Haunted hotel guide · Key West, Florida
The Haunted La Concha Hotel, Key West
Key West’s first luxury hotel, the tallest building on Duval Street for a century, with ghost stories that ride the elevator to the fifth floor.
La Concha opened on Duval Street on January 22, 1926, as Key West’s first luxury hotel, and at seven stories it still towers over the rest of Old Town. Ernest Hemingway stayed here and is said to have written part of To Have and Have Not in one of its rooms, and Tennessee Williams is said to have finished A Streetcar Named Desire here. Long known as the Crowne Plaza La Concha, it completed a $35 million restoration and became La Concha Key West, Autograph Collection in late 2024, just in time for its 100th birthday.
Its ghost stories are darker than most in Key West. Tour guides say more than a dozen people have jumped from the roof over the decades. A young employee is said to have fallen to his death down an open elevator shaft on the fifth floor after a New Year’s Eve party in the 1980s, and guests report the elevator stopping on the fifth floor with nobody waiting, a figure pushing a cart along the hall and cries for help late at night.
La Concha at a glance
Haunted Rooms Score
- Address 430 Duval Street, Key West, FL 33040, in the middle of Old Town
- Opened January 22, 1926; restored and rebranded in 2024
- Most haunted spots The fifth-floor hallways, the elevators, the roof and the Hemingway Suite
- Best-known ghosts A busboy who fell down the elevator shaft, rooftop jumpers, and a ghost some guests take to be Hemingway
- Booking the haunted room No room is sold as haunted. Ask for a fifth-floor room near the elevators; the Hemingway Suite is one of the seven rooftop villas.
- Good to know 160 rooms, 14 suites and seven rooftop villas, with a Cuban-inspired restaurant, a lobby mojito bar and a pool bar. Part of Marriott Bonvoy.
The ghosts of La Concha
The busboy in the elevator shaft
La Concha’s best-known story dates to the 1980s. According to Ghost City Tours, a young busboy was helping clean up after a New Year’s Eve party when he backed into an open elevator shaft on the fifth floor and fell to his death. Why the doors were open has never been explained in the retellings.
Guests and staff since have described an employee pushing a cart along the fifth-floor hallway toward the elevator and then passing straight through its closed doors. The elevator is said to stop at the fifth floor with nobody waiting, and some guests report hearing cries for help late at night. Some versions call him a bellboy rather than a busboy.
The rooftop
For most of its life La Concha’s roof was the highest vantage point on Duval Street, and ghost tours say more than a dozen people have jumped from it over the years. The earlier version of this guide put the number at 13. Guests describe cold spots, voices, the feeling of being watched and figures at the foot of the bed that vanish, all attached by tour guides to those deaths.
The chardonnay drinker
One of the jumpers is said to have drunk a glass of chardonnay before he leapt, and his ghost is blamed for glasses of white wine that disappear from drinkers who look away. It is the kind of Key West story that works best with a drink in hand.
Hemingway's room
Hemingway is said to have stayed in the same room on his visits, and the hotel’s largest rooftop villa is now named the Hemingway Suite. Ghost City Tours reports guests in his old room waking to moving objects, a shaking bed, and lights, the TV and the bathroom faucet switching on by themselves, which some put down to the writer himself.
The most haunted rooms and places to look
- The fifth floor: The heart of the busboy story. Rooms near the elevators are the ones to request.
- The elevators: Ride them late at night and watch whether the car stops at five on its own.
- The Hemingway Suite: The largest of the seven Grand Dame Villas that now make up the seventh floor, with a copy of To Have and Have Not in the room.
- The roof: The 2024 restoration turned the entire seventh floor into rooftop villas, and recent coverage names a lobby mojito bar and a pool bar rather than a public rooftop bar. Ask the hotel what is open before you plan a sunset drink up top.
History of La Concha Key West, Autograph Collection
La Concha was commissioned by Carl Aubuchon and opened on January 22, 1926, during the Florida land boom, as Key West’s first luxury hotel. It had marble floors, a rooftop bar and, at seven stories, was the tallest building in town.
The good years did not last. The 1929 crash hit business hard, and the 1935 Labor Day hurricane destroyed the railroad to Key West. The Overseas Highway revived the city in the 1940s, but the hotel kept declining, and by the 1980s only its restaurant and rooftop bar were open to the public. Major restorations followed, and it reopened as a full hotel, later operating for years as the Crowne Plaza La Concha.
Its literary history is a big part of its appeal. Hemingway stayed at La Concha and is said to have written part of To Have and Have Not, published in 1937, in a suite here; a lobby plaque quotes the novel. Tennessee Williams is said to have finished A Streetcar Named Desire while staying at the hotel.
In 2024 the hotel completed a $35 million restoration of its lobby, facade, rooms and restaurants and joined Marriott Bonvoy’s Autograph Collection as La Concha Key West. It now has 160 rooms and 14 suites in a vintage Cuban style, seven Grand Dame Villas on the seventh floor, the Perla restaurant, the Tropicado mojito bar and El Dom cafe. The hotel celebrated its centennial on January 22, 2026, with a time capsule ceremony.
Tips for a haunted stay
- Ask for the fifth floor. No room is sold as haunted, but a request for the fifth floor near the elevators is easy to make at booking or check-in.
- Splurge on the Hemingway Suite. The largest rooftop villa is named for the hotel’s most famous guest and is where his ghost is said to play with the lights.
- Take a ghost walk. Key West ghost tours run nightly through Old Town, and La Concha is a regular stop on Duval Street.
- Search under both names. Older reviews and booking pages still use Crowne Plaza La Concha.
- Walk to the other haunts. Marrero’s Guest Mansion and several other haunted inns are within a few blocks.
- See our full guide to haunted hotels in Key West for more places to stay on the island.
More haunted hotels nearby
- Marrero's Guest Mansion: Key West’s best-known haunted guest house, a short walk away
- Haunted hotels in Key West: more haunted stays in Old Town
- The Biltmore Hotel, Coral Gables: Miami’s most haunted hotel, on the way to or from the Keys
- Haunted hotels in Florida
- Haunted hotels in Key West
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Frequently asked questions
Is La Concha in Key West haunted?
It has some of Key West’s best-known ghost stories, including a busboy who fell down the elevator shaft in the 1980s, ghosts linked to people who jumped from the roof, and activity in Hemingway’s old room. These are tour and guest accounts rather than documented events.
What floor is haunted at La Concha?
The fifth floor, where the busboy is said to have fallen down the elevator shaft. Guests report the elevator stopping there with nobody waiting.
Did Hemingway stay at La Concha?
Yes. Hemingway stayed at La Concha and is said to have written part of To Have and Have Not there. The largest rooftop villa is now the Hemingway Suite.
Is La Concha still a Crowne Plaza?
No. After a $35 million restoration it became La Concha Key West, Autograph Collection, part of Marriott Bonvoy, in late 2024.
Does La Concha still have a rooftop bar?
The restoration turned the whole seventh floor into rooftop villas, and recent coverage lists a lobby mojito bar and a pool bar. Check with the hotel for current rooftop access.
How old is La Concha Hotel?
It opened on January 22, 1926, and celebrated its 100th anniversary in January 2026.
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.
- Ghost City Tours: The ghosts of La Concha Hotel
- Key West Citizen: La Concha completes $35M renovation
- Lodging Magazine: La Concha celebrates 100th anniversary
- ConventionSouth: La Concha Key West unveils new rooftop villas
- City and Shore: Greetings from La Concha Key West
- Haunted Key West: The six most haunted hotels in Key West
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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