Is the Cecil Hotel really reopening? And can you book a room there?

Sad news haunted hotel-loving travelers. The Cecil Hotel is reopening, has in fact, but not as a hotel.

It seemed like 2021 was the Year of the Cecil Hotel. And of Night Stalker Richard Ramirez. He was the feature of his own documentary, Night Stalker: Hunt for a Serial Killer, but he was also included in two docs about the Cecil at the beginning of last year, Ghost Adventures: Cecil Hotel and Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel.

Naturally, with the spotlight shining so brightly on it, a lot of people wondered if they could still stay at the Cecil.

At that time, no. It closed in 2017 and was in the process of undergoing renovations.

Men’s Health reported the new owner, Richard Born had acquired the hotel in 2014 and Simon Baron Development took out a 99-year ground lease on the property. The plan was to transform the building into a mixed-use development with 264 low-rent units and 299 hotel rooms.

I hadn’t seen any info about how the reopening of the Cecil was going until today when I spotted a story on Travel Wires. They reported about a new rebranding partnership between the owner and the Skid Row Housing Trust and that the hotel’s 600 rooms have now been refurbished.

But what did that mean exactly? Was it reopen to travelers?

Euronews shared a Tweet from 14th District LA City Councilmember, Kevin de León, from Dec. 14, 2021. It included a photo of the council member at a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating “the opening of 600 affordable housing units at the historic Cecil Hotel.”

Today, we celebrated the opening of 600 affordable housing units at the historic Cecil Hotel, proving that public and private partnerships can do great things when working together. pic.twitter.com/I4srO5kXxq

— Kevin de León (@Kdeleoncd14) December 14, 2021

So there you have it. The Cecil Hotel is reopened but it’s no longer a horror hotel. It’s been reborn as a housing complex with a noble mission. Here’s hoping this incarnation has more success and less tragedy than its previous ones.

Check-In

How do you feel about the Cecil no longer being a hotel?

Courtney Mroch

Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.

Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.