Welcome
Paris — Hotel Prince de Galles — the new book
2020: Cambodia — A Tale of Two Hotels Raffles Le Royal and Grand Hotel d'Angkor
Path of History — Walls can talk!
Jamaica — Half Moon Treasury — the new book
HOTELS
News
Wild Bey of Cairo
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Meet Auguste Wild, born in Alsace-Lorraine in 1869. Twenty-nine years later he became General Manager of the Savoy Hotel in Cairo. He did so learning his trade along the way as a waiter at London’s Café Royal and then being appointed receptionist clerk at the Baur au Lac in Zurich.
150 Years Grand Hotel Vienna
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Since 10 May 1870 the Grand Hotel Vienna reigns proudly over the Viennese boulevard Ringstrasse — an icon of European hospitality.
Toujours L’attaque! — George Goring †2020
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London Hotelier George Goring passed away, taking up his room at the eternal grand hotel which is waiting for all of us. The world has lost a great hotelier in the old school style: a true host who exuded joie de vivre.
Splendid Isolation
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Adrian Mourby was out there again. This time to experience classic British isolation of a third kind: what would you say if it’s night, dinner time, the windows of the dining room of your hotel loom brightly lit in the not to far distance, and all that’s between you and a decent Martini is the British Channel. Oh yes, and your mobile isn’t working.
Weekend Feuilleton ‘The incredible History of Alpinie Entertainment’, or ‘The Schedule of Diversion’
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What have Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, Peter I. Tchaikovsky, Angela Merkel, Prince William and Bill Gates in common? They all patronised one of the greatest Swiss temples of hospitality …
Seefeld Book Launch turned into Charity
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The doyenne of Austrian hotel business, Elisabeth Guertler, and a celebrity crowd turned Seefeld Book Lauch into Charity for Mountain Rescue. Invited guests included the governor of the county Tyrol and other VIPs. A Story A Legend - HOTEL ASTORIA by Andreas Augustin became an instant success.
PARIS: Prince de Galles
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2 August 1929 started like any other ordinary day all over Europe. Man and women went to work. Many were looking forward to their summer holidays and, for many children, that Friday marked the last day of school of the year. From the American Cathedral in Paris, down the road, the bell tolled. Opposite the revolving door of the Prince of Wales Hotel — Hôtel Prince de Galles, on that perfect wonderful August morning, Musetta, the flower girl, whispered her song.
Hotel Bristol Vienna TV Documentary
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The Hotel Bristol in Vienna is at the crossroads of the most important thoroughfares of the Austrian capital as well as of events of today and history. The TV documentary is narrated by Andreas Augustin (in German only).
AA’s Notes from a Journey
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Andreas Augustin’s personal blog about his journeys, introducing current and future projects.
The Path of History
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The Most Famous Hotels in the World display splendid exhibitions, based on meticulous historic research. Exhibitions are the result of our research, displaying carefully chosen excerpts of our books. You see: Walls can talk.
Hoteliers About Our Work
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Since 1986, we have listed over 450 hotels, numerous individual hotels were researched, their history recorded, and successful books published. Here is what some of our partners have to say about our work.
Le Royal
Indochine 1923/1924. The construction of a 55-room hotel in Phnom Penh was proposed, with Ernest Hébrard as architect. A visionary planner,...Read More
Half Moon
In 1954, a group of wealthy individuals including Donald Deskey, the fabled designer (among his works the Radio City Music Hall); Harvey Firestone,...Read More
Grand Hotel Nuwara Eliya
The hotel opened in 1891. One of the first advertisements we found dates from 1899. The hotel was the former residence of Sir Edward Barns,...Read More
Mena House
The Mena House presented us with a remarkable challenge — we had to verify its opening date which appeard to be wrong (1865?). We...Read More
Galle Face
The Galle Face Hotel was established in 1864, five years before the Suez Canal came into operation. A journey through the Suez Canal was a...Read More
People’s Grand Hotel Xian
(1953 July)
One of the finest hotels in South East Asia In April 2014 the People's Grand Hotel Xi'an reopened... Read more