The Fast Food-Themed Hotel That Was A Total Disaster

Although it's still one of the most successful restaurant chains in human history, McDonald's has had its share of swings and misses. The Arch Deluxe is known as its biggest failure, and it's best not to ask what happened to McDonald's pizza. But although it's fairly obscure, there may be no flop more bizarre than the Golden Arch Hotel, a short-lived attempt at a McDonald's-themed hotel, which sounds like something out of a Paul Verhoeven science fiction movie.

The story begins in Switzerland, of all places. In the late '90s, Urs Hammer, the chairman of McDonald's Switzerland at the time, was urged by corporate headquarters to come up with novel proposals for diversification — and by gum, he gave them one. As outlandish as the idea may seem, it's not completely off the wall. Hotels, after all, can be a very lucrative industry – as Donald Trump (a known McDonald's lover) can attest. 

Zurich, where the first Golden Arch Hotel was built, was one of the world's most important financial hubs, meaning there would be plenty of wealthy international visitors who might want to give this unusual hotel a try. This was the late '90s and early 2000s — a time when this kind of limitless blue-sky thinking was encouraged. (Remember Microsoft's Smart Home?)

The first problem with the Golden Arch Hotel — which had two locations that opened in spring 2001 — was the most obvious: People did not want to stay at a McDonald's hotel. McDonald's is where you get a cheap burger and fries, not where you go to spend on four-star accommodations on your business trip to Zurich. Can you imagine giving a presentation to UBS board members before returning to your hotel room in McDonald's Land? Get out of town! 

Despite what you might imagine when you're asked to picture a McDonald's-themed hotel room, the decor was surprisingly pleasant, with neutral colors, hardwood floors, and a layout corresponding to the principles of feng shui. But no matter how fancy you make it, a McDonald's hotel room is a McDonald's hotel room.

There were other problems, too. Do you see that glass tube in the picture above, just behind the bed? That's the shower. While the glass was opaque, this unusual spot for a shower probably wasn't a hit with families — nor, for that matter, with anyone else who used it, as it steamed up very quickly and felt oppressively closed in. And while the presence of an always-open McDonald's in the lobby certainly made sense, it once again reminded guests of the absurdity of the whole enterprise.

Then, just a few months after the hotels opened, the September 11, 2001 attacks happened, causing sudden global chaos and economic crises. The world was about to become much more uncertain, and it didn't make sense to navigate it from a hotel room with a headboard shaped like the McDonald's logo. Both hotels closed in 2003 – the airport location was rebranded into a Radisson, while the other appears to be abandoned.