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Indira Devi, the Maharani of Cooch Behar, had a fetish for shoes. Salvatore Ferragamo, the legendary Italian shoe designer, reveals in his Autobiography about the time the Queen ordered more than a hundred pairs of shoes.
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India's kings and queens always had a deep fondness for jewellery. The “Patiala Necklace,” – the House of Cartier – Maison Boucheron — all these names were associated with the maharajas of the subcontinent.
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Fanciful Prediction, the Definition of “Turnpike”, The Pineapple as a Symbol of Hospitality and Hokusai, the Great Japanese Printmaker
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Concierge stories are told at famous hotels like good Jewish jokes. They are always a success.
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Baron Hausmann commissioned the Pereire brothers, powerful bankers who heavily financed the reconstruction of Paris, to build a luxurious new hotel. Designed by the architect Alfred Armand, the Grand Hotel du Louvre was opened in 1855, just in time for the International Exhibition staged in Paris that year. It was the first luxury hotel in France and the first 'Grand Hotel' of Paris.
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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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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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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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Around 1900, the Orient was a myth to many. Hotels were baptised 'De L'Orient' or 'Oriental' and inspired legends and fables. For most of us, today, the term Oriental Hotel appears to be linked to the city of Bangkok. That lead to the believe that there always was only one Oriental Hotel.
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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.
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A video from Mandarin Oriental Dream Wonderland — this time a most realistic affair — pre checking in a very special client. Enjoy a smile but don't forget: they are dead serious about all this..
In 1923/24, the construction of a 55-room hotel in Phnom Penh was proposed, with Ernest Hébrard as architect. A visionary planner, he was in...Read More
Grand Hotel Lviv in 1894 The spirit is remarkable in this eastern Ukrainian city. Formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian, empire, Lemberg...Read More
Since decades “The Oriental”, as it is affectionately known by travellers from all over the globe, leads the lists of all...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
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
