Hotel... a look behind the closed "Staff Only" doors

 Prefer to listen? Here's a link to the audio podcast.

Hotel by Arthur Hailey

 I’m a reluctant health nut. That is to say that I work out and walk 10k steps every day but it is done more out of the necessity of it, than the joy. Let me elaborate… a few years ago, I was diagnosed with hypertension. It wasn’t really any surprise, because as a single parent working in an IT project delivery role, I was a walking talking pressure vessel. The stubborn human that I am, I refused the pharmaceutical shortcut and decided the way to handle my stress, is to make lifestyle changes. Hence, I work out, and I walk my 10k steps every day, however, I don’t actually like walking them. To make my forced padayatra, a little bearable, I listen to books. A lot of people listen to music while they work out… I used to do that too… but that was before I discovered the world of audiobooks. Once I figured that I can listen to books while I’m pumping iron…. There was no turning back. And since this morning routine of mine, is like 2 hours long, LONG books became a necessity. And that’s when I stumbled into Arthur Hailey.

 Arthur Hailey is not part of my usual list of authors. He doesn’t write about mystical heroes or fantasy worlds. And he writes BIG novels. Most Arthur Hailey books, I had seen were these HUGE affairs, just looking at them would make my wrist ache. 😊 but when you are looking for a companion for a 5km walk every day, you need an equally long story. My first Arthur Hailey novel was The Airport. It’s a wonderful little book that deep dives into the world that is an international airport terminal. Multiple threads and narratives run parallel and by the end of the novel, they all find a common culmination. Airport was a great experience. I didn’t even realise when I was pulled into the story and flowed through. So when it was time to pick another long companion for our this year’s let’s try something different… Arthur Hailey was an obvious pick.

 So we picked up Hotel for this year’s 7^th review. Now…before I wrote this review, I did a little RnD on Mr. Hailey. And found the author equally interesting as his books. Arthur Hailey was a Brit / Canadian novelist. Born in a working-class family, he worked through a series of jobs and part-time writing assignments. In 1956, he switched to full-time writing as a career. Most of his books have been adapted to screen, either as movies or for Television. He was famous for spending a lot of time preparing for his novels. Some claim that he used to spend a year researching his subject, then about 6 more months reviewing and refining his notes, and THEN about 18 months writing his novels. So basically like 3 years to write one book. Now THAT’s some commitment… I remember reading somewhere that to write Hotel, he went and stayed at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans.  Then owner of the hotel, a guy called Seymour Weiss, instructed his department heads to answer Hailey’s questions honestly and without holding back and urged them to direct their staff to do the same. Hailey believed that Weiss had become weary of his hotel and the corruption that had seized it. And Hailey managed to capture what he saw n experienced at The Roosevelt in his novel. The interesting thing is that The Roosevelt still exists, only these days it’s called the Fairmont.

 

When you read an Arthur Hailey novel, you get to experience all the time Mr. Hailey spent in the preparations. You get to experience the industry like you are actually a part of it, without being bogged down by its jargon… When you read Airport, you actually feel like you are part of the crew… similarly, in Hotel, you get to see the behind-the-scenes of a successful and busy hotel. The hospitality industry at its best or worst, in some cases.

Like all his novels, Hotel also has about 6 storylines or plot lines. All centred around a fictional luxury hotel in New Orleans called St. Gregory. The novel covers 5 days of the hot n humid summer, of 1964. And revolves around St. Gregory’s Assistant Manager, Peter McDermott.

We have a range of other characters involved in the story.

-          The Hotel’s owner, Warren Trent, who resides on the top floor of the hotel, and if facing some serious monitory issues. Banks at his door for repayment of his mortgage… with a deadline of Friday evening.

-          Royce, an African American law student, who seem to have a rather unusual relationship with Warren Trent.

-          Herbie Chandler, the bell captain whose middle name is corruption. Who is helping hotel guests with all sorts of unsavoury things, including prostitution and even raves…

-          Christine, Warren Trent’s secretary, who seems to have a liking for Peter McDermott. And plays a rather interesting role in saving the hotel.

-          Julius “Keycase” Milne, an accomplished thief, who is operating within St. Gregory’s, procuring key cards by various means and stealing from the guests. Including the Duke and Duchess.

-          Duke and Duchess of Croydon, who are hiding out of the hotel, trying to avoid being accosted for a gruesome hit-and-run accident, and are trying to use their influence and money to get out of it.

-          Curtis O’Keefe, owner of a large hotel chain, who is keen to buy St. Gregory. He is accompanied by Dodo, an aspiring actress and his girlfriend.

Like I said earlier, Hotel has a LOT of threads and plotlines. All of them seem to operate individually while we are reading through… but cleverly ALL the threads come to a conclusion by the end of the story. Not all of them come to an end the way you expect or even want them to … but on average the end leaves you feeling content. Surely, being written in the 60’s, it's pretty outdated now but this is not actually a bad thing… I found it rather a nostalgic insight into how hotels used to operate and if I’m being honest, in many ways, not that much has changed! Interestingly, almost all of the predictions that Curtis O'Keefe, made for hotels of the future, have never come to pass. Hospitality is still about good service and people which are seemingly the most important elements in a successful hotel and I hope, it will remain that way for a long time to come.

 

Arthur Hailey as an author has an immense talent to turn regular day-to-day into an attention-grabbing thriller. Reading / Listening to Hotel was truly a lesson in the inner workings of the hotel, I genuinely was invested in the fate of the hotel. So if you are looking for something that will keep you engaged and maybe teach you a thing or two about something interesting… Do give the Hotel a try. I bet you will come out of the experience a newly inspired human… 😊