Chances are you’ve stayed in a hotel where somebody died.  Over 146,000 people die every day around the world, so it’s safe to assume that at least one of those people was in a hotel when it was time to permanently check-out. 

However, the odds that the person who died in a hotel was someone famous are pretty low.  So low, in fact, that we only found 7 hotels where a celebrity died…

Chateau Marmont — Los Angeles, California

The Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood has historically been an exclusive hotel that caters to people who refuse eye contact with people like us.  Since it opened in 1927, celebrities such as James Dean, Judy Garland and Lindsay Lohan have stayed at the hotel.  But the only celebrity to never check-out was SNL star John Belushi.  If you’re morbid and wealthy enough to drop $1,800, you can stay in bungalow #3, where Belushi was found dead on March 5th, 1982, after injecting a speedball, a combination of cocaine and heroin.

Chateau Marmont
8221 Sunset Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90046
(323) 656-1010

Highland Gardens Hotel — Los Angeles, California

Another hotel, another death by heroin.  This time the victim was raspy-voiced rock singer Janis Joplin, who is most famous for her song “Mercedes Benz”, which is the last song she ever recorded.  On October 4th, 1970, Joplin was found dead in her hotel room at the Landmark Motor Hotel, which has since be renamed Highland Gardens Hotel.  Apparently she wasn’t the only one who died from this bad batch of heroin; several other customers who also bought from Joplin’s dealer overdosed that same week.

Highland Gardens Hotel
7047 Franklin Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(323) 850-0536

Hotel Samarkand — London, England

1970 was a tough year for rock.  Less than a month before Joplin died, electric guitarist Jimi Hendrix passed away at the Hotel Samarkand in Notting Hill.  He, along with Joplin, are part of the 27 Club, a group of musicians who all died at the age of 27 — Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison and Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones are also part of this group.  On September 18th, 1970, Hendrix was found dead in his girlfriend’s room, having choked on his own vomit after combining sleeping pills and red wine.  The building no longer functions as a hotel, but if you want to stay in the last room that Hendrix ever stayed in, book suite 507 at the Cumberland Hotel in London.

Cumberland Hotel
Great Cumberland Place
Paddington, London W1H 7, United Kingdom
0870 333 9280

Hard Rock Hotel and Casino — Hollywood, Florida

Celebrities dying in Hollywood, California is nothing new.  Celebrities dying in Hollywood, Florida is a different story.  It was there on February 8th, 2007 that Playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith died in room 609 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.  Smith accidentally overdosed on a combination of prescription drugs less than five months after her son also died from a lethal combination of drugs.

Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood
1 Seminole Way
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314
(866) 502-7529

Swissôtel Nai Lert Park Hotel — Bangkok, Thailand

Everyone knows Thailand is the place to go to fulfill crazy sexual desires.  But sometimes sexual deviance can get you killed.  Case in point: “Kill Bill”-star David Carradine (you knew the Bill was killed jokes would eventually happen).  On June 4th, 2009, Carradine was found naked hanging by a rope in a closet.  Turns out Carradine was really into autoerotic asphyxiation, the process of strangling or hanging oneself to increase sexual pleasure; it not only cost him two marriages, it also cost him his life.

Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel
2 Wireless Rd
10330 Bangkok, Thailand
(800) 637-9477

Stamford Plaza — Sydney, Australia

Remember that famous INXS song “New Sensation”?  Apparently the new sensation for lead singer Michael Hutchence was getting off before dying off.  He’s another victim of autoerotic asphyxiation according to his mistress, although the coroner says it was suicide and a journalist claims he was murdered.  In any case, the body of Hutchence was discovered by a maid in room 524 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Double Bay (now the Stamford Plaza) on November 22nd, 1997.  That poor lady better have gotten a free CD for her troubles.

Stamford Plaza Double Bay
33 Cross St
Double Bay NSW 2028, Australia
(02) 9362 4455

L’Hôtel — Paris, France

Oscar Wilde once lamented, “My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One of us has got to go.”  Wilde lost the duel.  The controversial author of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” died of meningitis of dubious origin in room 16 at Hôtel d’Alsace (now called simply L’Hôtel) on November 20th, 1900 at age 46.  Back then the hotel was rundown and dingy.  Today it is a popular 4-star luxury hotel.  Wilde may have been the first to go, but the wallpaper soon followed.

L’Hôtel
13 rue des Beaux Art
75006 Paris, France
33 1 4441 9900