Entries tagged with: Andrew Williamson

I need not have any money! PERSONALITIES

I need not have any money!

If you think you have seen them all, read this one. Around 1960, it was sent to the proprietress of the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok, Germaine Krull, who remembers: ‘Our bill collectors had their problems. One debtor had left the French Embassy a...

Read More
Making Of Oriental Bangkok The Making Of Books

Making Of Oriental Bangkok

A room at the Oriental in  the 1920s, at the time of Somerset Maugham's arrival Fighting White Ants by Andreas Augustin At The Mandarin Oriental shop, and present in every room, the book about the Oriental's history is more than j...

Read More
Somerset Maugham arrives at the Oriental PERSONALITIES

Somerset Maugham arrives at the Oriental

Bangkok / Siam (today Thailand) "The hotel faced the river. My room was dark, one of a long line, with a verandah on each side of it, the breeze blew through, but it was stifling. The dining-room was large and dim, and for coolness" sake the windows...

Read More
The Lady’s True Age HOTELS

The Lady’s True Age

 By Andrew Williamson and Andreas Augustin Never ask a lady about her age! we have all learnt to accept. But if we stop calling hotels grand old ladies, we might very well aks. ‘How old is this establishment?’ is often one o...

Read More
The Lenox: Meeting Jimmy Fisher HOTELS

The Lenox: Meeting Jimmy Fisher

Andrew Williamson | An American Essay   As I stride across the carpeted lobby of Boston’s Lenox Hotel I am clamped firmly on the wrist. What can I have done? Has my past caught up with me? ‘Good afternoon, sir. Welcome to the Leno...

Read More
The Third Hotel HOTELS

The Third Hotel

Andreas Augustin tackled the impossible — and produced a book about the long missing third hotel of the Sarkies brothers. This is a list of the neccessary 12 pillars of success. Once again, I am taking you on a journey into a historic ...

Read More
Travel History: Thomas Cook PERSONALITIES

Travel History: Thomas Cook

During the 1870s, a new 'movement' was to be observed in England. The English suddenly travelled in larger groups than any other nation. Only a few decades ago travelling was almost exclusively reserved for a small elite, the upper class. W...

Read More

Most Popular

Mandarin Oriental Savoy Zurich (former Savoy Baur en Ville)

Mandarin Oriental Savoy Zurich (former Savoy Baur en Ville)

Zurich can take great pride in having had such a farsighted entrepreneur, who managed to leave the world two of its most famous hotels. His name was...Read More

Raffles Hotel

Raffles Hotel

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 Mandarin Oriental Bangkok

The Mandarin Oriental Bangkok

Since decades “The Oriental”, as it is affectionately known by travellers from all over the globe, leads the lists of most...Read More

Half Moon

Half Moon

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

Mount Kenya Safari Club

Mount Kenya Safari Club

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