Haunted hotel guide · St. Petersburg, Florida
The Haunted Cordova Inn, St. Petersburg, Florida
A 1921 boom-era hotel in downtown St. Pete whose ghost is said to be a loyal butler who never stopped helping guests with their bags.
The Cordova Inn is the gentle end of Florida’s haunted hotel scale. It opened in 1921 as the Hotel Scott, a modest three-story hotel a block from the downtown waterfront, built for the winter visitors who could not stretch to the Vinoy or the Don CeSar. It has been through closures, renames and a full restoration, and in 2026 it opened a large new addition next door. Through all of that, staff say, one member of the old team has stayed on duty.
The story told by local ghost tour guides and repeated by front desk staff is of a butler or major-domo from the Cordova family’s years running the hotel, who is said to have died on the premises. Guests describe a man in old-fashioned dress who helps with luggage, and one front desk agent told the St Pete Catalyst about an unseen guest sitting on the bed in Room 305. Nothing here is grim, which makes it an easy first haunted stay.
Cordova Inn at a glance
Haunted Rooms Score
- Address 253 2nd Avenue North, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, in downtown St. Pete a short walk from the waterfront parks
- Opened 1921, as the Hotel Scott. Renamed Hotel Cordova in 1923, the Pier Hotel in 2001 and the Cordova Inn in 2014. A contributing building in the Downtown St. Petersburg Historic District.
- Most haunted spots Room 305, the lobby and front desk, and the hallways of the 1921 building
- Best-known ghosts The Cordova family’s butler or major-domo, said to still help guests with their bags
- Booking the haunted room Room 305 is in the original building. Ask for it when you book directly, or at least ask for a room in the historic 1921 building rather than the 2026 addition.
- Good to know The historic building has 30 to 32 rooms, many with original clawfoot tubs. A 65-room addition opened in April 2026. The Scott, the lobby bar, serves coffee by day and cocktails at night.
The ghosts of the Cordova Inn
The butler who still carries the bags
Denielle Kennett of the St. Peter’s Ghosts tour told the St Pete Catalyst that the Cordova’s spirit is the Cordova family’s butler, the major-domo, who died in the hotel and is still seen in full period dress. In her telling he is not aware that he has died and simply carries on with his routine: guests see a man carrying luggage and go up to him to ask for help.
“It’s never aggressive. It’s never negative,” Kennett said, and she described the building as having a naturally good energy. Staff interviewed by Axios Tampa Bay in 2024 told a similar story, pointing to the hotel’s longtime concierge, who they said died on the premises and still looks after guests. Whether he was a butler or a concierge, the idea is the same: someone from the old staff never clocked off.
The guest on the bed in Room 305
Front desk agent Kayla Bentley described going into Room 305 to inspect it and sensing someone sitting on the bed. When the door opened, she said, the impression vanished and the mattress rose back up, as if someone had just stood. It is the only room staff have named on the record, and the obvious one to request.
The spirit of service
The hotel itself treats the story lightly. Its own history page does not use the word ghost, but says local legend holds that a spirit of service from past decades still roams the foyer and hallways. That is about as close as a hotel gets to admitting it has a resident who is not on the payroll.
The most haunted rooms and places to look
- Room 305: Where a front desk agent sensed an unseen guest sitting on the bed. In the original 1921 building.
- The lobby and front desk: Where the butler is said to keep working, offering help with luggage.
- Hallways of the historic building: The hotel’s own nod to a spirit of service that roams the foyer and halls.
History of The Cordova Inn
The hotel opened in 1921, at the start of the Florida land boom, as the Hotel Scott. It was renamed the Hotel Cordova in 1923 and named for the Cordova family, who ran it into the 1950s. The three-story masonry building is in the Renaissance Revival style, with stucco scored to look like stone, an arcaded entrance of five keyed arches, a balustrade with urns and a projecting cornice. It was never meant to compete with the Vinoy, which opened on the waterfront a few years later; it was a comfortable, practical hotel for the winter crowds.
Business fell away in the 1970s and 1980s as downtown St. Petersburg declined, and the hotel closed in 1999. A local investor bought it, restored it and reopened it as the Pier Hotel in 2001, and the St. Petersburg Preservation Society gave the project its Restoration of the Year award in 2002. The building is a contributing property in the Downtown St. Petersburg Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The hotel returned to the Cordova name in 2014. In December 2020 it was bought for $3 million by New Hotel Collection, a Largo company led by Tommy Del Zoppo, Alex Hodges and Ron New. They renovated all the rooms with a Roaring Twenties look, hung photographs of old St. Petersburg in the halls and turned part of the lobby into The Scott, a bar named for the original hotel.
Because of the building’s historic designation, the original exterior had to stay untouched, so the owners bought the neighboring lots and built a new addition styled to match. Its first stage opened in April 2026 with 65 rooms, including family-size penthouses, taking the hotel to about 95 rooms, with a restaurant and rooftop bar planned to follow. The ghost stories all belong to the 1921 building.
Tips for a haunted stay
- Ask for the historic building. Rooms in the 2026 addition are bigger, but the clawfoot tubs and the stories are in the original 1921 hotel. Request Room 305 by number.
- Say yes if a man offers to help with your bags. Then check whether he works there.
- Walk to the Vinoy. The Vinoy, with its ballplayer ghost stories, is a few minutes’ walk away, and its lobby is open for a drink.
- Take the downtown ghost tour. St. Petersburg’s walking ghost tours include the Cordova and the Vinoy among their stops.
- Check the event calendar. Downtown St. Pete fills up for festivals and the Grand Prix weekend, and prices rise with it.
More haunted hotels nearby
- The Vinoy, St. Petersburg: a five-minute walk, with ghost stories from visiting baseball teams
- The Don CeSar, St. Pete Beach: the Pink Palace and its lovelorn founder, about 20 minutes away
- Cuban Club, Ybor City: Tampa’s most famous haunted building, across the bay
- Haunted hotels in Florida
- Haunted places in Tampa Bay
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 Cordova Inn in St. Petersburg haunted?
Staff and local ghost tour guides say so. The story is of a butler or concierge from the hotel’s early decades who died there and still helps guests with their bags, and a front desk agent has described an unseen guest sitting on the bed in Room 305. These are personal accounts, not proof.
Which room is haunted at the Cordova Inn?
Room 305, in the original 1921 building, is the room staff have named. The lobby and front desk are where the butler is said to appear.
What was the Cordova Inn called before?
It opened as the Hotel Scott in 1921, became the Hotel Cordova in 1923, reopened as the Pier Hotel in 2001 and became the Cordova Inn in 2014.
Is the Cordova Inn ghost scary?
No. Everyone who tells the story describes a friendly, helpful presence. A local ghost tour guide said it is never aggressive or negative.
How far is the Cordova Inn from the Vinoy?
About a five-minute walk, so you can visit both haunted hotels in one evening.
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.
- The Cordova Inn: History
- Clio: Cordova Inn
- St Pete Catalyst: Where ominous shadows lurk in the Sunshine City
- Axios Tampa Bay: Get into spooky season with these haunted Florida hotels
- St Pete Catalyst: New owner updates historic Cordova Inn
- St. Pete business news: Cordova Inn expands with new rooms (2026)
Get new haunted hotel guides by email
New guides, haunted hotel picks and ghost hunt dates near you. No spam, unsubscribe any time.
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.
Booking links on this page are affiliate links. If you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.