Haunted hotel guide · St. Pete Beach, Florida

The Haunted Don CeSar Hotel, St. Pete Beach

Florida’s Pink Palace has a ghost in a white linen suit, a love story that turns out to be a marketing fable and a real past as a wartime hospital.

By The Haunted Rooms Team · Updated November 2026 · How we rate hotels

4.0/5Haunted Rooms Score
1928Year opened
Fifth floorWhere Rowe lived

Check availabilityMeet the ghosts

The Don CeSar rises out of the sand at St. Pete Beach like a pink wedding cake, and it has done so since January 1928. It is one of the best-loved hotels on Florida’s Gulf Coast and one of its best-known haunted ones. Almost every story involves its builder, Thomas Rowe, who died in 1940: a white-haired man in a white suit and Panama hat who greets guests in the lobby, strolls the beach or the gardens and is gone when you look again.

The romantic tale usually told with it, of Rowe’s lost love Lucinda, is less reliable than the ghost itself, and we explain why below. The hotel’s years as an Army hospital and veterans’ office are well documented, and some of the stranger reports date from that era. The Don CeSar reopened in March 2025 after Hurricane Helene flooded its ground floor, so this is a good time to visit.

The Don CeSar at a glance

4.0/5
Haunted Rooms Score
Haunted reputation4
History5
Ghost hunter access3
$$$ · Over $300Ghost tours or eventsHotel embraces its ghostsPet friendly
  • Address 3400 Gulf Boulevard, St. Pete Beach, FL 33706
  • Opened January 16, 1928. Designed by Henry H. Dupont for developer Thomas Rowe. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  • Most haunted spots The lobby, the fifth floor where Rowe lived, the gardens, the beach path and the kitchens
  • Best-known ghosts Thomas Rowe in a white suit and Panama hat, a dark-haired woman in period dress, a wartime nurse
  • Booking the haunted room No single room is named. Request a fifth floor room in the historic main building.
  • Good to know A $40 nightly resort fee, no free parking, guests must be 21 to check in, and pets are welcome in first floor rooms for $75 a night.

Check availability

The ghosts of the Don CeSar

Thomas Rowe, the man in the white suit

Rowe came to Florida from New York in 1924 for his health and bought 80 acres of barrier island for $100,000. He poured himself into the hotel, lived in it and died suddenly of a heart attack in 1940; a Tampa Bay Times feature in 2026 says he died in the lobby. Staff and guests have since described a white-haired man in a white linen suit and Panama hat, Rowe’s trademark outfit, who smiles at arriving guests or walks along the sand and disappears when anyone approaches. Some accounts mention the smell of cigarette smoke where he has been seen.

One often repeated story says that during a bridal magazine shoot, a man matching Rowe’s description warned the crew away from a dangerous ledge, then could not be found. Like most Don CeSar stories, it has no names attached.

The dark-haired woman and the Lucinda legend

Rowe is sometimes seen arm in arm with a dark-haired woman in period clothes, strolling the lobby or the gardens. The tour guides call her Lucinda. The legend says Rowe fell for an opera singer of that name playing the heroine in Maritana in London, that her parents took her home to Spain, that she died of a broken heart and that he built the hotel, named after the opera’s hero Don Cesar, as a tribute, complete with a copy of the fountain where they met.

It is a lovely story, and it is very probably invented. When Tampa Bay Times writer Lane DeGregory researched it in 2008 she found no record of a soprano called Lucinda in any production of Maritana and traced the tale back to the hotel’s own marketing department. The real Rowe married Mary Lucille, a Virginia landowner’s daughter, and the couple were estranged by the time he built the hotel. Mary inherited it when he died without a will.

The fifth floor knocks

Rowe lived on the fifth floor, and staff say a maid once refused to work there because of knocking she could not explain. Guests on that floor and elsewhere describe doors opening by themselves and showers turning on with nobody near them.

The kitchen worker's dishes

A story that has followed the hotel for years: a kitchen worker left a sink full of dirty dishes to take a break, and came back to find them clean and stacked neatly on the floor.

The hospital years: a nurse and airmen

From 1942 the building was an Army hospital and then a convalescent center for Army Air Corps airmen back from combat tours. Some guests say they have heard voices and footsteps from that era, and there are reports of a nurse in an old-fashioned uniform in the corridors.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

  • The lobby: Where Rowe most often greets guests, and where the 2026 Tampa Bay Times says he died. The couple in period clothes is also seen here.
  • The fifth floor: Rowe’s own floor and the scene of the knocking that frightened a maid. Request it when you book.
  • The beach and gardens: The man in the white suit and Panama hat walks the sand in front of the hotel. Walk it after dark and look back at the lit towers.
  • The kitchens and service areas: Not open to guests, but the source of some of the staff stories, including the mysteriously washed dishes.

History of The Don CeSar

Thomas Rowe opened the Don CeSar on January 16, 1928, after about two years of building. Architect Henry H. Dupont blended Mediterranean and Moorish styles, and the hotel was painted the bright pink that gave it its nickname. In the Gatsby years it drew guests such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Clarence Darrow, Lou Gehrig and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the Yankees stayed here during spring training.

Rowe died suddenly in 1940 and his estranged wife Mary inherited the hotel. In 1942 she sold it to the U.S. Army, which turned it into a military hospital and later a convalescent center for Army Air Corps airmen. After the war it became a Veterans Administration regional office for more than twenty years, and the grand interior was carved into offices.

The government moved out in 1969 and the building sat empty. When demolition was proposed in the early 1970s, a group led by local resident June Hurley Young formed the Save the Don committee. William Bowman, a Holiday Inn franchise owner, bought the property in 1972, restored it for $3.5 million and reopened it on November 23, 1973. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and became a founding member of Historic Hotels of America in 1989.

A multi-year renovation from 2018 refreshed the lobby, the restaurants and all the rooms of the main hotel. In September 2024 Hurricane Helene pushed 2 to 3 feet of storm surge into the building and the hotel closed for six months. It welcomed overnight guests again on March 28, 2025, with its electrical and mechanical systems raised above flood level. The Don CeSar was once branded as a Loews hotel, which is why older listings use that name.

Tips for a haunted stay

  • Take the history tour: hotel docents lead hour-long tours on Thursdays at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. for $35 a person, limited to 10 guests. The tour covers notable guests and hidden stories rather than ghosts, but it is the best way to see the old building with someone who knows it.
  • Ask for the fifth floor of the historic main building when you book, and avoid the separate Beach House Suites if the ghosts are the point.
  • Walk the beach after dark. The man in the white suit is usually seen on the sand or in the gardens, and the floodlit hotel is a spectacular sight from the water’s edge.
  • Budget for extras: the nightly resort fee and parking are not included in most quoted rates, and you must be 21 to check in.
  • St. Pete Beach ghost tours often finish at the Don CeSar. Our guide to haunted places in Tampa Bay covers the rest of the area.

More haunted hotels nearby

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 Don CeSar hotel haunted?

It has a long ghost reputation. Staff and guests have reported a man in a white suit and Panama hat, believed to be builder Thomas Rowe, along with knocking on the fifth floor, doors and showers that operate on their own, and figures from its wartime hospital years. These are reports and local legend rather than proof.

Who haunts the Don CeSar?

Mainly Thomas Rowe, who built the hotel and died in 1940. He is sometimes seen with a dark-haired woman the tour guides call Lucinda, and there are stories of a nurse from the years when the hotel was an Army hospital.

Is the Lucinda love story true?

Probably not. A 2008 Tampa Bay Times investigation found no record of a soprano named Lucinda in Maritana and traced the story to the hotel’s own marketing. Rowe was married to Mary Lucille, who inherited the hotel when he died.

Is the Don CeSar open after the hurricanes?

Yes. Hurricane Helene flooded the ground floor in September 2024, and the hotel reopened to overnight guests on March 28, 2025, after repairs and flood-proofing work.

Does the Don CeSar allow pets?

Yes. Up to two pets per room are allowed in first floor rooms for a nightly fee, according to the hotel’s FAQ.

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.

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.