For 16 years, visitors could sleep in a suite inside a giant cave near the Grand Canyon. Now, it's being dismantled.
The room at the Grand Canyon Caverns & Inn recently gained attention on social media when popular TikToker, Marc Sebastian stayed there as part of his Great American Gay Sidequest series.
“It was mandatory that I show you this before it gets closed down, because this has got to be one of the weirdest places that I’ve ever stayed in," Sebastian said in a video about the cave suite.
He went on to show the room, complete with running water, a microwave, two queen beds and even a TV set up with DVDs. But the room has hosted its final guests. The inn’s marketing manager, Alayna Bria said in 2022, the cave was purchased by the Havasupai Tribe.
“Since then, a big priority for them has been cave preservation," Bria said. "Allowing people to sleep in the cave overnight, unattended definitely has some issues.”
Bria said they want to protect the rare forms of selenite that exist in the cave.
"The oils in our fingers are very damaging to them," Bria said. "There’s visible decay in the cave from when people were allowed to just kind of roam about without any rules.”
While people will no longer be able to stay there unsupervised, the 2,400-foot long-cavern will continue to operate a variety of tours and a small wedding venue.
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