When you pay money to spend the night at a hotel, you’re typically looking for a pleasant experience. You don’t always get one, mind you, but it’s always the hope. The team behind Kraken Rum, however, is going the complete opposite direction this Halloween over in London, offering up an experience that promises “the first hotel to guarantee a sleepless night”.
Essentially, the unique pop-up experience for Halloween fuses the haunted attraction with the bed & breakfast, and it’s fittingly been dubbed the “Dread & Breakfast” experience.
From the press release, here’s everything you need to know…
“The Kraken Dread & Breakfast is an immersive horror experience and the centrepiece of the rum brand’s annual ‘Screamfest’ extravaganza, now in its fifth year.
“From 28th until 30th October, guests will be deliberately kept awake through a host of horror tactics, such as crank phone calls, banging on the walls, blood-curdling screams and even uninvited visitors entering their rooms in the early hours.
“Only a select few will be chosen to spend a night at the immersive ‘D&B’, but hundreds can visit the hotel’s bar, enjoy themed Kraken cocktails and explore the dilapidated hotel for the damned. The horror hotel will be open to visit at 7pm – 11pm from Thursday 28th October until Saturday 30th October. Each night a handful of visitors will be selected to stay in a hotel room and endure a night of sustained terror and sleeplessness.
“The ‘D&B’ is located in an old, abandoned and exceptionally creepy building in London. The story goes that it is infested with the restless and malevolent souls of mariners that survived an ocean encounter with the Kraken itself. Living through a meeting with the elusive Beast, and staring into its darkest of souls, was a curse for these sailors, each of them becoming evil incarnate once they reached dry land. One-by-one they were carefully captured and sent to the building to be locked-up forever. Today, many years later, the fearless Kraken Hunter, whose sole mission is to track down the Beast, has heard tale of this location and its damned residents. They believe communion with these spectres will help them track down the Beast on the high seas, but that in itself may be a horror unlike any other.
“Every guest that spends a night at the Dread & Breakfast will take on the role of the Kraken Hunter’s assistant and make it their aim to discover the Beast’s last known whereabouts – by willingly putting themselves through a heart-stopping evening of close encounters of the dead kind.
“Being an unconventional hotel people cannot simply book a room at the D&B as they would a regular guesthouse. Only those fearless enough will be allowed to check-in for a night of sustained terror and sleeplessness. To that end, each evening 140 people will be invited to visit the hotel, where they will first enjoy the calm before the spectral storm in the form of Kraken cocktails at the hotel bar and live music from the house band Thankful We Are Dead. Soon after, visitors will be given the chance to explore the hotel under the guidance of the Kraken Hunter’s crew, daring to navigate its most accursed corridors and revenant-filled rooms.
“Those ghost-hunting visitors deemed to have what it takes to brave prolonged encounters with poltergeists will be invited to spend the night at the hotel – so all visitors are advised to bring along an overnight bag, should they be selected.
“The Dread and Breakfast hotel is located at 10 Lancaster Gate and will be open for for three sleepless nights from Thursday 28th October to Saturday 30th October. All those bidding for an overnight stay can enter from 7pm until 11pm. Each ticket to visit the hotel will cost £10 and includes one free Kraken cocktail. Chosen residents will go to their rooms at 11pm and will check-out with their bags (both for clothes and under their eyes) and frayed nerves at 9am the following morning.”
Anyone that thinks they are fearless enough to manage a trip to the Dread & Breakfast can book tickets here: https://www.universe.com/events/6NJDP9