For Harry Potter’s birthday, we here at WHM wanted to do something different. While all the other articles in Gaming Convo are about video games (as the name suggests), this topic is not. Simply put, I want to discuss and pitch what the title indicates: a Hogwarts Hotel.
WHY NOW?
The idea for a Hogwarts Hotel has been floating around in my head for a long time, perhaps too long. However, two recent events have made me believe it is time for such an establishment to exist. The first of these events is the impending opening (at time of writing) of Star Wars Land in Disneyworld. According to what Disney has pitched us about their vision for the park, Star Wars Land could be the most immersive, themed amusement park to date. There, guests will be encouraged to take part in their own Star Wars story, which will be enhanced by your stay at the yet to be built Star Wars themed hotel. The goal of the park and hotel is to fully immerse guests in the galaxy far, far away.
The second event was the recent opening of the Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure rollercoaster at Universal. It proved that the Potter fandom is still very strong in the world. With people willing to wait up to 10 hours for a few minutes on a ride, those in charge of the Potter IP should be looking for more immersive Potter material to supply to the fans.
If fans are willing to pay admission to a theme park with numerous other quality rides but choose instead to wait ten hours for a single ride based around the Harry Potter IP, what’s stopping those in charge from making fully immersive Wizarding World experience far beyond what they’ve done so far? I was shocked when I searched “Hogwarts Hotel” online and found that the closest thing to it was a couple of Potter themed rooms in one hotel in the UK. How has this not been taken advantage of?
SO WHAT IS IT?
If you’re going to make a Harry Potter themed hotel, you have to go all in. What is the one place every fan of JK Rowling’s world wishes they could go to? Hogwarts. And what would you do at such a place? Well, let’s get into some specifics.
Firstly, the rooms would essentially be standard hotel rooms with Hogwarts House themed décor. They would not be as portrayed in the books and movies because a circular room with six or seven beds would just be a little awkward. As a guest, you would have the option to choose which house you belong to. The room options would naturally be Slytherin, the dungeons, Hufflepuff, near the kitchen, or Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, both of which are in towers (rooms with views). Now Slytherin might be the cheapest option as, well, you’re underground, but certain perks could be available to Slytherins that aren’t available to other houses in order to keep the prices the same. The reason there would even be rooms in a dungeon to begin with is to go for as accurate a Hogwarts representation as possible to give the guests the fullest immersion possible.
Another way to add to the immersive experience when it comes to the rooms would be the inclusion of the sorting hat. Guests could pay a flat fee, get sorted, and then get reimbursed if they are sorted into one of the “cheaper” houses. Now if all the rooms are set at similar prices, then the sorting hat could be incorporated into a more traditional wizarding manner. Or, if guests wanted to, they could simply bypass the hat all together if they wanted a more traditional hotel stay, however that would probably be very unlikely for people staying at Hogwarts.
From a business model perspective, the hotel should take the all-inclusive approach. When most people think of all-inclusives, they think beaches and booze. There are other all-inclusives in other locations, however, and those would be more the style Hogwarts would fall into. In fact, not many US based all-inclusives include alcohol to begin with in their all-inclusive prices. Secondly, an all-inclusive experience would add to the immersion. You wouldn’t be going to a Hogwarts Hotel to simply stay there and have your fun elsewhere. This is an argument to have it not affiliated with the theme park and instead make it its own unique experience. The idea of a Hogwarts Hotel is to get guests to go there so that they can do everything at the hotel and on the surrounding property, like at an all-inclusive.
WHAT'S INCLUDED?
The basics of room and board would be essential, obviously, but the main draw would be the experiences found inside the walls and on the grounds of the wizarding school. You would be able to explore the castle to your heart’s content. You could attend classes, get points for your house, or try to discover some of the school’s famous secrets. Maybe you want to take potions class in the dungeons, or perhaps you’d like to find the Philosopher’s Stone, or maybe you’d like to get to the Room of Requirement and see what treasures are gathering dust there. Your accomplishments can earn your house points and “breaking the rules” will lose your house points. A reward system can be implemented for the winning house, and the guests staying there, after a set amount of time. There might even be special events such as Quidditch matches assembled from the guests staying in each house, or perhaps even a Tri-Wizard tournament every now and then. Perhaps even Hogsmeade is close by and is available for exploration and shopping (whether it’s near the Universal theme park or not). You would also only be able to get to and from the hotel via Hogwarts Express, though admittedly that might be a bit too much of a budgetary stretch. The goal would be to have such a diverse number of activities and places to explore that no two stays would be remotely the same, unless guests would want it to be the same. Oh, and of course things would change with the seasons.
DOWNSIDES
To maximize the types of experiences that this sort of establishment would ideally provide, there might be a minimal number of days guests would have to commit to before booking their stay (perhaps a week). It would also require a lot of staff and technology to achieve the proper level of immersion for guests. However, I believe both of these things are doable and I also believe that the Potter fandom is so strong that these small downsides could be overcome. The market for such a thing is there and, if Star Wars Land is as successful as they are predicting, an all-inclusive type Hogwarts Hotel could be the next major IP themed vacation destination.
IN CONCLUSION
I have too much time on my hands. So this was a nice change of pace from video games. Are there any more ideas of things that could be done at a Hogwarts Hotel? Is it not as practical as my naïve brain thinks? Share all your thoughts and ideas in the comments below.