The hotel is currently owned by Virginia Tech and operated under the Curio Collection by Hilton brand.

The hotel was designed by Philadelphia architect George T. Pearson in the Tudor Revival style and officially opened on Christmas Day, 1882.

[3] In July, 1898, a fire started in the kitchen which burned down the second and third stories of the 1890 main wing and shut down the hotel for several months.

In 1954, the same firm designed a small addition at the rear of the 1938 main wing, giving the hotel its present form.

A pedestrian bridge was also constructed over Norfolk Southern's railroad tracks to link the hotel and conference center to downtown Roanoke near the Wachovia Tower.

[8] In 1918 a party consisting of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs stopped at the hotel on their way north during one of their famous camping trips in the Southern U.S.[9] The first black guest at the hotel was the American gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, in 1964.

[10] Other notable entertainers to have stayed include comedians Jerry Seinfeld and Kevin Hart, the band Aerosmith, and singer Wayne Newton.