AA’s Notes from a Journey

( words)

Galle Face Hotel Colombo in the 1930s: did you reserve your table at the Veranda Restaurant? It was the most sought after lunch and dinner venue of the colonial city, away from the stifling heat of Colombo. This tropical hotel, north of the Equator, was right at the seafront, facing the Indian Ocean. It always enjoying a fresh sea breeze. Ever since its opening in 1864, it advertised itself as the "coolest hotel in Colombo". It has successfully retained this attribute. By the way: it was the first South East Asian hotel sporting a sea water pool.

WHAT'S UP?

It the magic number 90 that fascinates us in 2019. The Astoria in Seefeld is 90 years old, so is the Le Royal in Phnom Penh and the Prince de Galles in Paris.

We are producing books about all of them.

Summer 2019:

Our story book ASTORIA - A STORY - A LEGEND - Seefelder Miniaturen is being presented. Commemorating the 90th anniversary of the former Hotel Britannia, which became the Hotel Astoria in 1950, the book presents some 90 stories and anecdotes from the history and legends of the hotel and Seefeld, the village in Tyrol, Austria.

THE AMAZING TALE OF THE FABULOUS HOTEL METROPOLE - THE SOFITEL LEGEND OF HANOI appeared in its 2019 edition. New material has been added, notably the first photographs of the founder and first owner, Andre Ducamp.

2019-01:
Prince de Galles Paris celebrates 90 years this year. Our elegant Edition will commemorate the event.
Galle Face Hotel Colombo is the legendary hotel at the shore of the Indian Ocean. It's history will come out in March 2019.
Raffles Hotels Cambodia join the library. We research the history of Le Royal in Phnom Penh and the Grand Hotel d'Angkor Wat.
The Austrian Hotel Astoria in Seefel, Tyrol, seems to have an interesting history. We shall look at its early days as Hotel Britannia, and delve into the story.

2018-11: The jury sits again this week - and we go through the applications and - unfortunately - two cases of deletions from the list. The 50/50/50 rules are confirmed.

2018-11-11-11:11: an act of rememberance. 100 years of the end of the Great War.

2018-10/11: Taking Galle Face Hotel Colombo / Sri Lanka on board, the icon of South East Asia's hotels. We start research and are open for submissions of material, documents, photographs, Your personal memories, ...

2018-09: Are we approaching an age of darkness? Hoteliers are hesitant to keep archives.

2018-08: Prince de Galles Paris: the exquisite Art Deco temple in the City of Lights — we are introducing our research, never before published historic photographs and contemporary photography in a Palace Edition book at the height of the Paris' season this autumn.

Grand Hotel Royal — the "Corinthia Budapest": updating the book for the next edition, creation of articles for the hotel's inhouse magazine.

Hotel Imperial Vienna: the Path of History will be updated

Report from Syria: BARON ALEPPO — The Baron Hotel, in west Aleppo near the front line, was hit by mortar bombs, including one that sprayed shrapnel across an upper floor and another that crashed through the window of its “Oriental Room” onto delicate floor tiles but failed to explode. It stopped taking paying guests in 2012

2018-06: The Half Moon Treasury is out. The story of the legendary Caribbean resort and a brief history of Jamaica is available in our bookshop.

2018-05: latest discovery for our new book Metropole Hanoi. Charles Depincé 1902 photograph of the one year old Hotel Metropole.

2018-05: we are starting our series of articles for Hearst Publications with Marie Claire / Italy.

2018-05: Discovery of the oldest print of the Hotel Astoria Bruxelles — its predecessor "Grand Hotel", later Hotel Cluysenaar.

2018-04: Cesar Ritz — the Hotelier — appears in the Austrian daily Die Presse.

2018-04: We bestow the title "oldest hotel in the world" on a hospitable place in Japan, dating back to the 8th century, called Keiunkan. In the year 705AD (the 2nd year of the Keiun era), Fujiwara Mahito founded the inn. Because it was founded in the Keiun era, the inn was thus named Keiunkan.

2018 03: Reading Session A Night at The Ritz

With Closr we create descriptive and informative presentations of famoushotels history images.

2018-2: expanding the portfolio of The Most Famous Hotels in the World, we have recently selected the Hotel Majestic Barcelona. At the same time, we have re-listed the Oriental Hotel Kobe, Japan.

2018-1: WEF — ECONOMIC FORUM — Davos and its famous hotel Grand Hotel Belvedere is in a state of emergency. Two articles explain in German and in English what's going on during these extraordinary days.

German: http://www.tagblatt.ch/nachrichten/schweiz/wie-sich-davos-ein-neues-gesicht-gibt;art505763,5194925
English: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/22/davos-security-snipers-and-soldiers.html

Our book GRAND HOTEL BELVEDERE DAVOS (in German) tells you the story of this equally extraordinary hotel.

2018-1: Our research projects include Hotel Astoria in Brussels. It is currently closed and will reopen in 2020. It is a rare jewel of the beginning art-deco, end of art nouveau (Jugendstil). It was inspired by King Leopold of Belgium, and opened during the Brussels' World Fair in 1910.
Have you stayed at the Astoria / worked there: Please send us information / historic material etc. Mail

We are completing our book on the Paris Hotel Prince de Galles. More about it soon!

The Half Moon Treasury is about to be launched.

2017-12: No, we are not the Guinness Book of Records, so we do not list 'the world's most northerly full-service hotel (which is by the way the Radisson SAS Polar Hotel in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway, the largest hotel suite (Grand Hills in Lebanon – 4,131 m² – actually a building is comprised of 6 floors surrounded by private gardens and swimming pools, none of which are included in the 4,131). The smallest hotel with an overall floorspace of 53 m2, is the Eh'hausl hotel in Amberg, Germany. The largest hotel is the First World Hotel (Malaysia) with 7,351 operational rooms, at Resorts World Genting in Pahang Darul Makmur, Malaysia, as of 20 June 2015. Meanwhile, to secure the lead, the hotel increased its size from 6,118 rooms to 7,351, with the construction of a Tower 2 Annex. The JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai, UAE, formerly known as Emirates Park Towers Hotel & Spa, is the tallest hotel, standing at 355.35 m (1,165.84 ft) from ground level to the top of its mast (the building’s spire is 49.60 m tall).

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