The Grand Hotel Royal, as it was known by its maiden name, opened its doors as part of the Corinthia group in April 2003. This was one of several resuscitations of the hotel, a success story of which not only the Maltese owners of the enterprise but Hungarians can also be proud. The current owners worked extremely hard to restore the Royal’s old grandeur, the Grand’s legend goes back as far as the 19th century.

The hotel first opened its doors to host visitors for the successful Millennium Exhibition in Budapest. A popular destination for visiting tourists, it also became a regular gathering place for local artists, writers, and journalists. Some, like Endre Ady, a famous Hungarian poet, were long-term residents.

The Royal was a sensation right from the beginning, and served as host to several special events. It was the starting point of the Hungarian cinema, where intellectual minds could watch the first screenings of motion pictures by the Lumière brothers. In 1909, the first Hungarian airplane the “Libelle” was exhibited in one of the hotel’s cour d’honneur. In 1915, the big ballroom was transformed into a cinema, which ran under the Royal Apollo Movie Castle name and had more than a thousand seats.

In the following thirty years the building underwent numerous changes including after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution which left its mark(s), and only in 1961 did it regain its function as a hotel.

Two years later a strange turn of events brought the Grand Hotel Royal back to attention of journalists around the world again. Jenő Rejtő’s famous pulp fiction Quarantine in the Grand Hotel seemed to come true in reality, when a doctor misdiagnosed the rash on a housekeeper’s skin as black pox. The authorities ordered complete quarantine for a month, trapping 800 guests in the hotel.  They organized balls every night thinking if they have to die then why not enjoy themselves beforehand. As it turned out, it was a medical error, much to the delight of all those in the hotel.

Later on history repeated itself and the hotel closed down again in 1991. For a long time the hotel stood deserted up until 2000, when the famous Maltese based Corinthia Group bought the building, and it took approx. 2 years to restore it to its current glory.

Corinthia Hotel Budapest is now again a beacon of style and luxury . The authentic French Renaissance design evokes an atmosphere of golden-age Paris, while 21st Century innovations ensure totally modern services, such as iPad registration of guests at breakfast for efficiency. The property also has the largest conference facilitiy of any 5* hotel in Budapest.

The hotel has a private 'club' that nurtures and nourishes what has been done in the past, preserving all the original traditions. This group published the first Royal Book in 2006, which has just been updated, and there is a magazine in which all the events and news about the hotel are regularly published.

This Budapest hotel has been described as having a kind of 'aristocratic delicacy', which makes it an extraordinary experience to visit either as a local guest or as a visiting tourist. All may enjoy the current exhibition about the grand history of the Corinthia Hotel Budapest.

By Timea Klincsek for XpatLoop.com

Related Article: 
Permanent Exhibition Opens In Corinthia Hotel Budapest