The "hotel of death" worth almost 2 billion dollars has never had a guest stay there

There is a building in the world that is considered the most doomed of all, but it doesn't have dirty sheets, terrible food, or one-star reviews. SSPDaily learned more about this place.

We are talking about the Ryugyong in North Korea. It is different from the usual terrible hotel because it has never received guests before, ladbible.com writes.

The hotel is located in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, and the project was started in 1987, with the original plan to open in 1989, which was to coincide with the World Youth and Student Festival.

The record for the world's tallest hotel belonged to a South Korean company, and the Ryugyong was supposed to break that record, but it fell behind schedule. The pyramid-shaped building has 105 floors, as well as 3,000 rooms and five restaurants. But progress in construction has stalled over the years.

It reached its planned height in 1992, but as North Korea was approaching an economic crisis, construction was halted. Even the crane was left on the roof.

For the next 16 years, the hotel stood empty, and its bare concrete facade loomed over the surrounding buildings. It was at this time that the formidable building was nicknamed the "hotel of death."

After a long break, the crane was dismantled and the hotel was veneered with metal and glass.

At the end of 2012, the German hotel group Kempinski announced that it would partially open the Ryugyong Hotel under its management next year. However, a few months later, the company withdrew from the game.

More than 30 years after the work began, the hotel is still not open to guests, although one person who has visited the building made it clear that it is not exactly a welcoming situation.

Simon Cockerell, general manager of a company specializing in tours of North Korea, told CNN:

"They took us to the lobby where there was a lot of exposed cement. Then we took an elevator upstairs. I think it was the 99th floor. It took us a long time to get there because it was a service elevator, not a modern elevator with a series of buttons. There was an elevator operator who determined where to stop. At the top, we looked around, took a few photos and went back down to the lobby."

Further work was done on the hotel in 2018, when it was fitted with LED lights to make it look nicer and a sign with the name on it. However, it is not yet open for booking.