Haunted hotel guide · Vancouver, British Columbia
The Haunted Fairmont Hotel Vancouver: The Lady in Red of the 14th Floor
Vancouver’s copper-roofed castle on West Georgia Street has one famous resident ghost: a glamorous woman in a red gown who is said to glide along the 14th floor and straight through closed elevator doors.
The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver opened in May 1939, just in time for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth’s royal tour, and for most of the decades since it has been the city’s grandest address. It is also the hotel most Vancouver ghost walks stop outside. Guests, engineers and front-desk staff have told stories about the Lady in Red, a well-dressed woman who appears on the 14th floor, in the lobby and at the elevators, then vanishes.
This guide covers who she is said to be, the best-known sightings, what the record does and does not show, the real history of the building, and how to plan a stay if you want to walk the 14th floor yourself. Hotel staff who have spoken to the press describe her as a friendly ghost, so this is a gentle haunting rather than a frightening one.
Hotel Vancouver at a glance
Haunted Rooms Score
- Address 900 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 2W6, Canada
- Opened May 28, 1939, the third hotel in the city to carry the name
- Most haunted spots The 14th floor, the elevators, the lobby and the former Panorama Roof ballroom
- Best-known ghosts The Lady in Red, said to be socialite Jennie Pearl Cox; a man in a fedora
- Booking the haunted room There is no single haunted room. Ask for a room on the 14th floor when you book
- Good to know Pet friendly, with a resident Labrador ambassador; Fairmont Gold lounge; steps from Robson Street and the Vancouver Art Gallery
The ghosts of Fairmont Hotel Vancouver
The Lady in Red
Vancouver’s best-known ghost is said to be Jennie Pearl Cox, a 1940s socialite who loved the hotel’s ballroom events. Local legend says she died in a car accident in 1944, close to the hotel’s doors, and in some tellings her husband and daughter died with her. Ever since, so the story goes, she has stayed on at the hotel she enjoyed in life, dressed for a party in a red gown.
Most sightings are on the 14th floor. Guests describe a young woman in red walking the corridor ahead of them and turning a corner, only for the hallway beyond to be empty. She has also been reported in the ground-floor lobby and in guest rooms. One story told by Ghosts of Vancouver and repeated by CTV News is that a family visiting from Japan found a woman in their room and phoned the front desk to ask whether the room had been double-booked.
It is worth saying plainly that we have not found a contemporary record of a Jennie Pearl Cox dying outside the hotel. The name and the car crash come from local ghost lore and walking tours, so treat her identity as part of the legend.
Through the elevator doors
The elevators are the other half of the story. BC Magazine reported in 2015 that a member of the hotel’s engineering team saw a young woman in a red dress appear and walk straight through a closed elevator door. Forbidden Vancouver’s Will Woods, writing for Daily Hive, said staff joke that guests should not try to follow her.
Guests and earlier versions of this guide also describe elevators stopping on the 14th floor when nobody has pressed the button, and the doors opening onto an empty hallway. In an old building with heavy use that has an ordinary explanation, but it is the story most guests ask about.
A light in the night
Concierge David Reid, who had worked at the hotel for 13 years, told Daily Hive in 2017 that he had never seen the Lady in Red himself. Early in his career, though, he stayed overnight in the hotel and woke at about 3 a.m. to find his bathroom light switched on. He put it down to her, and added that the hotel thinks of her as a friendly ghost.
The man in the fedora
The Lady in Red is not the only figure in the stories. A housekeeper vacuuming the old Panorama Roof restaurant after closing is said to have looked up and seen a well-dressed man in a fedora. Something about him looked wrong: he appeared to be in black and white. When she looked again he was gone. Nobody has put a name to him.
The 2017 window photo
In May 2017 a man posted a photo of the hotel on Twitter and said the Lady in Red could be seen in a window near the top of the building. CTV Vancouver went to look and found something red in an upper-floor window that seemed to be a curtain or a renovation tarp, as the hotel was being renovated at the time. The Fairmont did not comment. It is a good example of how the legend keeps renewing itself.
The most haunted rooms and places to look
- The 14th floor: The center of the legend. The floor was restored to its original 1939 look during the 2014 to 2018 renovation, with harewood doors, bronze door plates and sapele-paneled walls at the elevator lobby, so it is worth seeing even if nothing happens.
- The elevators: Where the Lady in Red is said to pass through closed doors, including on the ground floor. Late evening, when the hotel is quiet, is when most guests try them.
- The lobby: Open to everyone and the second most common place for sightings. A drink at the lobby bar is the easy way to visit if you are not staying.
- Fairmont Gold floors: The hotel’s club level, with its own lounge and check-in. Not linked to the ghost stories, but a comfortable way to stay in the older part of the building.
History of Fairmont Hotel Vancouver
The present hotel is the third Hotel Vancouver. The first two, built by the Canadian Pacific Railway, stood a little to the southeast on West Georgia Street. Plans for a new railway hotel on this site began in the 1920s with the Canadian Northern Railway, and its successor Canadian National took them on as part of a deal with the city: Vancouver prepared the False Creek flats for rail yards and Pacific Central Station, and the railway promised a large downtown hotel.
Construction started around 1928 to 1929, but the Great Depression stopped work soon after the steel frame went up, and the skeleton stood unfinished for years. Work resumed in 1937, and in 1938 Canadian National joined with Canadian Pacific to finish the building. Crews hurried to complete it for the 1939 royal tour, and it opened on May 28, 1939. Canadian Pacific closed the older Hotel Vancouver rather than compete with its new partner, and the old building was torn down in 1949.
Architects John Smith Archibald and John Schofield designed it in the chateau style of Canada’s grand railway hotels: carved stone over a steel frame, a steep copper roof with dormers, gargoyles and relief sculptures by artists including Charles Marega and Beatrice Lennie. At 17 floors it was the tallest building in Vancouver until 1972. From 1940 bandleader Dal Richards played the Panorama Roof ballroom, with a 13-year-old Juliette singing in the band, and CBC radio broadcast from the hotel.
Canadian National took full ownership in 1962, and Hilton managed the hotel for CN from 1964 to 1984 without ever branding it a Hilton. Canadian Pacific Hotels bought it in 1988, and when that company became Fairmont in 2001 the building became the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. It has changed owners since but is still run by Fairmont. A renovation from 2014 to 2018, timed for its 80th birthday, refreshed the lobby and guest rooms and restored the 14th floor. Television fans may know the exterior as the Tipton Hotel from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.
Tips for a haunted stay
- Ask for a room on the 14th floor when you reserve and confirm it a few days before arrival. It is a request, not a guarantee.
- Walk the 14th-floor corridor and ride the elevators late in the evening, when the hotel is at its quietest.
- Have a drink in the lobby even if you are staying elsewhere: it is one of the places she has been reported.
- Book a Vancouver ghost walk for the same evening; several local tours stop at the hotel and tell the Lady in Red story.
- The hotel is pet friendly, with a nightly pet fee, so you can bring the dog along.
- Stayed on the 14th floor? Tell us what happened using the form below.
More haunted hotels nearby
- Fairmont Empress, Victoria: a ferry ride away, with its own chambermaid ghost
- Fairmont Banff Springs, Alberta: the ghost bride and Sam the bellman
- James Bay Inn, Victoria: Emily Carr’s birthplace and a haunted Victoria favorite
- Haunted places in Canada: more Canadian ghost stories
- Haunted hotels in Canada
Stayed in one of these hotels? Tell us what happened
We collect first-hand accounts from guests and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your stay. We read every story before it’s published.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver haunted?
It has a long-standing reputation. Guests and staff, including a member of the engineering team, have reported a woman in a red dress on the 14th floor, in the lobby and passing through elevator doors. The stories are local legend; nothing in the record proves a haunting.
Who is the Lady in Red at the Hotel Vancouver?
Local legend says she is Jennie Pearl Cox, a 1940s socialite who attended the hotel’s ballroom events and died in a car accident near the hotel, often dated to 1944. We have not found a contemporary record confirming the details.
What floor is haunted at the Hotel Vancouver?
The 14th floor. Most sightings of the Lady in Red are reported there, and guests say elevators sometimes stop on 14 without being called.
Can you request a room on the 14th floor?
Yes. There is no single haunted room, but you can ask for a 14th-floor room when you book and call ahead to confirm.
When was the Hotel Vancouver built?
Work began around 1928, stopped during the Depression and resumed in 1937. The hotel opened on May 28, 1939, for the royal tour of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
Is the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver pet friendly?
Yes. Pets are welcome for a nightly fee, and the hotel has its own Labrador ambassador.
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.
- Wikipedia: Hotel Vancouver
- Daily Hive: Haunted Vancouver, Hotel Vancouver and its glamorous Lady in Red (2017)
- CTV News: Man claims to have spotted ghostly Lady in Red at Vancouver hotel (2017)
- BC Magazine: Visit these 7 haunted places in Vancouver (2015)
- Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (official site)
- Slice: haunted hotels in Canada
- CTV News: Spooky Canada, 25 places with a haunted history (2026)
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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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