"Unspeakably hot. The equator is arriving again. We are within eight degrees of it. Ceylon present. Dear me, it is beautiful! And most sumptuously tropical, as to character of foliage and opulence of it. 'What though the spicy breezes blow soft o...
Grand Hotel Royal — The Corinthia Budapest April 1896, boarding the Orient Express at Paris, bound for Budapest The Orient Express left Paris for Vienna and Budapest at 6.50 pm sharp. The train was full. There was a flutter of...
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...
The Delhi Durbar, the "Court of Delhi", where the King-Emperor announced the move of India's capital from Calcutta to Delhi in 1911. From our book IMPERIAL New Delhi. India has been viewed with a lot of awe and amazement by the entire world for...
Excerpt of the Minutes of the Meeting of the Jury (London, December 2018) Do we Brexit or not? For 33 years the minutes of our organisation were typed at Pall Mall, London. Last December we held our regular jury meeting at our historical conference ...
By Adrian Mourby If you want to know where the beating heart of England can be found, then Trafalgar Square is a good place to start. When World War II ended, thousands of people crammed into this world-famous piazza below the National Gallery and...
Europe / Austria / Vienna “The Hotel Imperial in Vienna, Austria, wishes you a pleasant morning and a wonderful day!” the little breakfast newspaper announces. On the following pages the weather preview, followed by the music and cultu...
From our book IMPERIAL New Delhi. India's kings and queens always had a deep fondness for jewellery. Both royal men and women wore priceless, precious pieces all over their personage, starting from rare gems encrusted in t...
Salvatore Ferragamo "Maharani" wedge, 1938 Bhupinder Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala, famous for the Patiala Necklace, and his queen Rani Yashoda Devi, were known to travel to London, to Vandyk Studios (a successful London photographer, bo...
The first three Rolls-Royce cars owned by the Rajpipla royal family. Leading is a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost 1921 carrying Maharaja Sir Vijaysinhji of Rajpipla and Governor of Bombay Sir Frederick Sykes, followed by Rolls-Royce 20 hp 1922, and Rolls-Ro...
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 original Louis Vuitton 1923 cabin trunk of the private secretary of the Maharajah of Alwar. When the Indian Royalty travelled abroad, they travelled in style. Even their luggage planning was a big affair. Bespoke, monogrammed luggage with the R...
Jagatjit-Singh Bahadur, Maharaja of Kapurthala on his visit to Vienna's Hotel Imperial. Not just travel, Indian royalty were also creating second homes in the international playfields of the rich and famous or in the exclusively secluded plac...
Producing a book about the Grand Hotel Royal was probably as exciting as rebuilding it. And both activites brought a number of people back to the stage of this Hungairan legend, who had been working for this grand hotel in the past. The magic spell ...
Andreas Augustin Hotelnamen haben einen besonderen Klang. Manche versprechen weltweit Qualität, andere erreichten als Solitäre globalen Ruf und wurden zum Synonym für die Destination, an der man sie findet. Manche sind schlicht irref&...
If you want to know where the beating heart of England can be found, then Trafalgar Square a good place to start. When World War II ended, thousands of people crammed into this world-famous piazza below the National Gallery and danced round its fount...
Author Andreas Augustin visits a good old friend. Once called one of the “Maidens of the East”, today one of the Grand Old Ladies of South East Asia. The Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok keeps its reign as the most famous hotel of Thailand, b...
The first pool at The Oriental (1959) Exactly 50 years ago, swimming pools were not necessarily part of the basic facilities of an Asian hotel. In the 1960s, The Oriental in Bangkok was among the first hotels to have its own pool, long bef...
From the book THE ORIENTAL, BANGKOK, the history of the legendary hotel, published in the library THE MOST FAMOUS HOTELS IN THE WORLD® by Andreas Augustin and Andrew Williamson Why don't you do some work, for a change? Chapter: Italthai 196...
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
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
