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North Korea's Ryugyong Hotel Gets a New Lease On its "Doomed" Life

Quite possibly the worst hotel in the world is the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea. This is not because the hotel is infested with bed bugs, or has crappy service, pay-for-WiFi or outrageous valet parking charges.

Nope, it's the worst hotel in the world because it has been abandoned for over 16 years with construction on the 105-storey pyramid-shaped hotel halted in 1992. It's never even hosted hotel guests. Oh yeah, and it's in North Korea.

Indeed, it's been dubbed "The Hotel of Doom" and the "Phantom Hotel." And if you think it doesn't look so bad, ugh. Check it in Google Earth.

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Tags: Political Hotels / Ryugyong Hotel / → All Tags

Ryugyong Hotel Spotted on Google Earth

[Publisher's note: dzot, a hotel maven with tenure around these parts, fondly recalls his first encounter with us, which involved our 2004 Best Hotel Villain. Enjoy.]

The first time I ever visited HotelChatter was when another site linked to this post about the surreally eerie Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea.

DamnIntersting.com has posted even more info about this travesty.

The hotel, which was once found on city maps before the construction even began, has now been completely stricken from the official maps. Tour guides usually claim not to know where it is. Either a majority of the country is in a state of denial about the whole thing, or they avoid the subject for fear of reprisal. Since the government's embarrassing monument is visible from practically every point in the city, it's most likely the latter.

In the comments someone provided a link to this striking sat photo from Google Earth.

Bad as it is, at least they can claim as many guests as Las Ramblas.

Related Stories:
·   2004 Awards: Best Villain [HotelChatter]
·   Ryugyong Hotel: North Korea's Not So Secret Hideout [HotelChatter]

Tags: Miscellaneous / Ryugyong Hotel / → All Tags

2004 Awards: Best Villain

HotelChatter 2004 Award :: Best Villain

Now we are not saying this hotel is evil, we have no idea if that is the case.  

What we are saying is if hotels were split into two groups, superheroes and villains, this hotel would be the leader of the villains.

Tags: Miscellaneous / Ryugyong Hotel / North Korea Hotels / → All Tags

Ryugyong Hotel: North Korea's Not So Secret Hideout

If Dr. Evil was a real person, he would need a real hideout, and that real hideout may very well be The Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea.

The giant dark monolith is 1,082 feet tall, has 105 floors, yet it is completely empty without a single window.

In one bloggers opinion the Ryugong Hotel is "the single most unsettling structure ever erected by the hand of man".

That same blog, Shape of Days, brings up a great question, which is why does Ryugyong Hotel exist in the first place? Certainly it is not to meet North Korea's mounting tourist demand. The hotel was designed to have 3,000 rooms, yet if every single Pyongyang area visitor booked a weeklong stay, the hotel would still be hanging a vacancy sign on the front door.

So why did North Korea build this not-so-secret-hideout-type structure? We agree with Shape of Days, gotta be national pride.

Unfortunately, looks like national pride gone terribly wrong. The North Korean's started this project back in 1987 and have spent around $750 million or 2% of the country's GDP on the Ryugyong Hotel.

Related Stories:
·    The Ryugyong Hotel [The Shape Of Days]