7 Modern Celebrities Who Lived in Hotels

Celebrity Style7 Modern Celebrities Who Lived in HotelsThese stars continued a trend started by legends like Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor

By Rachel Davies

March 31, 2022

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Past residents of New York City’s Waldorf Astoria include Cole Porter, Frank Sinatra, and Presidents Herbert Hoover and Dwight Eisenhower. The hotel is currently undergoing renovations which will be completed in 2023.Courtesy of the Waldorf Astoria

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The number of celebrities who lived in hotels—and the lasting popularity of Kay Thompson’s Eloise series—is testament to how convenient and luxurious a permanent check-in can be. With housekeeping, room service, and an on site spa, there are few more lavish contemporary lifestyles, save that of the royal family. The list of artists and actors who’ve holed up in a hotel for a year or three is a long one, from Old Hollywood bombshells like Marilyn Monroe who lived at the Beverly Hills Hotel for two years or Elizabeth Taylor who spent about a year at the Hotel Bel-Air, to iconic writers, like Oscar Wilde, who died while living at L’Hôtel in Paris or Tennesee Williams, who reportedly wrote his last play at New York’s Hotel Elysée. Wilde reportedly quipped “I am dying beyond my means,” after receiving a request from the hotel manager for overdue payment.

Along with the aforementioned luxuries that come with hotel dwellings, these legends have inspired a league of contemporary figures to try out the suite life. Below, we run through some of the biggest names to check in for an extended stay in recent memory.  

Kathy Hilton

Kathy Hilton at the Waldorf Towers in New York City in 1985.

Photo: Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

As someone who shares a last name with one of the largest hotel brands in the world, it’s only natural that Kathy Hilton has spent years of her life residing in a hotel. Hilton raised her four children, Paris, Nicky, Barron, and Conrad, in New York’s endlessly chic Waldorf Astoria, living in the Art Deco building’s Suite 30H for nine years in total, as she explained on the season 11 reunion of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. “It was very, very lovely,” Hilton stated on the episode. “We loved being in close quarters under one roof, except when Paris would sneak out of the service elevator.”

Robert De Niro

The Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Photo: Ted Soqui/Corbis via Getty Images

Chateau Marmont is perhaps the West Coast’s most legendary hotel for both long and short term stays, and even native New Yorker Robert De Niro was seduced by the now 93 year old Châteauesque-style structure. De Niro reportedly lived in Penthouse 64 for a couple of years in the ‘80s, a two-bedroom unit that includes a spacious living room, dining room, kitchen, and two bathrooms, along with a private terrace.

John Travolta and Kelly Preston

John Travolta and the late Kelly Preston spent large parts of the year living in Bermuda at the Pink Beach Club Hotel in the aughts and their love of the experience was so thorough that they were quoted in The Suite Life, a 2011 book about the experience of hotel living. Travolta emphasized the comfort of the thorough security provided by a hotel, compared with living in a private residence, while Preston most appreciated the communal aspect of hotel life.

David Beckham

David and Victoria Beckham, along with the two children they had at the time, lived in a hotel in Madrid back in 2003 when David was first transferred to the Real Madrid soccer team. The expense of the family’s nearly three month stay in a hotel drew tabloid attention at the time, though it seemingly hasn’t dissuaded them from the lifestyle as they reportedly tried out hotel living again in 2013 during a five month stay in Paris.

Keanu Reeves

Following in the footsteps of De Niro, Keanu Reeves lived in Chateau Marmont for four years, in the ‘90s and early aughts before buying his first house just before turning 40. It wasn’t exactly the glamorous scene you’d imagine, according to the actor himself. “It was a little run down. In room 21 there was AstroTurf. You didn’t really want to take your shoes off, but that was its charm. The Chateau Marmont became a kind of home: Thanksgivings, and Christmas, having friends stay,” Reeves explained in the 2012 documentary Sunset Strip. “It felt like my unsafe safe harbor.”

James Woods

The Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles.

Photo: robertharding / Alamy Stock Photo

James Woods, the Golden Globe award-winning actor known for his work in Once Upon A Time In America, The Virgin Suicides, and Videodrome, spent a few years in the early aughts in California’s other premiere hotel—the Beverly Hills Hotel, that is. Per NBC News, the hotel was particularly suited for long-term dwelling in the aughts because each room was equipped with a fax machine, printer, scanner, and private phone number, undoubtedly features that are enticing to eternally script-laden actors.

Bob Dylan

The Chelsea Hotel in New York City. 

Photo: John Lamparski/Getty Images

The Chelsea Hotel in New York City perhaps boasts the longest list of celebrity residents: Patti Smith, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Stanley Kubrick, and Bob Dylan all resided there at some point in the last half of the 20th century. More gritty than glam, the place was the perfect fit for the Bohemian musician who wrote his album Blonde on Blonde there in the ‘60s.

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