Vacation is a luxury for most, and when times get tough, luxury spending is first to get cut. Travelers stay home, hotels remain vacant, and entire tourist areas can become ghost towns.

These images explore abandoned resorts, roadside motels, and posh hotels across North America. Some were visited by the celebrities of their time; others a much needed rest stop for weary travelers. One popular resort town rebuilt itself after the Great Depression, only to fall again on hard times in the mid-19th century. All of their walls have heard countless stories. Now, the banquet rooms, suites, and swimming pools sit in lonely silence.