The Happier the Hotelier, the Happier the Guest
From the monthly archives:
When two guests of Parador de Toledo in the central Spanish city of Toledo crashed with their bed through the floor and landed on a builder working on the floor below, they not only lost their view, but got various serious injuries and injured the builder as well.
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On my recent trip to Vienna I was able to take this photo of Schloss Fuschl as I remembered it. My DW and I stayed once in the mid eighties in suite 101 (the Sissi Suite) which has a magnificent view over Lake Fuschl that is located 20 km east of Salzburg in Austria.
Actually that stay was due to a misunderstanding with my travel agent (no, not the lady from LA) who I had asked to make a reservation for a room in the much more moderately priced Jagdhof which then was (as it is nowadays) located at the entrance to the actual Schloss. Both the (Jagd) Schloss Fuschl and the Jagdhof Fuschl (Jagd stands for Hunting) were still operated more privately (or by a small company) in those days. However, I don’t regret the decision to stay in the Schloss rather than in the Hof that my wife knew from a previous visit.
The Schloss is said being built in the 15th century as a hunting lodge for the Bishop of Salzburg. In 1833 ownership passed from the cleric to the Austrian imperial dynasty. Eventually it became a ruin and had many owners until 1950/51 when the building was turned into a hotel. In 1954 Harriet, Countess of Walderberg, who, in 1939, had bought another hotel, the Golderner Hirsch (Golden Deer) in Salzburg, that she had turned into fame, bought the property. From 1957 to 1958, Schloss Fuschl became famous as the set of the legendary Sissi-films with Romy Schneider and Karl-Heinz Böhm. Even nowadays, hotel guests can stay in the suite where Romy Schneider was in those days (yes suite 101).
In 1958, salt baron Carl Adolf Vogel, who later also would buy Goldener Hirsch, bought the estate from Henriette and, together with his wife Winnie Markus, turned it further into a luxury hotel. Around 1967, he built rooms in the actual Jagdhof which housed the hunt and pipe museum well worth seeing, which burnt down in 1993.
In 1976, an auction took place, which ended with the new proprietor being the Max Grundig Foundation with seat in Nürnberg-Fürth. On 20th of May 1981, Schloss Fuschl was classified as a historical monument. In 1998, the Rafael Hotels & Resorts took Schloss Fuschl over.
On the 1st of January 2001, the Hotel Schloß Fuschl Betriebe were passed on from the ownership of the Max Grundig Foundation to the Hotel Schloss Fuschl Ges.m.b.H. The Hotel Schloss Fuschl is led as a “The Luxury Collection” hotel in conjunction with the Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide by way of franchise by the Arabella Sheraton Hotel Management GmbH.
When I turned into the drive way I noticed that it had expanded dramatically since our last visit 20 years ago. Then from this photo only the tower and a minor addition and a spa building were in existence.
I am not sure I will stay there again, as it does not seem have the same style it had back in the eighties, as it is now operated by the Starwood conglomerate…but mainly because I wouldn’t want to spoil a good memory of that erroneous glorious stay in a bit run down hotel, full of antique, beautiful paintings and a magnificent view….and memories are what hotels are for…n’est pas?
Sources fro the historic part are: J.P. Moser Hotelguide and the book “Goldener Hirsch, Salzburg” of Andreas Augustin of Famous Hotels.
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I believe hoteliers without interest in food and beverage do not exist. However my problem this month is there is happening so much in Dutch (language) food and restaurant world, that I will never be able to translate any or all fast and efficient enough:
and
Only the site of Special Bite giving some interesting information in the English Language, but no summaries of their paper guide…
Therefore I share with you a totally different piece of information I stumbled upon: Chocolate and Zucchini, a Blog by a 27 year young Parisian born lady, Clotilde Dusoulier, who started this blog already in 2003, long before the Big rush of Blogs in 2005 and 2006. She lives in Paris after having worked for two years in the San Francisco area.
Look for yourself here at Chocolate and Zucchini.
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A nice title from Travel Daily News for a unique hotel style staff accommodation and leisure facility complex that was opened by employees of InterContinental Hotels Abu Dhabi. By the end of the year 600 employees of the group, approximately 50 nationalities, will be housed in a luxury that is close to the standards of the Abu Dhabi Hotels in the group.
Less luxurious, the Royal Dutch Shell Group plc head office here in the Hague operates a hotel style facility that they prudently call “management trainee accommodation”
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I have been on a short trip to Vienna trough Munich and Salzburg. Before anything else I would like to share this:
The planning of this trip gave me some insight in the pros and contras of planning your own trip versus using a travel agent nowadays. In the days of my frequent business traveling, long before the Internet area, we used a Los Angeles based one woman Travel Agent. Why based in Los Angeles? Because when the travel plans were made, usually after Dutch business hours, each and every Dutch travel agent was closed. She was there, reliable as always, willing to combine unusual travel requests and destinations, and, last but not least, she was one of the first woman I know of who could toggle the GDS schemes in a favorable way for us. One who could suggest a round the world ticket for an Amsterdam Los Angeles round trip as being much cheaper than a simple return ticket. Coming to think of this, I am curious how she is doing these days.
Already ten years ago, in the Internet infancy days, I once booked a satisfactory stay in one of the hotels of their collection through the Internet (then via an aptly answered e-mail exchange) as I did again during this trip to Vienna.
My conclusion is that they still are way ahead of the crowd. If you want to pick a hotel in a certain area you want to see where it is located. The site of »Relais et Chateaux gives it all: Fast loading and to the point location of the hotel of your choice and in addition to to the point information about the hotel. Moreover they have their complete catalog on line in an easy flip through PDF format which you can also download if you want.
Finally in flipping through their portfolio, my conclusion is that they still are one of the primary sources for a real (luxury) weekend hotel.
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Begin November 2006 the launch of Qbic Hip Hotels was announced by Paul Rinkens, Rino Soeters en Marcel Voermans, the people behind Design hotel La Bergère and Hip Hotel St Martenslane, both in Maastricht, as the Dutch answer to cube alike hotel concepts as Easy Hotel, Yotel and Hotel Everland:
Qbic Hip Hotel Amsterdam Center (at WTC, Strawinskylaan 241) is anticipated to open in March 2007.
Qbic Hip Hotel Antwerpen (at Sint Paulusstraat 42 / Lange Koepoortstraat 6) is anticipated to open in June 2007.
Each Cube will cover 7 m2 with a living room, King Size Hästens beds, Philippe Starck design bathroom elements, TV, radio, safe and wireless Internet access.
With individually adjustable varicolored led lights guests can establish their own atmosphere. Easily changeable wall panels will give the guest the possibility to adjust the atmosphere further.
The lobby in Amsterdam will be designed by Feran Thomassen and for Antwerp by Ontwerpers.nu (i.e. Designers.Now!). They envisage a digital “concierge kiosk” where through an ‘i- touch’ screen guests can gather the necessary information about things to do, where to wine and dine and where to party, or to contact a Qbic staff member who will be available on site.
Also a self service shop is anticipated for all amenities and necessities.
Pricing will be done by the “the-earlier-the-reservation-the-lower-the-price” system and vary from Euro 39,- to Euro 139,-.
Realization by PRM. I found this site via a sort of “Who is Who?” of graduates of Dutch Hotel Schools: HotelloTop.nl.
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Hotel Everland is a hotel with only one room. It includes a bathroom deluxe, a king-size bed and a lounge. It is created by the Swiss artists Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann The L and The B of “L/B”.
It was first developed for the Swiss national exhibition Expo.02 and was located on the lake of Yverdon. Afterwards the mobile pavilion was brought to Burgdorf and placed on the factory roof at L/B’s studio.
From June 2006 until August 2007 the cube is placed on the roof of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Leipzig, Germany. During the opening times of the museum, visitors can take a peek at the Hotel. After closing hours it’s reserved to the happy ones that have booked the room for a night.
In September 2007 Hotel Everland moves on to Paris where it will be installed on the roof of Palais de Tokyo. It will also be exhibited for one year and run as a hotel, but this time with a view on the Eiffel Tower.
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The Canadian based Four Seasons Hotels Inc. that manages 73 Luxury Hotels in 30 countries is under a bid that values the company at a US $ 3,7 bio, from a Saudi Prince, Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud, currently according to Forbes the world’s eight richest person, through his Kingdom Hotels International, who teams up in this bid with the world’s first richest person, Bill Gates through his Cascade Investment LLC. They had already a 30% stake together for a number of years and will extent their interest to 90%, while the company’s founder, Isadore Sharp (75) will keep 10% of the shares.
The offer is described in legal lingo here at the CNW site.
Kingdom Hotels International took over another Luxury Canadian hotel group, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts which then was combined with the Raffles group already in January 2006 with a total transaction value of US $ 5,5 bio.
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One of my aims with this Blog is to enable foreigners to gather more information about my small but glorious country. A good start is Steven Pemberton’s The Internet Guide to Amsterdam.
Steven is an Internet guru who started this guide as a write up for visiting students.
I had seen this site before, but stumbled upon it again through Celia’s guide to Amsterdam.
Enjoy!
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Indeed it was a spectacular ceremony:
The storm had passed. The rain had ceased. It remained cold and the air was full of stormy clouds. The moon showed up in 3/4 th mode. A podium was built over the pond in front of the The Hague City Museum. The scaffold had survived the Beaufort 10 force storm and not as many people as originally expected attended the ceremony.
There was a rap group. There was a pop group. There were several Aldermen explaining specific features of The Hague. There was a stand up comedian who complimented The Hague as the city of International Justice, and, being from New Zealand, the Dutch as the people who discovered New Zealand.
The Mayor explained that the logo was intended for marketing purposes only and not for the city board. He hinted that the logo referred to the Victory Boogie Woogie, the famous painting of Piet Mondriaan that is in the The Hague City Museum where the ceremony took place.
Then Anton, shy, but far from inhibited, explained that he had lived in the UK for 27 years before he choose The Hague as his favorite city to live in. He continued that he was not allowed to use the stork and that no foreigner ever would connect a stork with The Hague. In his view the logo had to be colorful and easily reproducible by a child. He added that indeed the line represents the dunes. The kite is there, even as the rudimentary spermatozoa.
Here is the logo: not the same as the version leaked to the press, but not so much different:
Okay, from now on one should refer to The Hague only as Den Haag, even if one doesn’t know how to pronounce it.
I am very afraid they missed the boat (or is it beat?…Den Haag used to The Beat City back in the 60ies). Why not take advantage of the fact that Anton is a famous photographer of Rock stars? How to connect Den Haag with this? Why not hint to the very effective slogan “The Hague, Royal City” or “The Hague, Royal City by the sea”?
(All photos gje)
Post alia:
Here is a link to The Official 1 November Launch Site
(added 27th December, 2006)
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