DESCRIPTION: The Davenport Hotel and Tower is the fourth largest hotel in Washington state, offering 611 guest rooms that are the highest-rated in Spokane--AAA Four Diamond Award winner; Conde Nast Gold List Award Winner; BBB Torch Award for business ethics, Inlander Reader's Choice, Washington Hotel & Lodging Association Outstanding Hotel. Guests are invited to enjoy three restaurants, 24-hour room service, Spa Paradiso, Davenport Hotel Candy Shoppe, Signature Collection Store, on-site valet and self-parking, lap pool, hot tub, fitness center, business center; near RiverPark Square shopping, downtown financial and business districts, university district, regional hospitals, bus/rail hub and ten-minutes from Spokane International Airport. HISTORY: The Davenport Hotel opened in 1914 as the first hotel with air conditioning, central vacuum, air walls and housekeeping carts. The king of salads, Crab Louis, was invented here and named for original proprietor, Louis Davenport. The Davenport Hotel is the largest and most celebrated work of famed Northwest architect Kirtland Cutter who believed architecture was art incarnate. (All of Cutter's original public spaces and ballrooms at the Davenport survive). The Davenport Hotel served as Spokane's welcome to the world for most of the 20th century, then closed in 1985 a casualty of a failing regional economy and the abandonment of the city's core. Local entrepreneurs, Walt and Karen Worthy, purchased the derelict hotel in 2000 and set out to make it grand again. The Davenport Hotel re-opened in 2002; the Davenport Hotel Tower opened in 2007 just across the street from the historic hotel.