The Betsy Hotel

Posted: 01.16.2020 | Updated: 12.03.2025

Formerly known as the Betsy Hotel, the Betsy-South Beach stands as one of Miami’s most luxurious hotels, where history is infused with this city’s contemporary artistic spirit. That’s not the only spirit that hangs out here, however. A tragic history going back to when Miami was unrecognizable has made Betsy-South Beach home to some ghostly guests. 

The night isn’t the only thing that comes alive at Miami’s South Beach. Join Miami Ghosts for a walk to some of Miami’s most haunted spots. Hear the tragic, bloody tales that have left their mark and brought forth the ghosts that linger within. A night of chills and entertainment is only a click away. Visit our site and book your spot today!

Take a peek at our blog for more haunting stories, filled with scares that will leave you coming back for more. 

Is the Betsy-South Beach Hotel Haunted?

A grim chapter in Miami’s history has made Betsy-South Beach a resting place for both the living and the dead. It’s not the only haunted hotel Miami is home to: 

• The Miami River Inn — A bed and breakfast in the South River Drive District, it’s also home to several terrifying phenomena. 

• The Biltmore Hotel — It was a precedent for Florida’s upper-class scene when it opened in 1926. It maintains the same status today, with a lot more of a ghostly reputation. 

History of the Betsy Hotel 

The Betsy Ross Hotel opened its doors in 1942, but not to the usual clientele. Soldiers filled the rooms as Miami Beach turned from its typical tourist paradise to a military training ground in the midst of WWII. The U.S Northern Command — to house their soldiers — leased all of Miami’s 332 hotels, the Betsy Ross being one of them. 

Miami’s booming return to business in the 1960s had a positive effect on the Betsy Ross. Anyone who was anyone in the entertainment world at the time flocked here. Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack performed at the Fontainebleau, Miami Beach played host to The Beatles to perform for the Ed Sullivan Show, as well as the new location for the Jackie Gleason Show. 

The Betsy Ross Hotel was added to the State Registry of Historic Places in the 1970s. It continued to bear witness to Miami’s ever-changing development until it entered its own new chapter in 2006 — a complete three-year-long internal renovation, maintaining its original historic (Florida-Georgian) facade. 

The Betsy Ross Hotel reopened as the Betsy-South Beach. A new shift in focus towards the arts also came with its new identity, earning the hotel an extensive list of accolades. It launched the Writer’s Room, which hosted over 1,000 visiting artists in the next decade. Additionally, the Betsy-South Beach became the founding home of the Miami Beach Classical Music Festival, among other notable events. 

The hotel expanded in 2016, connecting its original property to the former Carlton Hotel via an orb-shaped sky bridge. Today, Betsy-South Beach offers a little bit of everything for anyone hoping to take in what Miami is all about: amazing food, excellent hospitality, the arts, and, one might also add, ghostly guests. 

Hotel Hauntings 

Death didn’t wait overseas for servicemen during WWII. At least seven faced it on the grounds of Betsy-South Beach, often for more malicious reasons, such as bar brawls or run-ins with the mob. Tragically, more often, however, it was due to suicide, as they feared what horrors they would face overseas. 

Hotel guests have often heard the heavy thumping of boots marching through the hallways. Police have also been called to the premises to investigate the sounds of gunshots. They would come up empty-handed, finding no evidence that anything of the sort happened, except for one thing — a chair placed against the far corner, facing the window. 

The night shift has also been taught to ignore certain inexplicable activities: doors slamming on their own, unexplained cigar smells, and the phantom pokes and nudges at their backs as they walk down the hallways. Guests and staff alike would also often see stacks of coins or stones appearing before dawn under one of the hotel’s many ground-floor entrances and full-length windows. 

Diego

The strangest — and one of the most tragic tales — at the Betsy happened right after the housing bubble popped. The hotel became a haven for some who were hit hard by it, including a man named Diego Fernandez. As if it weren’t bad enough for him already (Fernandez was laundering money for the notorious cartel capo, Alvaro Lopez Tardon), he was sharing his room with a ghost. 

Fernandez was last seen screaming and ranting before he was found on the boardwalk on the other side of the road. He borrowed a Colt 1911 and ended his life, presumably from the stress of losing all his money to bad investments. There was no suicide note, just his notebook filled with bank statements and endless margin notations. 

The notations made reference to a man dressed in olive drab, who started appearing in his dreams. He saw the man level a rifle barrel into his mouth, take off his boots, and press down on the rifle’s hair trigger with his big toe. Fernandez wrote how he would dream of him at least once a day. 

It only got more terrifying for Fernandez. He would start hearing the gunshot everywhere he went: the shower, the car radio, even over his headphones while jogging. 

Haunted Miami  

The former Betsy Ross Hotel is more than just one of Miami’s most prestigious hotels. As one of its most historic vacation spots, it holds a dark, unnatural chill that goes back over 80 years. Soldiers filled its rooms, waiting to face certain death, while some would meet it by their own hand and refuse to check out of what is today, the Betsy-South Beach Hotel. 

The cries of the dead bleed into the vibrant conga rhythms and leave an unnatural chill hanging in Miami’s tropical night air. Join Miami Haunts for a spine-tingling journey to some of South Beach’s most haunted sites around, and learn what tormented spirits hide within their walls.

Stop by our blog for a quick read of other chills that linger across America, from cryptids and eerie mysteries to aliens and ghostly legends. Stay tuned for more frightening updates by following us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Sources:

• https://www.timeout.com/miami/hotels/betsy
• https://www.thebetsyhotel.com/explore/about-us
• https://www.timeout.com/miami/things-to-do/haunted-places-in-miami-nearby
• https://wejunket.com/junkets/Miami_Beach/Miami_Haunts/The_Betsy_Hotel/