When it opened, the hotel was managed by Augie Faulkner, who bought the property from the Quisling family in 1952. The hotel was expanded with a five-story podium at the end of Wisconsin Avenue in 1972, which housed 40 additional guest rooms, a ballroom, new lobby, and The Admiralty Room, an upscale restaurant. The aging hotel was finally sold by the Faulkner family in 2012.

The hotel’s exterior is rather boxy and simple, featuring fewer flourishes than the original concept, though the originally planned curved entrance canopy and lobby and a two-story glass-walled bar and restaurant were finally added during the 2012–14 renovation, utilizing modern materials that do not entirely match the original intention. The renovation also added an eleventh floor to the building, which is clad in glass and features a rooftop terrace facing Lake Mendota. The building’s original steel windows were removed in a prior renovation, and the circular entrance canopy and tapered window wall on the second floor facing the lake were removed during the 2012–14 renovation. The renovation restored the remaining Art Moderne elements inside the building and added new features that complement the original style of the building, adding back lost features. All of the hotel rooms were expanded and modernized as part of the renovation.

Governor Oscar Rennebohm was present at the 1948 opening, and over the years the hotel saw numerous prominent guests including famous celebrities, with Elvis taking one of the hotel’s clothes hangers as a souvenir. Now on display at Graceland, it inspired Cyndi Lauper’s song “Water’s Edge.”