Books like Hotel

While conducting research for the writing of this novel, Arthur Hailey spent two months as a paying guest at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans.  The owner of the Roosevelt, the late 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 believes that Weiss had become weary of his hotel and the corruption that had seized it.    The Roosevelt still exists, only these days it is called the Fairmont.  I found it interesting to research this hotel in New Orleans as I was reading the book.So onto the story.  Basically what Hailey has done is focused on five hot and humid days in the Louisiana summer of 1964, at a New Orleans luxury hotel called the The St. Gregory.  The principal character in this story is Peter McDermott, who is the assistant general manager of the hotel.  Through him we meet other members of the staff and some of the noteworthy guests.  And these are not just any five days at the St. Gregory, for in exactly that period of time the twenty year old mortgage on the hotel is due for renewal.  Problem is that so far no-one was willing to renew it.  Warren Trent, the owner was becoming increasingly concerned about his last remaining option, which was to sell his beloved hotel; his lifetime achievement.  Naturally there  are reasons that financial institutions are reluctant to pick up or renew the mortgage.  In short,  the St. Gregory was poorly managed, which was having a negative impact on the bottom line.Peter McDermott knows very well that corruption runs rampant among the many different departments and staff of the hotel.  Given a free hand, he would clean house and put things right, but he has long since become frustrated with his efforts in getting Warren Trent to see or even acknowledge the problems, particularly as they involved certain key members of staff or long held hotel policies.. Hailey seamlessly weaves the management of a large and luxurious establishment together with the lives and eccentricities of it's many guests.  There is never a dull moment and although Hotel cannot help but be dated, (first published in 1965) I have no doubt that many of the challenges faced in this story continue to plague similar establishments to this very day.  As this story reaches its screeching, chilling conclusion it may have you rethinking which amenities you wish to avail yourself of on your next visit to a large and splendid hotel of yesteryear.