The first building at the site was a town house constructed by the nobleman  Lave Brahe, who owned the estates Vittskövle and
Krogholm in Scania.
The building was later converted into an inn which was already on 6 April 1602 referred to as Fortunen (The Fortuna).
 From 1706 to 20, Fortunen was owned by Frederik Rostgaard.
He had studied Arbian in Germany, linguistics in the Netherlands and Old German, Old English and Greek in Oxford.
He had later travelled to Paris, Italy and Malta, now mainly to collect valuable documents.
 On his return to Denmark, he had been appointed to gehejmearkivar in 1700.
In 1725, he was accused of bribery and sentenced to loss of titles and expelled from Copenhagen.

Fortunen's original buildings were demolished by a later owner, vine bottler Joachim Giesler, who replaced them by a new hotel building in  1748.
He was a friend of king Frederick who had separate chambers installed on the first floor.
The king also used the hotel for housing of guests in connection with larger celebrations at the royal palace.
 In the cellar was a tavern and vine store which had a gilded relief of Dionysos above its entrance.
Many people thought it depicted Bacchus and the establishment therefore became known as Den Fyldne Fortun (The Gilded Fortuna).
The first building at the site was a town house constructed by the nobleman  Lave Brahe, who owned the estates Vittskövle and
Krogholm in Scania. The building was later converted into an inn which was already on 6 April 1602 referred to as Fortunen (The Fortuna).  From 1706 to 20, Fortunen was owned by Frederik Rostgaard. He had studied Arbian in Germany, linguistics in the Netherlands and Old German, Old English and Greek in Oxford. He had later travelled to Paris, Italy and Malta, now mainly to collect valuable documents.  On his return to Denmark, he had been appointed to gehejmearkivar in 1700. In 1725, he was accused of bribery and sentenced to loss of titles and expelled from Copenhagen.
Fortunen's original buildings were demolished by a later owner, vine bottler Joachim Giesler, who replaced them by a new hotel building in  1748. He was a friend of king Frederick who had separate chambers installed on the first floor. The king also used the hotel for housing of guests in connection with larger celebrations at the royal palace.  In the cellar was a tavern and vine store which had a gilded relief of Dionysos above its entrance. Many people thought it depicted Bacchus and the establishment therefore became known as Den Fyldne Fortun (The Gilded Fortuna).
Hotel Royal, Copenhagen