Originally called the Lang-Bian Palace Hotel, it was completed and opened in 1922, at the height of an economic boom, and was designed to be a site of colonial leisure and power.

[2] It initially featured thirty-eight luxury rooms, as well as an orchestra, a cinema, tennis courts, private fruit and vegetable gardens, a dance hall, riding facilities, gymnastic equipment and a French restaurant.

[3] When economic circumstances changed, later in the 1920s, most plans for government structures in Dalat were abandoned, leaving the town with a Palace Hotel as its monumental centerpiece.

In the early 1990s reclusive [8] tycoon Larry Hillblom set out upon a lavish restoration project - a rather plain dining room was converted into a grand restaurant for example, and the hotel was aimed at attracting high-end tourism.

Hillblom, (the 'H' of the DHL courier empire), invested around forty million dollars into reviving the hotel, that had languished since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.