Railview Hotel

• Type: Muggle Hotel
• Location: On the outskirts of Cokeworth, England
• Owner/Residents: An unnamed Muggle woman (owner); temporary residents included Vernon Dursley, Petunia Dursley, Dudley Dursley, and Harry Potter.
• Key Features: A gloomy-looking building with rooms containing damp, musty sheets.

The Railview Hotel is a dreary Muggle establishment located on the edge of the industrial town of Cokeworth. Its appearance is described as gloomy, and the interior offers little comfort. The rooms, such as the one Harry Potter shared with his cousin Dudley Dursley, had twin beds with damp and musty-smelling bedsheets. The hotel's dining room served a poor breakfast of stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast. The name of the hotel suggests it is located near a railway line. The hotel is run by a Muggle woman who acted as the manager or owner. There is no known magical history associated with the hotel itself; it served merely as a brief and ultimately unsuccessful hideout for the Dursley family.

In late July 1991, the Railview Hotel became a key location in Vernon Dursley's desperate and frantic attempts to escape the flood of Hogwarts acceptance letters addressed to Harry Potter. After letters began arriving by the dozens at Number Four, Privet Drive, Uncle Vernon forced his family to flee. He drove them aimlessly before stopping for the night at the Railview Hotel. Vernon's belief that he had found a place beyond the reach of the magical world was quickly shattered. The morning after their arrival, the hotel's owner approached the Dursleys during breakfast and presented them with approximately one hundred Hogwarts letters, all addressed to “Mr. H. Potter, Room 17, Railview Hotel, Cokeworth.” This overwhelming delivery proved to Vernon that his efforts were futile and that even a random, obscure Muggle hotel could not shield them from Hogwarts's persistence. The failure of the Railview Hotel as a sanctuary directly prompted Uncle Vernon's most extreme measure: renting a miserable shack on the Hut-on-the-Rock in the middle of the sea. It was there that Rubeus Hagrid finally located the family and delivered Harry's letter in person on his eleventh birthday.

• Room 17: The room Harry Potter and Dudley Dursley shared for one night. It was furnished with two beds and had damp, musty sheets.
• Dining Room: A room where hotel guests ate their meals. It was here that the Dursleys were eating their unappetizing breakfast when the owner delivered a mountain of Hogwarts letters for Harry.
• Front Desk: The reception area of the hotel where the hundreds of letters for Harry were received before being brought to the Dursleys.

• The sequence at the Railview Hotel is completely omitted from the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. In the film, the Dursleys go directly from their letter-infested house at Number Four, Privet Drive to the Hut-on-the-Rock (film).
• It is a notable irony that Uncle Vernon, in his attempt to escape magic, chose to hide in Cokeworth. This town is deeply significant to Harry's past, as it was the hometown of his mother, Lily Evans, his aunt, Petunia Evans, and his future Potions master, Severus Snape.