Heartbreak Hotel told Durden, "Everybody in the world has someone who cares. Let's put a Heartbreak Hotel at the end of this lonely street". They were interrupted by the arrival of Glenn Reeves, a local performer who had previously worked with Axton. The duo asked Reeves to help with the song, but after hearing the title he remarked that it was "the silliest thing I've ever heard", and left them to finish it themselves. The song was written within an hour, and Durden recorded it onto Axton's tape recorder. Reeves returned, and after hearing the song he was asked to provide a
Heartbreak Hotel (Whitney Houston song) anything they sing is seen as sincere. [...] But the risk of having three individually successful singers collaborate on one track is that the song could drown in the weight of competitive vocal acrobatics. But Houston, Evans and Price are secure in their gifts[.] Confident without being cocky, emotive without being melodramatic, they've made a tidy meal of this track[.]" "Heartbreak Hotel" entered the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart at number 84 with airplay alone as there was not yet a retail single; issue date of December 26, 1998. On its first week that retail release impacted the song's chart position;