Fatal last stays at hotels are of course part of the business, however, the hoteliers main concern is always: "I hope he/she is not going to die at my hotel!" This story could very well start with the famous tourism slogan "See Naples and Die". Enri...
Some Ritzy Things To Spice Up Your Dinner Conversation During his career, Swiss born César Ritz (1850–1918) managed or owned the following hotels. A buffet in the Bois de Boulogne (his first private enterprise), ... and in l...
Dear Friends of The Most Famous Hotels in the World, My dear Readers; All that matters in hospitality are people. We meet them, need them, interact with them. We must not take it for granted that they serve us. They could merely do their jobs...
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS / edited by Andreas Augustin Ralph Hitz (1891- 1940) The hotel business has seen many fine promoters and salesmen but perhaps none as creative as Ralph Hitz. His two favorite expressions “Contact the hell out of &lsq...
By Adrian Mourby The name “Waldorf” is forever linked to ”Astor” in the public imagination. It was John Jacob Astor I, the wealthiest man in the United States at the time of his death in 1848 who was ultimately responsible. ...
For more than a century the name Waldorf-Astoria (spelled Waldorf=Astoria these days) has been renowned. When established at the end of the nineteenth century it was not merely the largest hotel in the world, but one of the most advanced and pre...
Just as the West was enamoured by the wonders of India and Asia, the royals from India were adapting to the western culture with élan. Photograph from our book IMPERIAL New Delhi. Being an Indian royal was all about the finer things ...
The "Grand" as it is called on the island, is a historic coastal resort with a spectacular 660-foot long, three-story high porch. Below this covered veranda is a manicured lawn sloping down to a formal flower garden where 10,000 geraniums bloom in ...
Conrad Nicholson Hilton, (1887-1979), born in 1887 in San Antonio, New Mexico, was an American entrepreneur. As a young boy, Hilton developed entrepreneurial skills working at his father’s general store in Socorro County, New Mexico. This was f...
By Stanley Turkel, MHS, ISHC On October 2, 1990, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Hotel Marseilles as a landmark. It is among the most prominent of the grand apartment hotels erected on the upper west side. The Bea...
John McEntee Bowman (1875 – October 28, 1931) was a Canadian-born businessman, American hotelier and horseman, and the founding president of Bowman-Biltmore Hotels Corp. John McEntee Bowman had no easy boyhood. Born in 1875 in Toronto to...
Two books by Adrian Mourby should interest all hotel aficionados: Rooms of One's Own — 50 Places That Made Literary History Writers' relationships with their surroundings are seldom straightforward. While some, like Jan...
THE CORINTHIA, LONDON In 2012 a glamorous five-star hotel opened near to London’s Trafalgar Square. However, this was no new hotel. Not at all, just one that had been missing for decades. Unlike many of today's central London hotels, it wa...
Roddy Martine, our coauthor on the story about the fabled icon of Scottish hospitality, the Caledonian in Edinburgh, a Waldorf Astoria collection hotel, appears again in the limelight with a wonderful tale of two bush babies, in fact subtitled a "T...
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS The Hotel Theresa opened in 1913 on 125th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem and closed its doors as a hotel in 1970. It was built by German-born stockbroker Gustavus Sidenberg to the designs of architects George and Edward ...
by Stan Turkel (©2013) Among the many hotels we have "lost" in time was the McAlpin Hotel in NY city. Here is its story: General Edwin Angustus McAlpin (1848-1817) was a successful business man and president of the D.H. McAlpin & Co. tobac...
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS One of the most famous hotels of America was designed to rival the finest hotels in Europe. At its opening in 1913, the Hotel duPont contained 150 guest rooms, a main dining room, rathskeller, men's café/...
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS, ISHC, May, 2013 The Pierre Hotel (1930) 5th Avenue and 61st Street Did you read that the penthouse triplex at the Pierre Hotel in New York City was for sale for $125 million, the highest price ever listed for a New York ho...
This is Zurich's oldest grand hotel. When it opened on December 24, 1838, it marked a milestone in the history of the hotel industry. In...Read More
Grand Hotel Lviv in 1894 Lviv or Lemberg can be metaphorically described as the westernmost city in Eastern Europe or the easternmost city in...Read More
In our world, it is no longer a given that simple restraint represents true elegance. To be recognized as one of the oldest purpose-built Grand...Read More
In 1923/24, the construction of a 55-room hotel in Phnom Penh was proposed. Architect Ernest Hébrard, who was largely responsible for...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
