A hotel is an establishment that provides paid
lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large
suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a
refrigerator, and other kitchen facilities,
upholstered chairs, a
flat-screen television, and
en-suite bathrooms. Small, lower-priced hotels may offer only the most basic guest services and facilities. Larger, higher-priced hotels may provide additional guest facilities such as a swimming pool, a business center with computers, printers, and other office equipment, childcare, conference and event facilities, tennis or basketball courts,
gymnasium, restaurants, day spa, and social function services. Hotel rooms are usually
numbered (or named in some smaller hotels and
B&Bs) to allow guests to identify their room. Some boutique, high-end hotels have custom decorated rooms. Some hotels offer meals as part of a room and board arrangement. In
Japan,
capsule hotels provide a tiny room suitable only for sleeping and shared bathroom facilities.
Hotel operations vary in size, function, complexity, and cost. Most hotels and major hospitality companies have set industry standards to classify hotel types. An upscale full-service hotel facility offers
luxury amenities, full-service accommodations, an on-site
restaurant, and the highest level of personalized service, such as a
concierge,
room service, and
clothes-ironing staff.
Full-service hotels often contain upscale full-service facilities with many full-service accommodations, an on-site full-service
restaurant, and a variety of on-site
amenities.
Boutique hotels are smaller independent, non-branded hotels that often contain upscale facilities. Small to medium-sized hotel establishments offer a limited amount of on-site amenities. Economy hotels are small to medium-sized hotel establishments that offer basic accommodations with little to no services.
Extended stay hotels are small to medium-sized hotels that offer longer-term full-service accommodations compared to a traditional hotel. (Full article...)
The hotel is composed of two guestroom towers flanking the Hudson Theatre. The original 48-story tower west of the theater was designed by William Derman and
Perkins & Will, while the 22-story annex east of the theater was designed by
Stonehill & Taylor. The original hotel tower contains a lobby with a passageway connecting two entrances on 44th and 45th Streets. In addition, there is a bar, restaurant, and fitness center in the original tower. The conference center in the lower stories extended into the Hudson Theatre, which in 2017 became a Broadway theater. The 22-story annex is branded as the Millennium Premier New York Times Square. (Full article...)
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The aftermath of the bombing
The Brinks Hotel in
Saigon, also known as the Brink Bachelor Officers Quarters (BOQ), was bombed by the
Viet Cong on the evening of December 24, 1964, during the
Vietnam War. Two Viet Cong operatives detonated a
car bomb underneath the hotel, which housed
United States Army officers. The explosion killed two Americans, an officer and an NCO, and injured approximately 60, including military personnel and Vietnamese civilians.
The Viet Cong commanders had planned the venture with two objectives in mind. Firstly, by attacking an American installation in the center of the heavily guarded capital, the Viet Cong intended to demonstrate their ability to strike in
South Vietnam should the United States decide to launch air raids against
North Vietnam. Secondly, the bombing would demonstrate to the South Vietnamese that the Americans were vulnerable and could not be relied upon for protection. (Full article...)
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The Palace Hotel in
Perth, Western Australia, is a landmark three-storey heritage listed building located in the city's
central business district. Originally built in 1897 as a hotel during the
gold rush period of
Western Australia's history, it was converted to banking chambers and offices in the 1980s and now accommodates the Perth headquarters of
Woods Bagot, Adapptor and Hatchd. The building is located on the most prominent intersection in the financial district of the city, at the corner of
St Georges Terrace and
William Street.
When the hotel opened for business on 18 March 1897 it was, although slightly smaller than some of its contemporary buildings in other capital cities in Australasia, described as "... one of the most beautiful and elegant hotels in Australasia". Other praise included: "... redolent of the bourgeois luxury and splendour of the Paris of Napoleon III" and later "... in its day, as sumptuous a hostelry as any in Melbourne or Sydney." It operated as licensed premises from 1897 until 1981. (Full article...)
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The Waldorf Astoria New York is a
luxury hotel and condominium residence in
Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, at 301
Park Avenue between 49th and
50th Streets, is a 47-story 625 ft (191 m)
Art Deco landmark designed by architects
Schultze and Weaver and completed in 1931. The building was the world's tallest hotel until 1957, when it was surpassed by Moscow's
Hotel Ukraina. An icon of glamor and luxury, the Waldorf Astoria is one of the world's most prestigious and best-known hotels. Once owned by Conrad Hilton,
Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, a division of Hilton Hotels, operates under the name of the original hotel in locations around the world. Both the exterior and the interior of the New York's Waldorf Astoria are designated by the
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission as official landmarks.
The original
Waldorf-Astoria was built in two stages along
Fifth Avenue and opened in 1893; it was demolished in 1929 to make way for the construction of the
Empire State Building.
Conrad Hilton acquired management rights to the hotel on October 12, 1949, and the
Hilton Hotels Corporation finally bought the hotel outright in 1972. It underwent a $150 million renovation ($555 million in 2023 dollars ) by
Lee Jablin in the 1980s and early 1990s. The
Anbang Insurance Group of China purchased the Waldorf Astoria New York for US$1.95 billion in 2014, making it the most expensive hotel ever sold. The Waldorf Astoria closed in 2017 for renovations; the upper stories were converted into 375 condominiums, while the lowest 18 floors will retain 375 hotel rooms. Dajia Insurance Group took over the Waldorf Astoria when Anbang went bankrupt in 2020, and, after several delays, the hotel is not expected to reopen until 2025 at the earliest. (Full article...)
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The Hotel Polen fire occurred on 9 May 1977 in
Amsterdam, the
Netherlands. The conflagration destroyed the Hotel Polen (Hotel Poland), a five-story hotel in the centre of the city which had been built in 1891, as well as the furniture store on the ground level and a nearby bookstore. Many of the tourists staying at the hotel (of whom the majority were
Swedes) jumped to their deaths trying to escape the flames. Upon their arrival, the fire department used a
life net to help people escape, but not everyone could be saved. The incident resulted in 33 deaths and 21 severe injuries. The cause of the fire is unknown. In 1986, the Polish-born artist
Ania Bien created a photographic installation based on the fire which compared it to the
Holocaust.
The hotel was located between the
Kalverstraat (no. 15–17) and the
Rokin (no. 14), near the present day
Madame Tussauds. Its place is now occupied by the
Rokin Plaza, originally an office building, which today houses several fashion shops. (Full article...)
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Hotel Valley Ho
Hotel Valley Ho is a historic hotel in
Scottsdale, Arizona. Also called the Valley Ho and, for 28 years, the Ramada Valley Ho, the hotel was originally designed by
Edward L. Varney. It first opened in 1956 with a forward-looking and futuristic design. Movie stars and famous baseball players stayed, and the building quickly became known for its trendsetting guests and its fashionable atmosphere. The success of the venture resulted in expansion in 1958, with two additional two-story wings of guest rooms extending to the north. Though initially proposed by Varney, a central tower of guest rooms, rising over the lobby, was not built.
The property was bought by the
Ramada hotel chain in 1973, and was redecorated to cover the 1950s design, seen at the time as outdated. No longer in vogue, but centrally located, the hotel remained prominent for years, and hosted conferences, business meetings, and vacationers. Under Ramada management, however, the property began to show a lack of maintenance, and its popularity declined. It closed in 2001 and its demolition was considered when no purchase offers were received. Admirers of the hotel's exemplary architecture and its local history rallied to save it, and it was placed on the Scottsdale Historic Register. (Full article...)
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Places of the attacks
The 2008 Mumbai attacks (also referred to as 26/11attacks) were a series of
terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of
Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant
Islamist organisation from
Pakistan, carried out 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks lasting four days across
Mumbai. The attacks, which drew widespread global condemnation, began on Wednesday 26 November and lasted until Saturday 29 November 2008. A total of 175 people died, including nine of the attackers, with more than 300 injured.
John Plankinton (March 11, 1820 – March 29, 1891) was an American businessman. He is noted for expansive real estate developments in Milwaukee, including the luxurious Plankinton House Hotel designed as an upscale residence for the wealthy. He was involved with railroading and banking. The Plankinton Bank he developed became the leading bank of Milwaukee in his lifetime. He was involved in the development of the Milwaukee City Railroad Company, an electric railway.
Plankinton was a
Milwaukee-based
meatpacking industrialist. He started this trade as a butcher for his general store operating in the center part of the city. He was the city's leading meat packer after his first year in the grocery business. He expanded this industry and eventually became acquainted with the meatpacking industrialist
Philip D. Armour forming a company with him that lasted for 20 years. (Full article...)
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The Hotel Europa was a grand hotel located in
Maracaibo,
Venezuela. It opened in the late 19th century and served as the filming location for the first Venezuelan film, Un célebre especialista sacando muelas en el gran Hotel Europa, in 1897. Later, it was converted into other hotels with different names, most notably the Hotel Zulia, before being demolished in 1956 for the construction of the Maracaibo municipal building. (Full article...)
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Virgin Hotels Chicago entrance
The Virgin Hotels Chicago (formerly Old Dearborn Bank Building or 203 North Wabash Avenue) is a historic building in the
Loopcommunity area of
Chicago,
Illinois, that has been converted from use as an office building to use as a hotel run via a
mobile app-based business model. The 250-room hotel is the first of
Richard Branson's
Virgin Hotels brand boutique hotels geared toward the female business traveller. (Full article...)
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Sauganash Hotel, c. 1830–33 (the smaller building on the left was Chicago's first
drug store)
Sauganash Hotel (originally Eagle Exchange Tavern) is a former hotel; regarded as the first hotel in
Chicago,
Illinois. Built in 1831, it was located at
Wolf Point in the present day
Loopcommunity area at the intersection of the north, south and main branches of the
Chicago River. The location at West Lake Street and North
Wacker Drive (formerly Market Street) was designated a
Chicago Landmark on November 6, 2002. The hotel changed proprietors often in its twenty-year existence and briefly served as Chicago's first theater. It was named after
Sauganash, an interpreter in the British Indian Department. (Full article...)
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Sands Hotel and Casino in 1959
The Sands Hotel and Casino was a historic American hotel and casino on the
Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States, that operated from 1952 to 1996. Designed by architect
Wayne McAllister, with a prominent 56-foot (17 m) high sign, the Sands was the seventh resort to open on the Strip. During its heyday, it hosted many famous entertainers of the day, most notably the
Rat Pack and
Jerry Lewis.
The hotel was established in 1952 by Mack Kufferman, who bought the LaRue Restaurant which had opened a year earlier. The hotel was opened on December 15, 1952, as a casino and hotel with 200 rooms. The hotel rooms were divided into four two-story motel wings, each with fifty rooms, and named after famous race tracks. Crime bosses such as
Doc Stacher and
Meyer Lansky acquired shares in the hotel and attracted
Frank Sinatra, who made his performing debut at Sands in October 1953. Sinatra later bought a share in the hotel himself. In 1960, the classic caper film Ocean's 11 was shot at the hotel, and it subsequently attained iconic status, with regular performances by Sinatra,
Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis,
Sammy Davis Jr.,
Red Skelton and others, who performed regularly in the hotel's world-renowned
Copa Room. (Full article...)
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The Ryugyong Hotel in August 27, 2011
The Ryugyong Hotel (
Korean: 류경호텔; sometimes spelled as Ryu-Gyong Hotel), or Yu-Kyung Hotel, is an unfinished 1,080 ft (330 meter) tall
pyramid-shaped skyscraper in
Pyongyang, North Korea. Its name ("capital of
willows," 柳京 in
Hanja) is also one of the historical names for Pyongyang. The building has been planned as a
mixed-use development, which would include a hotel.
Construction began in 1987 but was halted in 1992 as North Korea entered a period of
economic crisis after the
dissolution of the Soviet Union. After 1992, the building stood topped out, but without any windows or interior fittings. In 2008, construction resumed, and the exterior was completed in 2011. The hotel was planned to open in 2012, the centenary of founding leader
Kim Il Sung's birth. A partial opening was announced for 2013, but this was cancelled. In 2018, an
LED display was fitted to one side, which is used to show
propaganda animations and film scenes. (Full article...)
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Lotte New York Palace Hotel, with the historic
Villard Houses in the foreground
The Villard Houses, arranged in a U-shaped plan, consist of three wings surrounding a central courtyard on the east side of Madison Avenue. The houses' center wing serves as a lobby, while the south wing serves as an event space. Behind the Villard Houses to the east is the modern skyscraper addition. , the hotel has 909 rooms and suites. The top floors of the skyscraper are known as the Towers, which consist of 176 luxury units. Among the units in the Towers are four ornate triplex suites, each with their own decorations, as well as four other specialty suites. (Full article...)
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Watson's hotel, now known as Esplanade Mansions at Kala Ghoda
Watson's Hotel (actually Watson's Esplanade Hotel), now known as the Esplanade Mansion, located in the
Kala Ghoda area of
Mumbai (Bombay), is India's oldest surviving
cast iron building. It is probably the oldest surviving multi-level fully
cast-iron framed building in the world, being three years earlier than the Menier Chocolate Factory in Noisiel, France, which are both amongst the few ever built. Named after its original owner, John Watson, the cast and wrought iron structure of the building was prefabricated in
England, and it was constructed between 1867 and 1869.
The hotel was leased on 26 August 1867 for the terms of 999 years at yearly rent of Rupees 92 and 12 annas to Abdul Haq. It was closed in the 1960s and was later subdivided and partitioned into smaller cubicles that were let out on rent as homes and offices. Neglect of the building has resulted in decay and, despite its listing as a Grade II–A heritage structure, the building is now in a dilapidated state. A documentary film about the building was made in 2019 called The Watson's Hotel. (Full article...)
Jomtien Palm Beach Hotel and Resort, former Royal Jomtien Hotel; site of fire
The Royal Jomtien Resort Hotel was a 450-room
luxury hotel situated in a 17-story
high-rise building on the northern end of
Jomtien Beach, 110 kilometres (68 mi) south of
Bangkok. At approximately 10:20 local time (03:20 GMT), 11 July 1997, a fire ignited as a result of a faulty
liquid propane gas cylinder in a ground floor buffet of the hotel. The fire burned for 8 to 12 hours across all floors and caused the deaths of at least 91 people and injuries to a further 63.
A
National Fire Protection Association report attributed the ignition of the fire to
human error by a worker who had identified faulty
valve assembly on gas cylinder in a ground-floor buffet; while attempting to shut off the valve, the worker inadvertently increased the flow of gas and caused an
explosion. The combustible
wood and
vinyl furnishings of the establishment allowed the fire to develop rapidly, as did a lack of fire separation, compartmentation and
active suppression systems. As acrid
smoke overcame the entire complex, several victims reportedly jumped from the higher windows to their deaths.
At the time of the fire the building was 8 years old and had therefore been constructed prior to 1992 laws dictating mandatory installation of fire alarms and smoke detectors in Thai high-rise hotels. The fire prompted a review of safety standards of other high rise buildings in
Chon Buri and at least 200 other buildings in the
Pattaya area were found not to comply with the fire safety standards that had been violated by the Royal Jomtien Resort Hotel prior to the fire. (Full article...)
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Choultry is a resting place, an inn or caravansary for travelers, pilgrims or visitors to a site, typically linked to Buddhist, Jain and
Hindu temples. They are also referred to as chottry, choultree, chathra, choltry, chowry, chawari, chawadi, choutry, chowree or tschultri.
This term is more common in South India, Central India and West India, while in North India similar facilities are called Dharmshalas. They are known as a chatra, satram, chatram or
dharmasala in eastern regions of India. The choultry concept and infrastructure in South Asia dates back to at least the 1st millennium, according to epigraphical evidence such as stone and copper plate inscriptions.
A choultry provides seating space, rooms, water and sometimes food financed by a charitable institution. Its services are either at no cost, or nominal rates, or it is up to the visitor to leave whatever they wish as a donation. They were also used by officials traveling on public business. Many major temples have
mandapam and pillared halls, some called Thousand pillared halls with an attached kitchen for servicing pilgrims and travelers to the temple. The term choultry may overlap with a mandapa. Many Hindu monasteries (
matha) also built and operated such choultries. (Full article...)
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Omni Bedford Springs Resort - facade
The Omni Bedford Springs Resort is a
resort hotel which is located outside of
Bedford, Pennsylvania. Established in 1806, it is one of the last and best-preserved of 19th-century resort hotels based around mineral springs.
The project was designed by
Carlos Zapata Studio with Bergman Walls and Associates as the executive architect. Construction began in February 2007, and the hotel tower was
topped off on November 14, 2008. The tower rises 67 stories, standing 737 feet (224.6 m) high. As completed, it is the
tallest occupiable building in Nevada.
A group of banks had agreed to finance the project, but was sued by Fontainebleau in April 2009, after it cut off funding. Construction was put on hold two months later, when the project entered
Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Fontainebleau was 70-percent completed, and the opening had been scheduled for October 2009.
Carl Icahn purchased the project out of bankruptcy in 2010, but never restarted construction. Seven years later, the unfinished resort was sold to investment firms
Witkoff Group and
New Valley LLC, which planned to open it as The Drew Las Vegas in 2022. However, construction stopped in March 2020, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Nevada. (Full article...)
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The Conrad Fort Lauderdale is a luxury
condominium-hotel resort located on ocean-front property on
North Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard in
Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The resort includes 181 condo-hotel units, as well as 109 condominium units in a separate building known as The Ocean Resort Residences. The project initially began construction in July 2005, as Trump International Hotel & Tower Fort Lauderdale.
Donald Trump lent his name to the project through a licensing deal before being elected the
President of the United States, with New York developer Roy Stillman and
Bayrock Group as the project developers. The project's opening was initially scheduled for 2007, but was delayed several times.
Trump removed his name from the unfinished project in 2009, after the developer defaulted on the licensing agreement. By that time, lawsuits alleging
breach of contract and misleading advertising had been filed against the project by several condominium buyers.
Foreclosure for the project was filed in March 2010, and the building was sold in a foreclosure auction in March 2012. After several ownership changes and a $70 million renovation, the project opened in October 2017. (Full article...)
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Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts (German pronunciation:[ˈmøːvənpɪk]; English: /ˈmuːvənˌpɪk/) is a Swiss
hotel management company headquartered in
Baar,
Switzerland. It is fully owned by
Accor since the September 2018 acquisition from former shareholders Mövenpick Holding (66.7%) and the
Saudi-based
Kingdom Group (33.3%). It operates over 80 properties, including hotels, resorts and Nile cruisers, with another 30 resorts planned or under construction across the Middle East and Asia. The hotel chain serves 5.8 million people per year. (Full article...)
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Breakfast Creek Hotel in 2008, the lights of
Allan Border Field in the background
Standing completely detached in its own grounds, it was designed in the
French Renaissance architecture style. The centre portion is recessed with a
loggia of four arches, paved with
Encaustic tiles. On the left wing, the bar entrance has a
pediment flanked by
Doricpilasters. The right wing contained the commercial and drawing-rooms and was finished with a two-storied bay-window. A massive
cornice, with
parapets and pediments, covers the front, left and right sides of the building. On the roof, each wing is capped with a pavilion having bevelled-corners and crowned with an ornamental iron cresting and tall flag-poles. Externally the walls are
tuck-pointed with
rusticatedquoins at the angles.
William McNaughton Galloway's initials and the date appear on the front facade of the hotel. (Full article...)
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The National Hotel epidemic was a mysterious sickness that began to afflict persons who stayed at the
National Hotel in
Washington, DC, in early January 1857. At the time, the hotel was the largest in the city. By some accounts, as many as 400 people became sick, and nearly three dozen died.
Although there was speculation of an attempt to poison hotel guests, that theory was not proven. The outbreak affected mostly patrons of the hotel's dining room but not those who frequented the bar. It began to spread more noticeably by mid-January 1857. New cases of the illness began to decrease in number by the end of January 1857 and continued to abate until mid-February. When the numbers of guests increased for the
presidential inauguration of March 4, 1857, the sickness returned again forcefully.
In the 21st century, medical experts attribute the outbreak to "
dysentery because of the hotel’s primitive sewage system." (Full article...)
Canada's grand railway hotels are a series of
railway hotels across the country, each a local and national landmark, and most of which are icons of
Canadian history and architecture; some are considered to be the grand hotels of the British Empire. Each hotel was originally built by the Canadian
railway companies, or the railways acted as a catalyst for the hotel's construction. The hotels were designed to serve the passengers of the country's then expanding rail network, and they celebrated rail travel in style. (Full article...)
In 1979, the hotel, the largest in Liberia, hosted the
Organisation of African Unity conference. The conference was led by President
William R. Tolbert, Jr. who was the group's chair at the time, just months before he was overthrown by
Samuel Doe. During the
Liberian Civil War, many pilots of Russian and Ukrainian origin stayed at the hotel. In the 1980s, the hotel was owned by British-Liberian businessman
Michael Doe. On 5 August 1990, the
INPFL kidnapped the manager Doe, two Lebanese, and two Liberians at the Hotel Africa, later murdering Michael Doe, throwing him off the 4th floor balcony.
A South African consortium had plans to invest US$100 million to renovate the historic hotel in time for Liberia's hosting duties of an international women's colloquium in 2009. (Full article...)
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Towan Beach in
Newquay, 28 July 2007. The Penhallow Hotel, the large bright white building, can be seen near the centre of the image, on top of the cliffs. This photo was taken only 21 days before the fire.
The Penhallow Hotel fire was a suspected
arson attack that occurred in
Newquay,
Cornwall on 18 August 2007. Three people were killed and it was reported as the worst hotel fire in the United Kingdom in nearly 40 years. The hotel was a well-known hotel for holiday makers ranging from families to older residents. It had been built in Island Crescent between 1912 and 1917, and had been altered more than once. The building had a wooden fire escape at the rear, and a central light shaft running from the ground floor up to the roof in the centre of the hotel. Both of these aspects of the building played a dramatic role in the outcome of the fire. Many of those that escaped the fire were elderly holiday makers.
Police at the time concluded that the fire must have been started by an intentional act. However the
inquest returned
open verdicts as the
coroner said there was insufficient evidence to rule the victims were unlawfully killed. A link has been suggested between the fire and Karen Pedley, a serial arsonist at large in Cornwall at the time.
The remainder of the building was demolished, and the land has since been redeveloped as modern apartments. (Full article...)
Producers
Graham Broadbent and
Peter Czernin first saw the potential for a film in Deborah Moggach's novel with the idea of exploring the lives of the elderly beyond what one would expect of their age group. With the assistance of screenwriter Ol Parker, they came up with a script in which they take the older characters completely out of their element and involve them in a
romantic comedy.
Principal photography began on 10 October 2010 in India, and most of the filming took place in the Indian state of
Rajasthan, including the cities of
Jaipur and
Udaipur.
Ravla Khempur, an equestrian hotel which was originally the palace of a tribal chieftain in the village of
Khempur, was chosen as the site for the film hotel. (Full article...)
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Taj Hotels is a chain of luxury hotels and a subsidiary of the
Indian Hotels Company Limited, headquartered in
Mumbai,
India. Incorporated by
Jamsetji Tata in 1902, the company is a part of the
Tata Group. The company employed over 20,000 people in the year 2010. The company has been ranked as the World's Strongest Hotel Brand in 2022 and India's Strongest Brand as per Brand Finance Hotels 50 Report 2022 and India 100 Report 2020, 2022 and 2023. (Full article...)
... that the operator of the Commodore Hotel once hosted a circus, featuring an elephant in the ballroom, to impress visiting hoteliers?
... that in 1987, an estimated one-sixth of New York City's homeless children lived at the Martinique Hotel, even though it lacked basic facilities like kitchens?
... that in the 1970s, the Shelton Hotel avoided demolition after seven elderly residents and a secretary refused to move out?
... that the kissing room of the New York Biltmore Hotel remained after the rest of the hotel had been demolished?
... that during meetings at the United Nations headquarters, the United Nations Plaza Hotel was said to have more security than guests?
... that in the 1980s, New York City's St. Regis Hotel was said to have hosted every U.S. president since its opening?
... that the Exchange Hotel, Montgomery, where Confederate president
Jefferson Davis's inaugural procession started, also hosted Ku Klux Klan leaders, politicians, prostitutes, and two US presidents?