A recent city break took an unexpected turn when a guest discovered her luxurious hotel was haunted — and she only found out during a ghost tour that ended at her own front door.
Ghost Tour Reveals Haunted Hotel
Maria Leticia Gomes was staying at the Fairmont Château Laurier, Ottawa's most iconic hotel, when she joined a haunted walking tour with The Haunted Walk. The group listened to local tales of ghostly residents, but the second stop was a surprise: the tour led them straight back to the hotel.
“We did not, in fact, expect the tour to walk us straight back to our own front door,” Gomes wrote.
The Tragic Story of Charles Hays
The tour guide explained that the Château Laurier was the vision of railway executive Charles Hays, who aimed to build Canada's grandest hotel. In April 1912, weeks before the hotel’s opening, Hays traveled to London to source furniture for the dining room. A chance encounter with the chairman of the White Star Line secured him passage home aboard the company's newest ship — the Titanic.
Hays reportedly helped women in his party into a lifeboat and stayed behind, convinced the ship was unsinkable. He went down with the Titanic. His body was recovered days later, floating in the Atlantic, along with the furniture. The hotel had to scramble to replace an entire dining room before its delayed opening that June.
Ghostly Encounters
Since then, staff and guests have reported strange encounters: furniture rearranging itself overnight, unexplained noises, and a presence many believe is Hays still wandering the halls he never saw finished. Others mention a child ghost near the old pool floor and one of the central staircases, as well as odd occurrences on the upper levels, once home to a radio station.
The guide noted that most reports happen on one floor — the fifth floor, where a friend of Gomes had her room. “That evening, we went back to our rooms on video call, just in case,” Gomes wrote.
Luxury Despite the Spirits
Ghosts or not, the Fairmont Château Laurier remains a top-tier hotel. It features an indoor pool original to the building, a well-equipped gym, a spa, and restaurants like Zoe's and Akira Back. The location is a major perk: Parliament Hill is a five-minute walk away, the Rideau Canal sits outside the front door (frozen into the world’s largest skating rink in winter, a scenic path otherwise), and the ByWard Market, with its restaurants, bars and nightlife, is close by.
Stays at the Fairmont Château Laurier typically range from $250 to $550 CAD per night (£140-300) for standard rooms. Air Transat offers direct flights from London Gatwick to Ottawa with return fares from £357 per person.
