned for the anniversary include citywide historic exhibits, special events and a variety of historic-themed offerings. The following guest packages are also available:

125th Anniversary Package:

Accommodations
Two drink tickets for historic cocktails in B&S Bar
New 125th Anniversary History Coffee-Table Book

Rates start at $299 per night at The Del and $600 per night at Beach Village

Taxes and $25 daily resort charge not included. No minimum stay required. One book/two drink tickets per stay.

125th Anniversary Ultimate Beach Village Package

2-night accommodations in one of the exclusive Beach Village Cottage or Villa Suites with personal concierge service throughout stay
Private behind-the-scenes history tour
Private dinner in your cottage suite by one of The Del’s master chefs
Chef de Cuisine Robert Hohmann presents dinner for two at 1500 OCEAN
Veuve Cliquot Champagne breakfast in bed
80-minute Couple’s Massage
Access to a vintage car throughout your stay
Welcome basket filled with ENO delectables– fruit, cheese, wine and The Del’s new 125th anniversary history book
Valet parking and resort charge

Rates start at $12,500* at Beach Village

*Rate shown is based on two-night minimum stay. Does not include tax. May not be combined with other offers.

Please use the Contact Form below to submit your Hotel del Coronado in San Diego travel request. We will promptly get back to you.

Courtesy of: Charlyn Keating Chisholm

As Halloween approaches and you begin to make your holiday season travel plans, do you really know the history of the hotel you are staying in?

Here are a few spooky, Halloween tales of famous haunted hotels in the United States.

Historic Hotels of America, part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has gathered dozens of ghostly accounts from its member properties around the country.

Below are six chilling stories from its archives. Fact or fiction? I suppose that depends on whom you ask. Do you believe in ghosts? Which haunted tales are true and do you have the courage to find out for yourself?

For details or bookings at any of these hotels, click the appropriate link below ….. if you dare.

Guests and employees of the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans have reported unusual activity at this French Quarter landmark. Some say they’ve come across the invisible “doorman” of Le Cafe, who likes to open and shut the restaurant’s doors, or the ghost called “Red,” a hotel engineer from years ago who still dutifully makes his rounds. One entity known as “Solemn John” is thought to be a Tennessee businessman who took his own life after losing money in a deal during the Great Depression — look for the dapper gentleman in a suit, circa the 1930s.

The Menger Hotel opened in 1859 next to the Alamo in San Antonio and is reported to have so many resident ghosts that it’s a wonder there’s any room left for the paying guests. Supposedly, at least 32 apparitions have been spotted here. Among them is chambermaid Sallie White, killed by her jealous husband in March 1876. The bill for her $32 funeral was paid by the Menger and recorded in the hotel ledger. She walks the halls in her late 19th-century housekeeping uniform, carrying towels that she never delivers. Then there’s Capt. Richard King, who enters his old suite through a spot in the wall — it’s where the door used to be during his time. One modern-day guest said he stepped out of the shower and found the figure of a man in a buckskin jacket and gray trousers standing next to the bed and talking to an unseen person. Perhaps he wandered over from the Alamo?

The Don CeSar Beach Resort near St. Petersburg, FL, has strange stories of its own. While studying in Europe in the 1890s, Thomas Rowe fell in love with a young woman named Lucinda, but eventually her disapproving parents quashed the relationship. He went on to build the Don CeSar, known for its distinctive pink facade, in 1925. In the lobby he placed a replica of the courtyard and fountain where he and Lucinda used to meet in Europe. The fountain is no longer there, but some report the sudden appearance of a dark-haired beauty and a man in a Panama hat, walking hand-in-hand and then fading away.

The art deco Georgian Hotel in seaside Santa Monica in Southern California housed a popular speakeasy toward the end of the Prohibition era. It attracted mobsters like Bugsy Siegel and Al Capone, as well as Hollywood folks like Clark Gable and Carol Lombard. Nowadays, the hotel gets attention for spirits of another kind, mainly in the hotel’s Speakeasy Restaurant, which is used for special events. Some have heard running footsteps and seen transparent figures. A chief engineer repairing a pipe said he felt an unseen visitor sit down beside him and then let out a deep sigh. Another employee often heard a disembodied voice offer a friendly “good morning” in the restaurant. This continued until the day the staffer decided to respond with the same greeting.

At the grand, seaside Hotel Del Coronado near San Diego, guests and staff have reported strange occurrences. A traveler who neatly placed his shoes and socks by his bed each night would awake to find them tossed across the room. In the gift shop, some say they have seen cocktail glasses fall off a shelf yet land upright and undamaged on the counter below. One of the most enduring supernatural legends is that of Kate Morgan, who is thought to have committed suicide on the property in 1892. Since then, witnesses have reported odd noises, eerie faces and the ghostly figure of a young woman in a black dress. Check into room 3327 for a possible encounter with Kate.

Henry Doherty was a minority shareholder in the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC, and in 1933 he moved into a suite of rooms here, living with his wife, daughter and the hotel’s executive housekeeper, who looked after the family. The daughter and housekeeper died suddenly and mysteriously, just a short time apart from each other. It’s said that after Mr. and Mrs. Doherty moved out in 1973, strange things started to occur at the hotel: TVs and lights would turn on at 4 a.m., housekeeping carts would move on their own and people reported feeling a breeze where there were no open windows or doors. One guest staying adjacent to the former Doherty suite complained of strange noises coming from next door, although the room was unoccupied. The Omni Shoreham has restored these accommodations and now calls it the “Ghost Suite.”

Haunted Attraction Association (HAA) was formed to align Halloween haunts and serve as the voice of the haunted attraction industry. HAA is the only official association in the haunt industry.

How did HAA come about? With the growing popularity in visiting haunted attractions in the past 25 years, the haunt industry is now approximately $300 million in size with an estimated 2,500 haunted attractions worldwide that entertain millions and employ tens of thousands.

The mission of HAA is to promote a network of haunted attractions including haunted houses, haunted hayrides, scream parks, mega-haunts, Halloween festivals, haunted outdoor trails, corn mazes and amusement park Halloween events.

HAA is based in Winnetka, Illinois and was formed in 2010 between a merger of the International Association of Haunted Attractions that was founded in 1998 and the Haunted House Association, founded in 2009.

Spokesperson: President Patrick Konopelski was quoted, “This industry is one of the most exciting places to be,” says Konopelski. “While it’s rise may have started with the increasing popularity of Halloween 20 to 25 years ago, there is now an entire extended Haunt Season, which starts in September and runs through November, that appeals to Baby Boomers and all ages.”

HAA offers numerous programs that allows its worldwide network of members to freely exchange ideas, information, experiences and concerns via educational seminars, conferences, exclusive networking events, message boards, tradeshows, newsletters, magazines and more.

In addition, the association advises the haunt industry on haunt safety standards to protect customers. HAA offers Certified Haunted Attraction Operator Seminar (C.H.A.O.S.) safety classes that provide a certification to establish haunts as a safe attraction.

Long gone are the simplistic days of just black walls, Halloween spook masks and cheesy plastic knives. Each year haunted attraction owners and operators spend millions of dollars on state-of-the-art special effects and audio animatronic creatures, Hollywood-quality makeup and masks, costumes, lighting gear, sound equipment and more.

Today, owners and operators are also influenced by video games and invest year-round in research, consulting experts and psychologists on how to create the best immersive, interactive experience.