Risør Hotel is an old historic and venerable hotel with an extensive history. The hotel is built in four stages. The first stage, Skipperstua, was built in 1861. Thomas Thiis, one of the town's wealthy, wanted to house visiting workers after the town fire that same year. The skipper's room was then used as a combined storage room and dormitory. There was eventually a need to house more workers. The next building stage was therefore begun in 1863. The hotel now had 11 rooms, a laundry room and a dormitory in the attic. The hotel could now accommodate up to 40 people. The hotel was then taken over by the Saastad family. They ran the hotel until 1969. The hotel was then bought by Kristin Münter who completely renovated the building inside, and in 1974 another wing with ten rooms was built. Further construction stages were carried out in 1982 and 1986. This included a conference hall with space for 120 people.