History Series / AmericanHorrorStoryHotel

* EasilyForgiven: By the end of the season, every major character with the exception of Scarlett and possibly Holden has either killed, been killed, killed the loved one of another major character, or screwed over another character in a major way, but by the end they have mostly been able to come together as a weird sort of family--[[spoiler: The Countess and Liz Taylor have reconciled, the Swedish girls' murder victim is now in a three-way relationship with them both, Will Drake apparently has forgiven Ramona for killing him enough to allow her to star in his fashion shows, and March and the Countess seem to be at least civil to one another]]. This may be helped by the fact that most of the characters by the end of the show are either ghosts or vampires, and so they'll ''have'' to live together for the foreseeable future

*** Marcy the Realtor pops up in "Checking In," presenting the hotel to Will Drake and his son. She also explains that she recently had to put down her dog, which she inherited from the events of the first season.

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Tristan has this little quip when The Countess tells him she was born in 1904, "wow so that means you've lived through wars, [[TheGreatDepression The Depression]], The Clinton Administration, and everything!"

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Tristan has this little quip when The Countess tells him she was born in 1904, "wow so that means you've lived through wars, The Depression, The Clinton Administration, and everything!"

* ArsonMurderJaywalking: Tristan has this little quip when The Countess tells him she was born in 1904, "wow so that means you've lived through wars, The Depression, The Clinton Administration, and everything!"

* TheBadGuyWins: The season ends with everything just how [[spoiler: March]] wanted.

** [[spoiler: It's also revealed in [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture 2022]], John returns to the hotel as a ghost having died years prior after being on the run for his crimes as the Ten Commandments Killer. And even before that, he and Alex and Holden returned there to be safe, all while allowing Scarlet to live a normal life with other relatives. Unfortunately since John didn't die on the hotel property, he can only return to the hotel every Devil's Night, meaning he can't see Alex, Holden, or Scarlet (now an adult) for an entire year]].

** Mare Winningham played Ms. Evers who is a maid desperately in love with the hotel's owner James March played by Evan Peters. In ''Coven'', she played a woman who is Kyle Spencer's mother [[spoiler:and regularly sexually abuse him]], also played by Evan Peters.
** In "Devil's Night," which features famous serial killers coming to the Hotel Cortez to have dinner together, JohnCarrollLynch plays John Wayne Gacy, perhaps the most notorious real life MonsterClown. He previously played Twisty the Clown in ''Freak Show''. Additionally, during the meal, Gacy sits opposite the Zodiac Killer. Lynch played one of the main suspects in ''Film/{{Zodiac}}''.

* AdultFear: John and Alex losing their son in a carnival.

** Not Holden. He [[kills the family dog.]]

* CassandraTruth: Scarlett's parents don't believe that [[spoiler: her brother Holden was being kept in a coffin in the empty pool]].

The cast is led by Music/LadyGaga with [[ProductionPosse returning cast members]] Creator/SarahPaulson, Creator/KathyBates, Creator/AngelaBassett, Creator/WesBentley, Creator/MattBomer, Creator/ChloeSevigny, Creator/DenisOHare, Creator/EvanPeters, Finn Wittrock, and Mare Winningham with guest appearances by ''AHS'' alumni Creator/LilyRabe, Creator/GaboureySidibe and Christine Estabrook. New cast members include Cheyenne Jackson, Max Greenfield, Richard T. Jones, Helena Mattsson, Creator/NaomiCampbell, Mädchen Amick, and Creator/DarrenCriss.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Ryan Murphy has stated that ''Hotel'' will be much darker than ''[[Series/AmericanHorrorStoryCoven Coven]]'' or ''[[AmericanHorrorStoryFreakShow Freak Show]]'', with the season being straight horror.

* ContinuityCameo: Marcy the Realtor from [[AmericanHorrorStoryMurderHouse the first season]] sells the hotel to Will Drake. She even kept the Harmons' pet dog, though it had to be put down.

** In the last episode, [[spoiler: [[AmericanHorrorStoryMurderHouse Billie Dean Howard]] appears]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: Ryan Murphy has stated that ''Hotel'' will be much darker than ''[[AmericanHorrorStoryCoven Coven]]'' or ''[[AmericanHorrorStoryFreakShow Freak Show]]'', with the season being straight horror.

* SerialKiller: More than every previous season put together. So far, there's the Ten Commandments Killer, James Patrick March, Gordon Northcott, Richard Ramirez, Aileen Wuournos, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and the Zodiac Killer.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: both vampires and ghosts have it to a certain extent, primarily in that becoming one or the other seems to make a person start viewing killing others as being a rather casual thing to do--for the vampires to feed, and for the ghosts to have a purpose in (un) life

*** Marcy the Realtor pops up in "Checking In", presenting the hotel to Will Drake and his son. She also explains that she recently had to put down her dog, which she inherited from the events of the first season.

* CrossReferencedTitles: "She wants Revenge" and "She Gets Revenge".

* IWishedYouWereDead: In the third episode, Donavan tells his mother to kill herself. [[spoiler: When she actually does at the end, he realizes that she's all he has and tries to revive her with his blood.]]

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Several new ghosts, faced with boredom in the hotel for all eternity, quickly decide murder as a hobby.

* MonsterMash: The hotel seems to house a rather eclectic group of unusual long term tenants, including ghosts, vampires, and serial killers. While the vampires are the ''new'' monster, the season seems more focused on following multiple threads a la Series/AmericanHorrorStoryAsylum. Serial killers and ghosts were present in ''Coven'' and ''Freak Show'' as secondary monsters, but get more attention in ''Hotel''.

* OurGhostsAreDifferent: Being killed in the Cortez and having any regrets or unfinished business causes you to manifest as a ghost, possibly for the rest of eternity (although it is speculated that if the Cortez were ever torn down they would stop being able to do so). Ghosts can appear or disappear at will and have physical bodies, but cannot leave the Cortez. Being turned into a ghost causes one to crave a purpose to one's undeath, with the default apparently being "murder people" (both the Swedish girls and [[spoiler: Will Drake]] quite casually kill others to have something to do, until they find something else to do with their unlives). Ghosts cannot be captured on film, but can be seen by humans quite easily. Although they're trapped there, most of the ghosts seem quite comfortable hanging out at the Cortez for the forseeable future--[[spoiler: Liz Taylor]] even asks the ghosts to kill her when she's diagnosed with cancer so she can remain with her "family' for the rest of eternity.

** In the first episode, Donavan and Elizabeth have a foursome with another couple [[spoiler: before killing them]].

** The Countess misses the 70s as this was the only time she felt she could be herself.

* BrokenStreak:
** This is the very first season without both Creator/JessicaLange and Frances Conroy, the latter of which could not return due to a prior commitment.
** [[spoiler: This is the first season where Creator/SarahPaulson's character is killed. She previously survived all four seasons. Though, this is also a partial subversion. Paulson plays two characters this season. One was killed before the series started, and one survives. So, she's still never been killed ''during'' the series.]]
** Despite the casting of Lady Gaga, there's no musical number in this season.

* MissingTrailerScene: None of the clips from the preview of episode 8 are seen in the actual episode. [[spoiler: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] because said episode is one big [[TheReveal reveal]] that [[TomatoInTheMirror Lowe is the Ten Commandments Killer]].]]