History Main / InnOfNoReturn

* The house of Yesterday's Tomorrow serves as this in ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'' during a 3-episode arc and the innkeeper is actually a servant for the GreaterScopeVillain.

* The house of Yesterday's Tomorrow serves as this in ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeires'' during a 3-episode arc and the innkeeper is actually a servant for the GreaterScopeVillain.

* The "Sparrow's Inn" folktale is referenced in ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' with Mystia Lorelei, a night sparrow youkai. People going through the forest are often struck with night-blindness, when they come across her grilled-lamprey stand she tells them her lampreys can cure this condition (lamreys having eight eyes, they actually were thought to heal blindness). Naturally, she's the one who caused the blindness in the first place (as seen in her boss battle, where she causes the visible screen to shrink to a small circle around the player) and just has to lift the curse after they give her money.

* Used to real ShootTheShaggyDog effect in Camus' story "The Inn", which he also wrote as a play titled ''Cross Purposes''. In brief, a guy abandons his family at a young age and then comes home rich to the inn run by his mother and sister with the intent of bettering their lives. They don't recognize him and have gotten in the habit of killing and robbing customers. They do this to him, discover who he was, and [[HilarityEnsues suicides ensue]].

* The 1992 Hong Kong action film ''Film/DragonInn'' features Maggie Cheung as the innkeeper at a remote inn where she occasionally seduces the guests, murders them, carves them up, and makes them into meals for the other patrons.

* In a short story by Creator/FrankHerbert, a honeymooning couple on their way to Vegas become trapped in a hotel which imprisons gamblers. Although it doesn't actively attempt to kill them, ''no-one'' has ever left.
* In the Creator/HPLovecraft short story "Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth", the residents of Innsmouth [[spoiler: attempt to break into the narrator's room at the Inn. He thinks they want to kill him, presumably to keep the [[TownWithADarkSecret secrets of the town]] hidden from outsiders. The narrator actually references the trope in the story, wondering if it is one of those hotels where travelers are slain for money (despite his obviously lack of excessive prosperity) and his preparation is what allows him to escape the inn and then the town.]] The ending implies that they wanted to catch him [[InTheBlood for other reasons...]]
* Kenji Miyazawa's eponymous ''Restaurant of Many Orders''. The "guests" finally caught on about the time they figured out [[ToServeMan the "cologne" was actually vinegar]].
* In Creator/RobertEHoward's Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian story "Literature/ShadowsInZamboula," Aram Baksh's inn. He survives by murdering only strangers.
%%* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': [[spoiler: Harfang.]]
* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d and Subverted then Inverted in Literature/TheBlackCompany series (''The White Rose''). A wayside inn is taken over by deserters from the Lady's army. Croaker refers to them as Trapdoor Spiders. The [[spoiler:remnant of the]] Company stays the night, scouting the Deserters as they, in turn attempt to scout the company, and are allowed on their way. The Deserters [[spoiler:attack on the road the next day, and get counter ambushed by the squad mages]].
* The hero of Creator/LarryNiven's ''Destiny's Road'' hears a tale about an inn that was run by escaped prisoners who killed and ate travelers. This is a bit jarring, since he was one of the escaped prisoners, and while they didn't do anything illegal there except steal the power to run the place, it does mean the authorities might be aware he survived his escape from prison.

* The [[AC: Don't Go Inn]] in ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear''. Well, if you see the sign and don't leave within the day it's likely too late. [[spoiler: The ground [[QuicksandSucks eats people]]; the whole planet sort of serves as the "inn".]] In this case the slow rate of very carefully concealed disappearances and the friendly Enzeem work to make sure a small but not insignificant number of people stop by.

* Venta Quemada in the ''The Manuscript Found in Saragossa'', which is also a HauntedHouse (it is abandoned and the 'innkeepers' are a pair of shapeshifting ghosts).
* A classic example appears early in Creator/RobertRMcCammon's historical fiction novel ''Speaks The Nightbird''.
* In "[[Literature/{{Kane}} Raven's Eyrie]]", the eponymous inn. Before [[VillainProtagonist Kane]]'s raid, it used to be a popular caravanserai, however, as it turns out, not all of its customers survived the night. Its single rooms--for particularly wealthy guests, of course--had hidden entrances, while a tunnel leading to nearby river Cotras provided convenient means of getting rid of the bodies. And the disappearances could always be blamed on bandits, like Kane.
* ''[[Literature/TheIcelandicSagas The Saga of Hallfred Troublesome-Poet]]'': Crossing a sparsely populated forest on his journey to Sweden, Hallfred meets farmer Bjorn who straightaway invites him to stay with him for the night and behaves "most hospitable". In the night, Bjorn suddenly "thrust[s] a weapon into [Hallfred's] bed", but Hallfred, being suspicious of Bjorn, has already left his bed and drawn his sword, and thus kills Bjorn. Bjorn's wife and farmhands then try to frame Hallfred for murder, but eventually fail.

* The eponymous pub in the ''Series/JonathanCreek'' episode "Mother Redcap." A bit of a subversion though, as [[spoiler: these were planned murders of specific individuals who the landlord had taken money to 'get rid of']]
* In the fifth series of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' , a hotel sprung up in the middle of nowhere, which trapped tourists in order to feed them to the gods. The gods were there to discuss what to do about Lucifer's return.

* [[MindScrew Possibly]] the subject of the song "[[Music/{{Eagles}} Hotel California]]."

* Advanced ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' adventure module ''TabletopGame/TheApocalypseStone''. The [[DemonLordsandArchdevils devil prince]] Moloch is following the players so he can get [[TothePain revenge]] on them. He has his minions slaughter everyone in an inn and then cast an illusion over the place so that when the party arrives everything looks normal. [[spoiler: The minion in disguise offers the party food, mentioning the inn's special pork buns, and after they eat he asks if they want to stay the night. When they wake up in the morning they're all laying on beds of spikes and razors and when they come downstairs they see that the inn is a [[JustforPun bloody mess.]] There is one table set with a tray of pork buns with a note on it that hints at [[TheSecretofLongPorkPies exactly what was in the buns...]] ]]

* The Stumbling Sabrecat Tavern in Fort Dunstad, [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]. The fact that it is located in a bandit fort could be enough of a warning; however, the bandits in the fort tend to keep to themselves when you approach and enter the tavern, only going aggro when you try to leave. If/when the fort is cleared and reoccupied by the military, soldiers put an end to this business and block the very entrance to the tavern with spiked barriers.
* The Rusty Lake Hotel from the ''VideoGame/CubeEscape'' series invites 5 guests to the hotel for a week. It is your job to make sure they are properly "served" during their stay.

* WesternAnimation/PorkyPig and Sylvester check into a hotel full of murderous mice in the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes short ''Claws for Alarm''.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' features this in "House of the Lucky Gander!". Invited by [[BornLucky Gladstone Gander]] to enjoy a taste of the good life, Scrooge, Donald, the triplets and Webby wind up at a luxurious hotel in [[NoCommunitiesWereHarmed Macaw, China]]. Said hotel doubles as a casino and features everything from exotic animals and water dancing to a buffet. Gladstone spends the majority of the episode hanging around Donald and encouraging him to play all of the games despite Donald's [[BornUnlucky awful luck.]] Concluding that Gladstone wanted to make himself look good in front of his nephews, Donald tries to leave; when Gladstone tries to stop him, an ethereal shackle appears around his ankle. He reveals to the family that [[GildedCage he cannot leave the inn]] because the owner is a vampiric spirit that [[AbstractEater feeds on his natural good luck]]. He was hoping Donald's bad luck would rub off so he could be free.

%% Image and caption selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1309990486098700100
%% Please do not change or remove either without starting a new thread.

* A two parter in the ''Manga/{{Dazzle}}'' anime features one of these.

* One ''ComicBook/WarhammerFantasy'' comic has its hero, a Sigmarite [[TheWitchHunter Witch Hunter]], stay at an inn like this but is smart enough not to trust the innkeeper. Turns out the ''entire town'' has dedicated itself to Nurgle.
* Parodied in ''ComicBook/{{Smax}}'' when he visits his homeworld that lampoons fairytale tropes. The health department won't let the inkeeper charge any higher because Robyn's room has a [[Literature/ThePrincessAndThePea pea under her mattresses]] and the innkeeper will come in to Smax's room and stretch him if he's too short or cut him if he's too tall like in the Theseus myth mentioned below.

* The hotel in ''Film/{{Vacancy}}'' has owners who use the hotel to make films of their grisly murders.
* ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' has the infamous Bates Motel.
* The 1992 Hong Kong action film ''Dragon Inn'' features Maggie Cheung as the innkeeper at a remote inn where she occasionally seduces the guests, murders them, carves them up, and makes them into meals for the other patrons.

* ''Film/MotelHell'', in which the owner and his sister make sausages out of the guests.
* The ''Film/{{Hostel}}'' films take this trope and just roll with it.
* Played with in ''Film/TheHappinessOfTheKatakuris'', where the innkeepers ''aren't trying'' to kill their guests. Everyone who stays dies, and it bothers the owners.

* A variation of this occurs in ''Film/{{Stardust}}'', when the witch Lamia builds an inn out of magic for the express purpose of luring the heroine there so she can cut out her heart. Although she fails to kill her intended victim, she does kill and rob the only other patron who happens to show up at her inn that night; the party who was following them turns up the next morning to find the dead man naked in a bathtub, and no trace of the magical inn.
* ''Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons'' features a large, remote inn in the mountains run by Zhu Bajie, where any unsuspecting guest is killed and made as stuffing to spice up the large roast pigs for the next guest to come along, all covered up by illusions. The protagonist and a demon hunter barely make it out despite being able to see through the illusions.

* The short story "The Red Inn" by Creator/HonoreDeBalzac is a good example, and was filmed twice as a horror comedy, even closer to this trope.

* In Alexander Dumas' ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' one of the antagonists, Caderousse, owns an inn of ill reputation. When he receives a diamond from the Count he immediately runs after a jeweler. The jeweler gives him money for the diamond, but has to spend a night in the inn due to bad weather. Caderousse, influenced by his greedy wife, decides to murder the jeweler, so he would have both the money and diamond. He succeeds, but in the ensued fight his wife gets murdered and later Caderousse gets caught.

* Sbirro's restaurant in mystery writer Stanley Ellin's short story "The Specialty of the House", also adapted as an episode of ''Series/AlfredHitchcockPresents''.
* In Creator/IsaacBashevisSinger's ''Stories for Children'', one story, "The Fearsome Inn", tells of an inn run by a married couple of two witches/demons who would lure and trap lost travelers.
* Happens in "Rattle of Bones", one of the Literature/SolomonKane short stories by Creator/RobertEHoward. The Cleft Skull Tavern is run by a man who claims he was falsely imprisoned in the Karlsruhe dungeons. He now murders all travellers who stop at his inn as revenge on all men for his false imprisonment. Although, to be fair, perhaps the name '[[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace The Cleft Skull Tavern]]'' should have been a bit of a warning.
* Creator/RoaldDahl's story "The Landlady", although in this case, the killer is simply psycho rather than greedy.

* One ''ComicBook/WarhammerFantasy'' comic has its hero, a Sigmarite WitchHunter, stay at an inn like this but is smart enough not to trust the innkeeper. Turns out the ''entire town'' has dedicated itself to Nurgle.

* The "Sparrow's Inn" folktale is referenced in ''{{VideoGame/Touhou}}'' with Mystia Lorelei, a night sparrow youkai. People going through the forest are often struck with night-blindness, when they come across her grilled-lamprey stand she tells them her lampreys can cure this condition (lamreys having eight eyes, they actually were thought to heal blindness). Naturally, she's the one who caused the blindness in the first place (as seen in her boss battle, where she causes the visible screen to shrink to a small circle around the player) and just has to lift the curse after they give her money.

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* A two parter in the ''Manga/HatenkouYuugi'' anime features one of these.

* In Alexander Dumas' "Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo" one of the antagonists, Caderousse, owns an inn of ill reputation. When he receives a diamond from the Count he immediately runs after a jeweler. The jeweler gives him money for the diamond, but has to spend a night in the inn due to bad weather. Caderousse, influenced by his greedy wife, decides to murder the jeweler, so he would have both the money and diamond. He succeeds, but in the ensued fight his wife gets murdered and later Caderousse gets caught.

* Happens in "Rattle of Bones", one of the SolomonKane short stories by Creator/RobertEHoward.

* The titular ''Series/BatesMotel''.

* A story from the book <Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio(Liaozhai zhiyi)> written by Chinese writer Pu Songling(1640 – 1715) tells of a beautiful innkeeper who is actually a wicked sorceress. She would serve travelling merchants breakfast of pancakes which would turn them into donkeys, and then she would sell them and take all their belongings. A merchant saw this, escaped, and managed to trick the innkeeper into eating her own pancake, thereby turning her into a donkey and putting a stop to her scheme.

* In the Creator/HPLovecraft short story "Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth", the residents of Innsmouth [[spoiler: attempt to break into the narrator's room at the Inn to kill him, presumably to keep the [[TownWithADarkSecret secrets of the town]] hidden from outsiders. (Or even worse, they recognize [[InTheBlood something in him]] he doesn't yet know about..) The narrator actually references the trope in the story, wondering if it is one of those hotels where travelers are slain for money (despite his obviously lack of excessive prosperity) and his preparation is what allows him to escape the inn and then the town.]]

Basically, a place of accommodation that kills its customers and robs their corpses. For unknown reasons, this turns up a lot in French literature/works set in France. Sometimes, to "get more bang for the buck," the proprietors will [[ImAHumanitarian "serve"]] their guests as well. One wonders how these places advertise and attract guests/victims, other than the possible curiosity if rumors of their crimes are publicized. See also HellHotel and InnSecurity, although in the latter, attacks on guests are generally not by the inn's owners.

* ''WesternAnimation/Ducktales2017'' features this in "House of the Lucky Gander!". Invited by [[BornLucky Gladstone Gander]] to enjoy a taste of the good life, Scrooge, Donald, the triplets and Webby wind up at a luxurious hotel in [[NoCommunitiesWereHarmed Macaw, China]]. Said hotel doubles as a casino and features everything from exotic animals and water dancing to a buffet. Gladstone spends the majority of the episode hanging around Donald and encouraging him to play all of the games despite Donald's [[BornUnlucky awful luck.]] Concluding that Gladstone wanted to make himself look good in front of his nephews, Donald tries to leave; when Gladstone tries to stop him, an ethereal shackle appears around his ankle. He reveals to the family that [[GildedCage he cannot leave the inn]] because the owner is a vampiric spirit that [[AbstractEater feeds on his natural good luck]]. He was hoping Donald's bad luck would rub off so he could be free.

* Practically every inn in ''Literature/WaterMargin'' seems to murder and rob its customers at least some of the time. Given GreyAndGray morality of the novel, several of these innkeepers are among the heroes of the story.

* Venta Quemada in the ''Literature/TheManuscriptFoundInSaragossa'', which is also a HauntedHouse (it is abandoned and the 'innkeepers' are a pair of shapeshifting ghosts).

* In "[[Literature/{{Kane}} Raven's Eyrie]]", the eponymous inn. Before [[VillainProtagonist Kane]]'s raid, it used to be a popular caravanserai, however, as it turns out, not all of its customers survived the night. Its single rooms--for particularly wealthy guests, of course--had hidden entries, while a tunnel leading to nearby river Cotras provided convenient means of getting rid of the bodies. And the disappearances could always be blamed on bandits, like Kane.

* ''WesternAnimation/Ducktales2017'' features this. Invited by [[BornLucky Gladstone Gander]] to enjoy a taste of the good life, Scrooge, Donald, the triplets and Webby wind up at a luxurious inn. Said inn doubles as a casino and features everything from exotic animals and water dancing to a buffet. Gladstone spends the majority of the episode hanging around Donald and encouraging him to play all of the games despite Donald's [[BornUnlucky awful luck.]] Concluding that Gladstone wanted to make himself look good in front of his nephews, Donald tries to leave; when Gladstone tries to stop him, an ethereal shackle appears around his ankle. He reveals to the family that [[GildedCage he cannot leave the inn]] because the owner is a vampiric spirit that [[HorrorHunger feeds on his natural good luck.]] He was hoping Donald's bad luck would rub off so he could be free.

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* In the fifth series of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' , a hotel sprung up in the middle of nowhere, which trapped tourists in order to feed them to the gods. The gods where there to discuss what to do about Lucifer's return.

* In the Advanced ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' adventure module ''TabletopGame/TheApocalypseStone''; The [[DemonLordsandArchdevils devil prince]] Moloch is following the players so he can get [[TothePain revenge]] on them. He has his minions slaughter everyone in an inn and then cast an illusion over the place so that when the party arrives everything looks normal. [[spoiler: The minion in disguise offers the party food, mentioning the inn's special pork buns, and after they eat he asks if they want to stay the night. When they wake up in the morning they're all laying on beds of spikes and razors and when they come downstairs they see that the inn is a [[JustforPun bloody mess.]] There is one table set with a tray of pork buns with a note on it that hints at [[TheSecretofLongPorkPies exactly what was in the buns...]] ]]

->''"Relax," said the night man,''\\
''"We are programmed to receive.''\\
''"You can check out any time you like,''\\
''"But you can never leave!"''

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* ''Film/HellHouseLLC'' the Abaddon Hotel is rumored to be one before it is abandoned years before the events of the film take place.
** In the [[Film/HellHouseLLC2 sequel]] it's very much the exception for people to leave the hotel instead of the rule. A handful of thrillseekers seem to survive but most don't. Former guests are stuck in the hotel, never able to leave.

[[folder:Folklore and Mythology]]
* OlderThanFeudalism is the dubious hospitality of the wicked blacksmith Procrustes, of [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek myth]], and the proprietor of the Ur-example. Procrustes had a spare room and a spare iron bed, which [[SacredHospitality he would offer to people who came past his house]] (as it was on a major road a little outside Athens, there were a lot of those). The bed would prove either too short or too long for the guests, at which point Procrustes would get his tools out. If the bed was too long, he would stretch the guest to fit it; too short, and he would cut them down to size. (If the guest looked to be about the right size, Procrustes [[MortonsFork secretly had two beds]].) [[DeathByIrony Procrustres then got a big taste of his own medicine]] when he tried to do this to Theseus. One version had Theseus simply chop Procrustes to bits with an ax; other versions claim he made the evil innkeeper fit his own bed. [[TheUnreveal No one ever said whether he was too long or too short, though]]., although one version has Theseus ''keep moving him'' from one bed to the other, chopping and stretching as needed.
* There are Chinese tales about bandit-run inns who serve human meat, although this trope is likely to pop up in any culture where people travel.
** One of these was named "Three Cups and you cannot cross the Mountain," referring to their rice wine-based house drink, which rendered travellers unconscious and ready for butchering.
* Likewise, Japan has myths about a mysterious "Sparrow's Inn," where shapeshifting birds lure humans in and kill them in their sleep, presumably to eat them.
* The original ''Literature/SweeneyTodd'' legend fits this pretty well, as do its adaptations.
* One of the later miracles attributed to St. Nicholas has him raising to life three boys/young men who were killed and placed in a pickling barrel by an innkeeper during a famine.
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--> Four doors at the Four Winds Bar;
--> Two doors locked and windows barred,
--> One door left to take you in,
--> The other one just mirrors it...

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** In the ''[[Film/HellHouseLLC2 sequel]]'' it's very much the exception for people to leave the hotel instead of the rule. A handful of thrillseekers seem to survive but most don't. Former guests are stuck in the hotel, never able to leave.

** In the ''[[Film/HellHouseLLC2 sequel]] it's very much the exception for people to leave the hotel instead of the rule. A handful of thrillseekers seem to survive but most don't. Former guests are stuck in the hotel, never able to leave.