13 Hotel/Motel Horror Book Recommendations
Hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, inns … whatever you call them, they are essential when you need somewhere to stay.
If you’re a weary traveller or a travelling salesperson, that cheesy neon sign you see up ahead might feel like an oasis. The sun has almost set, the light is dim, you’re tired, and you just want to stop for the night.
Don’t worry that it looks like something out of the 60s or 70s with its paint-chipped doors, creaky beds, bland artwork, and tiny bathroom. Don’t worry that your car seems to be the only one there. All you need is somewhere to wind down and sleep, at a price that’s not too steep, and this looks like it’s the only accommodation in town.
Who works at these places? Who owns them? Don’t worry about that either. Just check in and get a good night’s sleep so you can wake up refreshed and ready to go on your way tomorrow.
After all, what’s the worst that could happen?
If you enjoyed Stephen King’s The Shining and Robert Bloch’s Psycho, check in to these 13 hotel/motel horror books and be reminded why it’s sometimes better to stay at home.
Also see: 13 Hotel Horror Books Keen to Welcome You (2022)
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Table of Contents
The Eleventh Floor – Shani Struthers
Ghost hotel horror
Devastated by the deaths of her parents and disillusioned with life, Caroline is in America trying to connect with their memory. Travelling to her mother’s hometown of Williamsfield in Pennsylvania, she is caught in a snowstorm and forced to stop at The Egress hotel – somewhere she’d planned to visit as her parents honeymooned there.
From the moment she sets foot inside the lobby and meets the surly receptionist, she realises this is a hotel like no other. Charming and unique, it seems lost in time with a whole cast of compelling characters sheltering behind closed doors.
As the storm deepens, so does the mystery of The Egress. Who are these people she’s stranded with, what secrets do they hide? And, in a situation that’s becoming increasingly nightmarish, is it possible to find solace?
“Once visited, never forgotten, it promises to be a very special place indeed.”
The Lodge – Jeremy Eads
Supernatural bed & breakfast horror
A demon runs a bed and breakfast in southwest Virginia where sin never needs a reservation.
A guilt-ridden retiree, two little boys, and a pair of meth making cousins will challenge America’s most wanted black widow, a haunted southern town, and the Devil himself.
The quest for salvation will lead to the darkest parts of themselves as well as the beating black heart of Summit Valley, Virginia.
The Maple Lodge, a B&B where the turn down service is to die for.
“A town grew around the Maple Lodge, but townsfolk rarely ever stayed within its walls.”
You’re Always Welcome… At the Bloodridge Motel – J. Hunter Richardson
Vampire motel horror
Midnight check-ins. Disturbing blood stains. A family with a standing reservation for over a century. These are a few things you may deal with when burdened with inheriting a motel.
Every two years, a family of seven checks-in to the remote Bloodridge Motel. Situated along a highway known for its haunting history of disappearances and murder, the mountain-top lodging borders a national park dedicated to a labyrinth of mysterious caverns.
Regularly hosting road-weary travelers and tourists, the Bloodridge rarely receives repeat business, except for The Family.
When the motel is left to the founder’s last living descendant, the truth behind The Family and their unnatural origin is uncovered, one body at a time.
The reluctant owner’s decision to sell the motel sets in motion the unraveling of a decades-old mystery that begs the question, who are The Family and why don’t they seem to age?
“My family, like the motel itself, seemed to exist in a world that time had forgotten.”
Horror Hotel – Victoria Fulton & Faith McClaren
YA haunted hotel horror
When the YouTube-famous Ghost Gang – Chrissy, Chase, Emma, and Kiki – visit a haunted LA hotel to secretly film after dark, they expect it to be just like their previous paranormal huntings. Spooky enough to attract subscribers, and ultimately harmless.
But when they stumble upon something unexpected in the former room of a gruesome serial killer, they quickly realize that they’re in over their heads.
Sometimes, it’s the dead who need our help, and the living we should fear.
“i swear, this hotel is alive. I keep seeing things out of the corner of my eyes. shadows. faces.”
Seven Cleopatra Hill – Justin Holley
Supernatural hotel horror
For the idyllic mountain town of Jerome, Arizona, a blizzard is coming. A storm of such magnitude, the likes of which the town hasn’t seen in thirty years.
Nestled at the top of the mountain is the Jerome Grand Hotel, a historic inn rumored to be haunted. The perfect setting for both a romance writers’ convention and ghost hunter enthusiasts, alike. James Landes is neither, but his wife Victoria is a writer, and he’s hoping for a weekend away at her convention filled with sex, food, and fun.
But in this blizzard, there is more than snow and ice. There is an evil born from rituals of long ago, and only Jerome’s lifelong residents know how to stop it.
James never believed in the supernatural, but if he wants to make it out of this weekend alive, he will have to embrace it.
“Then he heard it again, nothing much more than a squeak, a rusty hinge perhaps. It reminded him of a gurney in a hospital.”
The Night Sister – Jennifer McMahon
Psychological motel horror
The Tower Motel was once a thriving attraction of rural Vermont. Today it lies in disrepair, alive only in the memories of the three women – Amy, Piper, and Piper’s kid sister, Margot – who played there as children. They loved exploring the abandoned rooms, until the day their innocent games uncovered something dark and twisted that ruined their friendship forever.
Now, Amy stands accused of committing a horrific crime, and the only hint to her motives is a hasty message that forces Piper and Margot to revisit the motel’s past, and the fate of two sisters who lived there in its heyday.
Sylvie Slater had dreams of running off to Hollywood and becoming Alfred Hitchcock’s leading lady, while her little sister, Rose, was content with their simple life. Each believed the other to be something truly monstrous, but only one knows the secret that will haunt the generations to come.
“Amy knows that if she thinks too hard about it she won’t be able to do what needs to be done.”
Endurance – J.A. Konrath
Supernatural bed and breakfast horror
The bed and breakfast was hidden in the hills of West Virginia. Wary guests wondered how it could stay in business at such a creepy, remote location. Especially with its bizarre, presidential decor and eccentric proprietor.
When the event hotel for the national Iron Woman triathlon accidentally overbooked, competitor Maria was forced to stay at the Rushmore Inn. But after checking into her room, she quickly realized she wasn’t alone. First her suitcase wasn’t where she put it. Then her cell phone was moved. Finally, she heard an odd creaking under the bed.
Confusion quickly turned to fear, and fear to hysteria when she discovered the front door was barred and the windows were bricked over. There was no way out.
One year later, four new female athletes have become guests of the Inn.
“Welcome to the Rushmore Inn. Once you check in… you’ll be dying to leave.”
The Bucket List – Mark Towse & Chisto Healy
Comedy bed and breakfast horror
A raging storm and a bed and breakfast off the beaten path.
Three couples looking to cross things off their bucket lists.
A night of puns, quips, and brutal violence, hosted by the sweet, mad, elderly couple: Marge and Alby.
“It looks quite nice.”
Guests – Kealan Patrick Burke
Supernatural hotel horror
After the death of the woman who raised him and the realization that the girl he loves will never love him back, young Mark Callahan decides it’s time to leave the small harbor town of Miriam’s Cove for good. All that remains is one last shift at The Windcrest Hotel, a seaside resort that has seen better days.
Tonight, with a ferocious winter storm bearing down on them, there are few staff and fewer guests, until a last-minute booking takes everyone by surprise. There’s a small yellow tour bus bound for The Windcrest and soon the hotel will find itself under siege by something much worse than the storm.
“In the end, it was the goddamn rolling pin that did it.”
The Inn – William Patterson
Supernatural bed and breakfast horror
The ramshackle B&B in western Massachusetts isn’t just an inheritance, it seems like the best chance for Jack and Annabel Devlin to save their marriage and start over.
But Annabel’s first impressions of the remote inn don’t ease her nerves. In fact, everything about the gloomy Victorian draws Annabel back into childhood nightmares.
Locals whisper about the Blue Boy Inn and its long history of murders and mysterious disappearances. Soon Annabel hears noises within the walls and glimpses something – some things – scurrying in the shadows.
The locked attic, the bricked-up fireplace: for years they’ve helped keep a ravenous evil at bay.
Jack and Annabel’s arrival has stirred the house to life again. Debts must be paid, hungers will be satisfied, and one by one, Annabel’s worst fears are about to come true.
“If you’re very lucky… They might let you leave.”
Only Psychos – Daniel J. Volpe
Extreme hotel horror
It was a blizzard for the ages. Two, massive snowstorms strike back-to-back, causing chaos in the Hudson Valley.
Anna, and her two children, are without power and the temperature is plummeting. Their situation seems bleak, but a break in the storm gives them a chance at salvation. Anna flees her home, hoping to find safety in a local hotel, but what she finds is madness.
Scott is a man on the run. His travel partner, Mary, is the quiet type, but that doesn’t bother Scott. The severed pinkie he keeps in his pocket is all the distraction he needs.
Jackie and Beau, two young lovers, and budding porn stars, have left their simple lives for ones of adventure. On their wild trek across the states, a blizzard puts a damper on their plans, forcing them into an old hotel. An old hotel with a violent and disturbing past.
The snow piles up and more guests continue to arrive… but who will see the morning?
Will the secrets in the basement remain hidden or will the years of torment be unleashed?
There are no normal guests at the Elk Dale Hotel… Only Psychos!
“She wasn’t going far, just wanted to talk with the boy and see if he had any toys he wanted to share.”
The Eaton – John K. Addis
Supernatural hotel horror
Sam Spicer purchases the dilapidated Michigan Central Railroad Depot in Eaton Rapids with the dream of opening a hot new martini bar.
But when he and his friends unearth an abandoned underground hotel directly beneath the property, they must discover what happened to the original guests – before their own time runs out.
“He became vaguely aware that there was now a new rhythm in the room, an even deeper pounding than his head, now a full syncopated timpani battle for domination of his senses.”
Creepers – David Morrell
Thriller hotel horror
On a cold October night, five people gather in a run-down motel on the New Jersey shore and begin preparations to break into the Paragon Hotel. Built in the glory days of Asbury Park by a reclusive millionaire, the magnificent structure, which foreshadowed the beauties of art-deco architecture, is now boarded up and marked for demolition.
The five people are “creepers,” the slang term for urban explorers: city archeologists with a passion for investigating abandoned buildings and their dying secrets. On this evening, they are joined by a reporter who wants to profile them – anonymously, as this is a highly illegal activity – for a New York Times article.
Frank Balenger isn’t looking for just a story, however. And after the group enters the rat-infested tunnel leading to the hotel, it becomes clear that he will get much more than he bargained for. Danger, terror, and death await the creepers in a place ravaged by time and redolent of evil.
The darkest secrets live in places you’re not supposed to be.
“Months later, he still would not be able to tolerate being in rooms with closed doors.”
Published: 3 August 2024
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