Interactivity Goes Wilde at The Dorian Hotel

June 5, 2025

The Dorian Hotel in Calgary, themed around Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, offers guests a uniquely Wilde interactive experience.

Not to sound like a college freshman at a 2 a.m. philosophical brainstorm, but have you ever pondered the tension between appearance and reality? If so, the 137-room The Dorian Hotel in Calgary may be just your jam. Themed around Oscar Wilde’s famous work, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Dorian is among the most intriguingly themed hotels I have experienced.

The coolest part is the immersive confession experience. If you haven’t read the novel, the gist of the plot is that the main character, Dorian Gray, remains outwardly youthful and unblemished as he merrily sins his way through life, while his hidden portrait becomes a physical manifestation of his sins. Of course, it all catches up to him in the end — you can read the novel in its entirety during your stay, since the hotel provides a copy at each bedside to serve as a sort of literary nightcap.

The hotel plays on this theme by inviting guests to submit confessions of their own secrets and sins by scanning a QR code on a digital Dorian Gray portrait in the lobby — anonymously, of course. Once the guest has submitted their sin, they can view other guests’ confessions (again, anonymously) and choose to either condemn or absolve them. As the votes come in, the portrait either stays young and pretty if most choose to absolve, or becomes old and grotesque to reflect their cumulative moral decay if they choose to condemn.

By inviting guests to submit confessions and collectively influence the appearance of a digital portrait, The Dorian recreates the novel’s concept of an image that reflects the consequences of one’s actions, and explores morality, vanity and the consequences of hidden sins—albeit in a communal, anonymous, interactive and fun way.

And it also plays out throughout the hotel, in everything from its name to its modern, dualistic architecture, to the portrait-themed key cards, to the menus nestled inside hardcover books at The Wilde on 27, which offers 7-foot glass walls and breathtaking views of the city along with some of the, ahem, Wildest culinary creations I have experienced.

I have yet to find another North American hotel that can match this level of direct, physical interactivity tied to a literary or artistic theme, but there are some contenders, though most of these are more B&Bs or very small boutique properties rather than hotels built for high-end corporate get togethers like the Dorian.

Consider:

The Hotel Silvia in Newport, Ore., which themes each room after an author and offers a big library and a wood-burning fireplace — but no TVs, Wi-Fi or phones.

The Inn at BoonsBoro in Boonsboro, Md., owned by author Nora Roberts, also has a library to nestle into, as well as rooms themed around famous literary couples who, unlike Dorian Gray, end up living happily ever after, like Elizabeth and Darcy from Pride and Prejudice.

The Library Hotel in New York City is truly library-themed, with rooms and floors organized according to the Dewey Decimal system with defined themes and curated books to go along with the themes.

If you are a hopeless romantic or just want to take your attendees somewhere out of time, the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., is truly a grand old hotel made famous by being more of a character than just a setting for the filming of the 1980 movie Somewhere in Time. From old movie posters in the lobby to suites decorated with memorabilia, the Grand Hotel and its setting on the island, where automobiles aren’t allowed, truly makes you feel like an extra in the movie.