text: what exactly is 'hotel california' in the song hotel california? is it some asylum or rehab centre? songfacts has a lot of hidden meanings about the song.  just one fact (see the link for more):  "although it is well known that hotel california is actually a metaphor, there are several strange internet theories and urban legends about the "real" hotel california. some include suggestions that it was an old church taken over by devil worshippers, a psychiatric hospital, an inn run by cannibals or aleister crowley's mansion in scotland. (thanks, adam - dewsbury, england)"