The hotel is one of the most notable historic monuments of the Royal Route (Polish: Trakt Królewski) and remains among the few landmarks of Warsaw which emerged relatively unscathed from the city's near total destruction during World War II.

The Hotel Bristol was constructed from 1899-1900 on the site of the Tarnowski Palace by a company whose partners included Polish pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski.

The City of Warsaw took over operation of the hotel in 1947 and it was nationalized in 1948 and joined the state-run Orbis chain in 1952, exclusively serving visitors from abroad.

[9] By the 1970s its outdated facilities had seen it demoted to a second class ranking by the government and the hotel was donated by Prime Minister Piotr Jaroszewicz to the University of Warsaw in 1977 to eventually serve as their library.

After the fall of Communism in 1989, the hotel was finally completely restored to its former glory from 1991-1993, with the original interiors of the public rooms recreated to match the 1901 designs.