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In 1810 a French hotelier called Joseph Sauve converted the Roman Palazzo Conti into a hotel. Following the Italian Unification in 1871, Palazzo Conti was renamed Hôtel Minerva-Cavour e Francia. In the twentieth century it was briefly Crowne Plaza Minerva before becoming Grand Hôtel de La Minerve as it is today.
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Two books by Adrian Mourby, famoushotels roving reporter and tireless collector of hotel anecdotes, should interest all hotel aficionados: "Rooms of One's Own — 50 Places That Made Literary History" and his latest work "Rooms with a View — The Secret Life of Great Hotels“.
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A wall comes to live. Augmented Reality can be found in famoushotels exhibitions like at the Hotel Bristol in Vienna.
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Roddy Martine, our coauthor on the story about the fabled icon of Scottish hospitality, the Caledonian, appears again in the limelight with a wonderful tale of two bush babies.
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César Ritz, born in the Swiss village of Niederwald on 23 February 1850, began his hotel career at the age of 15 in Switzerland. He was considered until for the trade, and rose to become the world’s first true international hotelier.
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LONDON: Chaïm Soutine — First ever exhibition to assemble Soutine’s remarkable portraits of service staff from the fashionable hotels and restaurants of Paris in the 1920s.
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Venice is an inspiration for all of us. Recently Mr Mourby was booked for dinner at Venice’s Westin Europa and Regina. Did he go down with “The Titanic”?
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At the Hotel Scribe, in Paris, on 25 December 1895, Auguste and his brother Louis Jean Lumière showed the first motion picture. Later, hotels used to be the best places to present movies. They offered the infrasturcture needed.
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Aloha Wanderwell – nomen est omen – was a Canadian adventurer and the first woman to drive around the world in a customised Model T Ford.
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Richard Carte – D’Oyly was his middle name – was born in London’s Soho on 3 May 1844, The entrepreneur built The Savoy Hotel, London.
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They are no ordinary artists — they capture the essence of a hotel in one single piece of art. The cover artists of famoushotels.
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‘How old is this establishment?’ is often one of the first questions asked about any famous historic hotel. Modesty is not a consideration when answering: the older the better. The Oriental in Bangkok had its very own way of handling this affair.
Johannes Baur, born in Austria in 1795, was a visionary entrepreneur who profoundly shaped Zurich’s hospitality industry. In 1837, at the age...Read More
The historic building (top, slide to the right): The "new" Raffles main building in 1899. It opened on 18 November 1899, featuring the all new...Read More
Since decades “The Oriental”, as it is affectionately known by travellers from all over the globe, leads the lists of most...Read More
In 1952, a group of wealthy individuals including Donald Deskey, the fabled designer (among his works the Radio City Music Hall); Harvey Firestone,...Read More
You don your safari gear during the day, but you always dress for dinner. Because Mount Kenya Safari Club Nanyuki is an exclusive retreat. High on...Read More
