Opened in 1928, the stately building is located a few dozen meters from the White House on Lafayette Square in the heart of the US capital.

The price for a night in one of the hotel's 145 rooms, including 20 suites, ranges from $395 to $6000 a night. The rooms come with marble bathrooms, three telephones, digital temperature control, an elaborate stereo system and carved plaster ceilings.

The more luxurious rooms are equipped with a fireplace and a balcony, with an unobstructed view of the future workplace of president-elect Barack Obama.

The hotel, with Italian drapes and towels, also offers hypo-allergenic pillows to accommodate the needs of customers suffering from asthma like 10-year-old Malia Obama, the oldest of the family's two daughters.

The hotel, opened in 1928, is named after famous 19th century figures that once lived in mansions at the same site: John Hay, private assistant to President Abraham Lincoln and later secretary of state, and Henry Adams, writer and descendant of US presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams.

According to a Washington legend, the hotel is haunted by Henry Adams' wife, Marian 'Clover' Adams, who committed suicide in 1885 after suffering bouts of depression.

The melancholy ghost, so the legend goes, appears in the month of December, around the date of Clover Adams' death.

Ghost folklore has hotel staff seeing doors mysteriously opening, clock radios suddenly turning on and off and housekeepers hearing the sound of a woman crying softly. A housekeeper has supposedly heard her ask, "What do you want?".

To find out more visit www.hayadams.com

AFP