Hotel Homicide, Hotel Suicide, and "The White Lotus"

The critically acclaimed HBO series “The White Lotus” is a satirical thriller following wealthy American vacationers at various branches of the titular luxury resort. Spoiler alert: The first 3 seasons include homicides at the hotels, aborted suicide attempts, an aborted familicide-suicide, and a mass shooting. Recently renewed for its fourth season, more unexpected fictional deaths are anticipated. While exaggerated for dramatic effect, this popular series reflects the phenomenon that hotels are recurrent settings for homicides and suicides.

The Fictional Narratives

Violence is central to each season of “The White Lotus.”The first season’s homicide involved a guest stabbing the manager, with whom he had a feud. The second season found an heiress targeted in a murder-for-hire plot. The most recent season is flush with suicide and homicide. One guest shoots the owner, who he believed was responsible for his father’s death, only to find (in a “Star Wars”-liketurn of events) that the owner was actually his father. In the ensuing shootout, the guest, his girlfriend, and 2 of the owner’s bodyguards are killed.

More germane to psychiatry are the attempted and aborted homicides and suicide in the third season. Timothy Ratliff is a wealthy southern financier and patriarch, who finds out while vacationing at the resort that he is under federal investigation for financial crimes. He buys himself some time since the resort generally does not allow guest use of technology, so his family remains blissfully unaware for the week. Tim steals hotel security’s poorly guarded handgun, writes a note, and plans his suicide, before deciding on familicide-suicide instead of suicide alone. Almost everyone in the family makes comments to him that they could not live without their extreme privilege. The Thai resort has pong-pong trees (also known as suicide trees) with poisonous seeds—which Tim pulverizes and mixes into tropical drinks for his family, prior to a last-minute change of heart. The suicide plant is real,¹ but Tim has made the sudden decision to spare his wife and children, and face the investigation back home.

Familicides (killing of the whole family), in the real world, are most commonly committed by a father acting alone.^2,3 Financial stressors, as in “The White Lotus,” may be a common theme among paternalistic perpetrators, as may depression which he also appeared to demonstrate.^2,3

Hotel homicides have long been featured in cinema. The Hitchcock thriller “Psycho,” with Dr Fred Richman, the helpful forensic psychiatrist, explaining Norman Bates’s motive,^4,5 and Kubrick’s “The Shining”loom large. However, their influence may distort public perceptions of hotel homicides.

The Real-World Cases

There have been some tragic high-profile hotel homicide cases recently in the real world, including reports of a mother shooting and killing her daughter and herself (filicide-suicide) at a cheerleading competition hotel in Las Vegas in February.⁶ Motives for filicide include: fatal maltreatment, an unwanted child, partner revenge, altruistic, and acutely psychotic motives. Most commonly in filicide-suicide cases, altruistic and acutely psychotic motives are noted, though the other motives may still occur.^1,7,8 Another mother shot and killed her young son at a hotel, initially saying that an intruder had done it, and later pleading guilty.^9,10

Crimes, including murders, can happen anywhere. But when crimes happen in hotels, they are typically opportunistic and driven by convenience rather than by targeted violence. Most hotel crimes are property crimes, such as theft and burglary.^11,12Violent crime is comparatively rare.¹¹ However, underreporting is a challenge in understanding the scope of hotel crime. Not all hotel crime victims report incidents to the police,¹² with many contacting hotel personnel, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics workplace tracking captures only employee deaths, not guest fatalities.¹³ Drug deals, sex work, and disputes among individuals in unstable housing situations can turn deadly in the relatively private, semi-anonymous space that a hotel provides.¹⁴ While “The White Lotus” resort is outside of most people’s price range, the isolated nature of the hotel, easy access to alcohol and illicit substances, and jetlag may have a role in the fatal violence.

In the real world, another young woman, university student Elisa Lam, disappeared while staying at a California hotel formerly known as the Cecil Hotel. Lam’s body was later discovered on the hotel’s roof, inside a water tank.¹⁵ Lam had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Video footage went viral of Lam, in which she acted erratically in the hotel’s elevator.¹⁵ While many still speculate on how her death could have occurred, in popular culture, “How to Get Away with Murder”and “Castle”both developed relevant storylines.

Suicide: Those at Risk

Suicide in hotels has been the subject of more research than hotel homicide. Certain individuals checking into hotels may be at higher risk. Research across multiple jurisdictions and time periods—including King County, WA (2002-2004); Clark County, NV (2003-2005); Wayne County, MI (1997-2005); Cuyahoga County, OH (2010-2017); Travis County, TX (2010-2012); and Orange County, CA (2010-2012)—shows a consistent pattern. Local residents checking into nearby hotels died by suicide at rates that were significantly higher than the surrounding general population. Out-of-county hotel guests, by contrast, consistently had lower suicide rates than the general population.^16-18

As inherently transitional spaces, local hotel stays may reflect acute stressors such as a relationship breakdown, domestic conflict, or eviction, each independently associated with elevated risk. Hotel environments offer privacy and separation from one’s usual environment, along with a reduced sense of being observed or interrupted, potentially lowering barriers to suicide. An Australian study found that about 2% of all suicides occur in hotels, which represents 6% of all suicides that take place away from one’s home.¹⁹ The majority of these suicide deaths involve a high degree of planning. Most individuals who went on to commit suicide checked-in alone, for short stays, and travelled only a short distance from home.¹⁹ Some individuals who are planning suicide may choose a hotel to avoid rescue,¹⁶ and to spare their family the trauma of discovery. In those cases, the trauma instead falls on hospitality workers, who are not going to work expecting to encounter death scenes, an occupational exposure outside the scope of their role.

Concluding Thoughts

“The White Lotus”has captivated viewers for good reason. The lush settings, social satire, slow-burn drama, and lurking violence make for good television. While “The White Lotus” features multiple homicides across seasons, real-world hotel homicide is rare. The real story of hotel suicide is quieter, closer to home, and more within the purview of clinical recognition than television would suggest.

Dr Hatters Friedman is the Phillip J. Resnick Professor of Forensic Psychiatry; professor of psychiatry, reproductive biology, and pediatrics; and adjunct professor of law at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She served as editor of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry volume Family Murder: Pathologies of Love and Hate, which won the Manfred S. Guttmacher Award.

Dr Rosenblatt is a forensic psychiatry fellow at Case Western Reserve University.

References

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15. Gurley A, Stutsman S. Eliza Lam acted erratically in the Cecil Hotel elevator before her body was found atop the infamous building. Inside the terrifying case. People Magazine. February 19, 2026. Accessed March 20, 2026. https://people.com/elisa-lam-cecil-hotel-case-everything-to-know-11908647

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19. Chen NA, Mok K, McGillivray LJ, et al. Hotel suicides in Australia 2006–2017. Crisis. 2023;44(5):380-388.