[2][3] Between 19–26 September 1939, the hotel served as Adolf Hitler's headquarters from which he went twice to the outskirts of Warsaw to oversee the invasion of the city.

Between 11–16 September 1966, the hotel hosted the 16th Pugwash Conference entitled Disarmament and World Security, Especially in Europe.

[4] On 13 December 1981, the hotel was the site of Operation "Mewa" (Seagull) carried out by the communist secret Security Service (SB) in which a group of Solidarity movement political dissidents was arrested including Lech Dymarski, Jacek Kuroń, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Karol Modzelewski and Jan Rulewski.

The Sofitel Grand Hotel is located at the seaside of the Gdańsk Bay, in the heart of the town and next to the beach.

In 2006, the Sofitel Grand Hotel was totally refurbished and modernized while preserving the classical atmosphere from the earlier period.