======Railview Hotel======
=====Location Information=====
  * **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.
=====Description and History=====
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]].
=====Role in the Story=====
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]].
=====Known Areas Within=====
  * **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]].
=====Behind the Scenes=====
  * 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 Dursley|Petunia Evans]], and his future [[Potions]] master, [[Severus Snape]].