[2] In 1915 the hotel made plans to add two floors on top of the six-story structure, but shortages caused by World War I meant that the work was never begun.

As the Kremlin had been damaged during fighting in October 1917 and was under repair, Lenin made his home in room 107 at the Hotel National with his wife for seven days.

The huge mosaic on the hotel's upper corner was replaced with a 120-square meter socialist realist artwork focusing on the industrial might of the Soviet economy.

[6] During World War II the hotel was home to numerous Allied delegations, including the group headed by W. Averell Harriman that visited in September 1941 and British Foreign Minister Anthony Eden in December 1941.

[citation needed] His Divine Grace, Srila AC Bhaktivedanta Swami, founder of the Hare Krishna movement, stayed at the hotel during his visit to Moscow in 1971.

[18] In late 1989, multiple scenes for the 1990 film The Russia House were shot in the hotel with stars Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Since reopening in 1995, the hotel has welcomed Jacques Chirac, Kofi Annan, Lech Walesa, Shimon Peres, and Donald Trump,[20] among many others.