[4] The hotel is named for its founder, William Balser "Bill" Skirvin, whose daughter, Perle Mesta, became the ambassador to Luxembourg under Harry Truman.

The process to return the hotel to life started nearly a decade earlier, however, when, in 1999, Oklahoma City Mayor Kirk Humphreys appointed a Skirvin Solutions Committee to evaluate whether or not the historic building could be saved.

In May 2002, Oklahoma City acquired the building from its current owners for $2.875 million and issued a request for proposals from potential developers late that same year.

Partners in Development, a firm put together by principal John Weeman, made a proposal to renovate the building for $42.1 million and to re-open it as a full-service Hilton operated by Marcus Hotels and Resorts.

The most notable examples occurred in 2010, when the New York Knicks famously blamed their loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on the haunting and when the Chicago Bulls reported doors slamming shut on their own and strange sounds outside their rooms.

[10][11][12] More recently, the Baylor Lady Bears, who were the defending National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I women's basketball champions, were put up at the Skirvin.

In January 2019, Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving announced that he was producing a feature film about the purported paranormal activity at the hotel.

[15] According to Steve Lackmeyer (who also co-wrote a book about the hotel) and Jason Kersey (both reporters from The Oklahoman), Skirvin was "a notorious womanizer and drinker" and the 10th floor was known for various incidents of gambling and other vices, but there is no real-life evidence corresponding to the "Effie" story: Skirvin's family did believe that he had an employee (his assistant and bookkeeper, Mabel Luty) who was also his mistress, but she outlived him.