haludovo Palace Hotel

In the late 1960’s President Tito cancelled Visa restrictions to visit Yugoslavia and opened its borders to foreign citizens. Investment came pouring in to turn the Adriatic coastline the new place to be seen. On the island of Krk the mile long Haludovo Palace hotel complex was conceived by architect Boris Magaš, construction started in 1969 and soon Bob Guccione the Penthouse magazine founder invested 45 Million dollars for the inclusion of the Penthouse Adriatic Club Casino.

The hotel opened to great fanfare on the 15 June 1972, with fountains, opulent furniture, hanging gardens and massive lavish pools (one of which for a time was apparently filled with Champagne!). Penthouse Pets were employed as hostesses. Each day of the initial season of the hotel the guests consumed 100 kilos of lobster, hundreds of bottles of champagne and over 5 kilos of caviar. Guests of note were the (later assassinated) Prime Minister of Sweden and Saddam Hussein.

Despite all of the opulence the majority of the guests did not spend the money that the hotel was expecting to make and Yugoslav citizens were forbidden from entry so no local revenue could  be recouped, in the first year the hotel made a 45 million dollar loss and Bob Guccione pulled out of the deal.

The hotel discarded the penthouse label and became more moderate in its spending and aimed firmly at the middle class market, with this shift the Haludovo carried on as a functional hotel until the end of Communist rule and the subsequent breakup of Yugoslavia, for a short time the hotel complex became housing for refugees.
​
All that is left now Is a very vandalised but interesting shell.