[1] The hotel was built in 1900 in the eclectic style with elements of Art Nouveau and Gothic Revival architecture on the site of former Cafe Central.

[3] The hotel is located opposite the Katowice historic train station and in the 1930s it housed the Orbis travel agency, restaurants, cafes, hairdersser's studio as well as the Kaftal lottery hall.

During World War II, the hotel building was taken over and managed by the Germans.

After he war, the hotel was the seat of such institutions as PKO Bank Polski and Polish Press Agency.

[4] Among the prominent guests of the hotel are Jan Kiepura, Arthur Rubinstein, Josephine Baker,[5] Karol Szymanowski, Eugeniusz Bodo, Marta Eggerth,[6] Deep Purple, Woody Allen, David Beckham[7] and Paris Hilton.