Room 1313, The Unmade Suite: Meet Odette “Dottie” Veil

Room 1313 · The Unmade Suite · Floor XIII

“Do not disturb. She's getting dressed.”

At nine o'clock, housekeeping reported two sheets missing from the linen closet. By ten, we had found them. They were at the party.

They were being worn, beautifully, by Odette Veil, who would like you to call her Dottie.

Fresh linens, please

Dottie had called down earlier in the evening to request fresh linens. We sent them up. We assumed she would make the bed. Instead she draped, pinned and gathered, and by the time the music started she had made herself a gown with a long, soft train that drifted a few inches behind her wherever she went.

She tied the finishing bows herself, deep purple ones, the color of a bruise-dark plum. She charged the ribbon to Room 1313.

Room 1313 was not there yesterday. It is there today. The key works. We have stopped asking how.

Do not disturb

There is a sign on Dottie's door that says she is getting dressed. It is almost always there. Getting dressed, for Dottie, is a long and serious process involving many layers, several bows, and a great deal of standing very still in front of a window, deciding.

She has a sleepy, half-lidded look, as if she has just woken from a very long nap, and in a sense she has. Do not be fooled by it.

She notices everything

Dottie sees the guest hovering by the punch bowl, pretending to read the label. She sees the one who keeps checking the door, and the one who came alone and is quietly deciding whether to leave.

Those guests tend to return to their rooms and find a little purple bow tied to the handle outside their door. Tucked into the bow is a note in soft pencil: an invitation to join her downstairs. Nobody who has found one has stood alone again for the rest of the night.

Front desk note: Missing two sheets. Guest looks wonderful.

Who would you leave a purple bow for? Tell the Front Desk in the comments, or better yet, go tie one on their door.

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Take Dottie home. Shop the Midnight Masquerade on Etsy Tees, prints and stickers from the Midnight Masquerade are a limited run, available until Halloween only. Every shirt arrives with Dottie's Guest Registration tag and a Check-out Slip from the Front Desk.

Join the guest list. The ELE Hotel opens its doors in December, and new guests are already on their way. Leave your name with the Front Desk to hear who arrives next: Join the Guest List

Every guest of the ELE Hotel is hand-drawn by Erika Erlenbach in her Everybody Loves Everybody studio.