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World Hotels - Hotel Stories: Legendary Hideaways of the World
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List Price: $34.95
Our Price: $34.95
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Assouline
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 915
EAN: 9782843233425
ISBN: 2843233429
Label: Assouline
Manufacturer: Assouline
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 208
Publication Date: 2002-05
Publisher: Assouline
Studio: Assouline
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Editorial Reviews:
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Open Hotel Stories and you will be transported to the most talked about haunts across the globe: Greta Garbo was "born" in a Berlin palace; "James Bond" was created in a house in Jamaica; Al Capone lived his last days in a hotel in Miami; Frida Kahlo escaped with Leon Trotsky to a hacienda in the Mexican countryside. Throughout the world, mansions, domains, palaces, and haciendas: today these places have been transformed into hotels, where magic and mystery floats in the air. Stories of incredible adventures, unsolved mysteries, political intrigues, film shoots and illicit liaisons from Rome to Hong Kong, Nairobi, Chile and Mexico are collected in this colorful book. See these famous spots as they were yesterday and as they are today along with beautiful shots of the celebrities who put these places on the map. Travel the world from your couch, or use the detailed hotel information provided to go see the rooms for yourself. Either way, Hotel Stories is a trip you will never forget.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Do Landmark Hotels Have A Persona?
Comment: Ever wonder if landmark hotels have unique souls or a persona attached to them, or are they merely brick and glass- a place to sleep, eat and wander around their lobbies?
Judging from the contents of author Francisca Matteoli's Hotel Stories: Legendary Hideaways Of The World, you would have to conclude that yes, some of these legendary hotels do in fact have a soul.
Matteoli's appealing writing style and interesting tidbits make a book that would ordinarily be dry, come alive. The author captures the traveler's imagination with a collection of narratives that are rich in detail unfolding some of the most famous hotels in the world and the celebrities who frequented them.
We learn about The Algonquin in New York City, where Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe wrote My Fair Lady; and where the Round Table Of The Algonquin was formed. The latter were a group of literary giants who met every day in the Rose Room to exchange barbs and ideas. Among the participants were Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley of Vanity Fair.
Did you know that Ian Fleming of James Bond fame discovered for himself the island of Jamaica in 1944, purchased a piece of land in Oracabessa (Golden Head) calling his paradise Goldeneye, built a simple villa, where he wrote the adventures of James Bond? Eventually, the villa became a luxury hideaway and the Goldeneye Resort. Today, you can rent Fleming's house, and according to the author, his desk is still in his bedroom.
We are informed that the Regent Beverly Wilshire is the hotel for making motion pictures. There is even a luxurious dressing-room providing hospitality to movie stars after a day's work in the nearby Hollywood studios. For many years Warren Beatty lived in the Veranda Suite.
Among other interesting hotel tie-ins exposed in the book are: Frank Sinatra and The Peninsula in Hong Kong, Charles De Gaulle and the Cashel House in Ireland, Orson Wells and the Copacabana Palace in Rio De Janeiro, Truman Capote and The Plaza in New York, Andy Warhol and The Savoy in London, Ernest Hemingway and The Ambos Mundos in Cuba, the Sundance resort and Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, and there are several more.
The material in this collection of short essays is skilfully and poignantly blended together with photos and period illustrations that permit readers to get a solid sense of the unique personalities of these renowned hotels. Anyone interested in famous hotels would do well to read this book.
Norm Goldman, Editor Bookpleasures.com
Customer Rating:
Summary: Places to dream
Comment: This new book brings stories of legend ands anecdotes with a new twist that enticed me to visit most of these places. Looking at this book that seem to have been published years ago has this "passe" flavor of the old times. I enjoyed it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: STAYING WITH LEGENDS
Comment: HOTEL STORIES by Francisca Matteoli is an intriguing tour of some famous and not so famous hotels around the world. Each place she writes about is described as it is today and as it was at the time of the visits of some legendary figures who stayed in them.It is a delightful and pleasant read for the stay at home traveler or for the traveler planning her next trip.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Big Disapppointment and Lost Opportunity
Comment: The list of hotels covered is excellent. However, the author gives only the most superficial treatment to the 'stories' from the hotel -- as if a small clip from ONE gossip column would suffice. NONE of the pictures have captions or idenitfiers. I KNOW that many of these hotels have more extensive and interesting stories to tell, even in the limited space for each entry. Space is wasted on travel stuff best sourced from a Fodor's or Frommer's, e.g. the fact that a certain hotel is close to the shopping on Fifth Avenue. Overall, a slapdash work with little real research effort. This is a lost opportunity that is an embarassment to the publisher, and some other author should take up the project. Buy this book only if you can get a very cheap remainder price, and do some library research on your own.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Big Disapppointment and Lost Opportunity
Comment: The list of hotels covered is excellent. However, the author gives only the most superficial treatment to the 'stories' from the hotel -- as if a small clip from ONE gossip column would suffice. NONE of the pictures have captions or idenitfiers. I KNOW that many of these hotels have more extensive and interesting stories to tell, even in the limited space for each entry. Space is wasted on travel stuff best sourced from a Fodor's or Frommer's, e.g. the fact that a certain hotel is close to the shopping on Fifth Avenue. Overall, a slapdash work with little real research effort. This is a lost opportunity that is an embarassment to the publisher, and some other author should take up the project. Buy this book only if you can get a very cheap remainder price, and do some library research on your own.
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