One wintry evening last year, I checked in at Oklahoma City’s historic Colcord Hotel—not for a staycation, but rather for a cocktail. I was given a keychain at the front desk and escorted to a typical hotel room door on the third floor. Turning the handle unveiled a speakeasy, nicknamed “Dasher’s Den” for the holidays, decorated with candy cane pillows and shimmering baubles, with a snug cocktail bar in back.
Around the same time, I discovered Room 520 at Dallas’s Sova Hotel, when a friend was staying there. Disguised among the hotel rooms, the only way to find it is by asking for a code at the front desk. Those secret numbers, which change daily, unlock a door into an intimate space with lounge chairs, flickering candles, and intricate cocktails like one named Earth, made with mezcal, beet juice, lemon, and Skinos Mastiha Spirit.
“It’s the best feeling in the world when your guests tell you: ‘This is the best cocktail I’ve ever had,’” says Kyle J. Cordeiro, bar director and mixologist at Room 520, “or when they nervously ask if I could give them the recipe to their favorite cocktail I made for them, which I always happily share.” Saying he spends hours making infusions and syrups, Cordeiro is proud of the quality of cocktails fostered in the hidden hotel bar.
Though I’ve been to plenty of speakeasies before, something about these tucked-away spaces—in rooms typically reserved for private guests—felt like genuine discoveries. More intimate than other bars, hidden or not, these are spaces that are as cozy as they are innovative.
Once relegated to obscure closets and basements in the 1800s, speakeasies proliferated in the United States out of necessity during Prohibition in the 1920s. Now they’re back in vogue for new reasons, and as hospitality businesses dream up creative guest experiences, secret bars disguised as guest rooms offer a new option.
“We were inspired to open a speakeasy in a hotel room space because we wanted to reimagine what hospitality could look like,” says Shay Wolzen, marketing manager at Colcord Hotel. “There’s something inherently intriguing about stepping into a space you thought you knew, only to discover a hidden world behind closed doors.”
Down a hotel hallway of identical locked doors hides a bartender pouring rare whiskeys and cool cocktails—if you have the right keycard.
Courtesy of Four Seasons Hotel Chicago
Creatively decorated untraditional spaces, she notes, are becoming more sought-after, as guests crave experiences that feel unique and immersive. “It’s not just about aesthetics; it’s about storytelling and surprise,” Wolzen adds, noting that Colcord’s speakeasy sparked excitement for guests and locals alike. “As travelers continue to seek out spaces that break the mold, I see this trend not only continuing but evolving in exciting ways.”
Morgan Shirk, the creator of Room 520 and creative director at Sova Hospitality, says “speakeasy fatigue” helped stoke innovation. “A lot of more conspicuous bars are now calling themselves speakeasies, because it attracts a certain level of intrigue that a normal bar might not,” explains Shirk, who joined her twin brothers Blake and Brandon Shirk in conceptualizing the hotel brand. So when the siblings opened Sova, they subverted the trend by hiding a true speakeasy in plain sight—transforming a vacant guest room into a word-of-mouth bar with craft cocktails.
Hotel rooms-cum-speakeasies have emerged in other hard-to-find spots. At the Hyatt Centric Las Olas in Fort Lauderdale, once guests make reservations for Room Nine01, they receive a password via text message to share with the front desk. The hotel agent then provides an unmarked key that leads to a corner room transformed into a swanky Roaring Twenties–inspired speakeasy, bedecked with retro lamps and vintage artwork.
“The size of the room truly allows you to connect with people and get to know them in a small window of time,” says Lucas Derkatch, mixologist at Room Nine01. “I always say there are lots of places throughout south Florida to get a great cocktail and a meal, but the intimacy of Room Nine01 truly sets it apart.”
On the 46th floor of the Four Seasons Chicago, a corner suite contains the Mile High Cocktail Club. Guest begin at Adorn Bar on the 7th floor, where they are greeted with champagne to sip while accompanied up the elevator to the more exclusive space. (Walk-ins are welcome, but reservations are recommended.)
And overseas, Scotland’s Rusacks St. Andrews turned a former suite into an unmarked, velvet-draped whisky lounge called Room 116. It overlooks the world-famous Old Course golfing grounds; bartenders here pour rare whiskies from the Glendronach. The lounge can be booked online.
“Guests today want something that feels one of a kind, and hidden experiences like this really deliver on that,” says Giacomo Girolami, Food & Beverage director at the Four Seasons Chicago. “Of course, it takes the right space, the right team, and a lot of coordination, but when it works, it’s worth it.”
