Hotel

The series was based on Arthur Hailey's 1965 novel Hotel, which had previously inspired a 1967 feature film; the setting was changed from New Orleans to a fictitious hotel in San Francisco.

Establishing shots of the St. Gregory Hotel were filmed at the real Fairmont San Francisco atop Nob Hill, and some pilot interiors were also shot there.

Once the series was picked up, a three-quarter-scale replica of the Fairmont's lobby was built at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank for ongoing production.

Bette Davis appeared in the pilot as hotel owner Laura Trent and was originally announced to be a series regular, but ill health forced her to withdraw.

After Davis left, Anne Baxter was brought in as Victoria Cabot, Mrs. Trent's sister-in-law; Baxter had famously played Davis's rival in the 1950 film All About Eve.

When Davis's health later improved, producers considered bringing her back, but since Baxter had already taken on the matriarchal role, Davis's character was kept off-screen for the rest of the series, only ever mentioned but never seen again.

Real-life married couple Michael Spound and Heidi Bohay played young couple Dave and Megan Kendall, a bellhop and desk clerk respectively.

The opening title theme music was composed by Henry Mancini.

Like Aaron Spelling's other ABC series The Love Boat, Hotel relied heavily on recognizable guest stars, but tackled more serious and controversial subjects such as abortion, infidelity, rape, suicide, AIDS, homophobia, spousal abuse and child molestation.

In 2003, Aaron Spelling attempted to remake the show two decades after the original premiere; a pilot starring Michael Jai White and Christina Vidal was shot for UPN, but the network passed on it.