Category: History

Fawlty Towers refurbished and reopened by Sybil

Sybil in Austin 1100 reopens Fawlty Towers

A Devon hotel, Hotel Gleneagles in Torquay, which inspired the legendary TV comedy series Fawlty Towers has been officially re-opened by one of the show’s stars.

Prunella Scales (who played Sybil Fawlty) has officially re-opened Hotel Gleneagles after arriving in a replica of the red Austin 1100 car, which, in one of the series’ most famous scenes in 1975, Basil gave a good hiding with a branch when it conked out and wouldn’t restart.

The reopening followed a major refurbishment. The hotel was recently bought by local businessmen Brian Shone and Terry Taylor. They have spent £1 million on refurbishing the facilities, and Prunella Scales was guest of honour at the official relaunch on 18th September 2006.

Fawlty Towers was based on the Gleneagles, where John Cleese stayed with other members of the Monty Python team in the early ’70s. Cleese, who of course played Basil Fawlty, based the character on the owner of the hotel, Donald Sinclair, who he described as “the most wonderfully rude man I have ever met.”

Mr Sinclair, who died in 1981, is said to have thrown Eric Idle’s suitcase out of the window “in case it contained a bomb” and complained about Terry Gilliam’s table manners.

Looking back, the real Sybil, Beatrice Sinclair, agrees her husband was not good with the guests. “Not really, he was a commander in the Royal Navy and he liked to have the last word. I don’t think he ever really enjoyed the hotel life.”

The Gleneagles was not the location where the series was filmed. That was done in Thames Valley. The hotel shown in the series was the Woodburn Grange Country Club in Buckinghamshire, but that burned down in 1991.

Fawlty Towers

By comparing the two photo’s you can see that Prunella didn’t age at all!

Only 12 episodes were made of Fawlty Towers, and they were first aired on BBC1 more than 30 years ago.

But the legend of Basil and Sybil lives on…

With thanks to: »BBC

Anti Cool: Ian Schrager again on a new tack

Ian Schrager

I am not sure whether now 60 years young New Yorker Ian Schrager is into yachts and yachting, but I do know for sure that Philippe Starck is (as is the other famous hotel creator Anouska Hempel, or Lady Weinberg). Ian has created a couple of hotels together with Philippe Starck. Hence the title.

In any case Schrager is a man of theater and renewing concepts and slogans.

In the seventies and eighties he creates renowned nightclubs, studio 54 and Palladium, where the rich and famous repose themselves. There the DJ phenomenon is born.

Then he changes tack and starts in hotels:

In 1984:

  • He opens Morgans in New York city, “Home away from Home”,
  • He sets up the Ian Schrager Hotel Group, now known as the Morgans Hotel Group.

I think Morgans was the first “Boutique” hotel.

Then, together with Philippe Starck,:

  • Royalton, NYC, “Hotel as Theater” that at the same time put Philippe Starck on the map as a hotel designer,
  • Hudson, NYC, “Hotel as Lifestyle”,
  • Sanderson, London, “Lavish Urban Spa”,
  • Sint Martenslane, London, “Urban Resort Reinvented”,
  • Mondrian, West Hollywood (LA), “Sophisticated modern Urban Resort” and
  • Delano South Beach, Miami, “Casual Chic Urban Resort”

In the middle of 2005 Schrager resigns a as CEO of Morgans Hotel Group, but remains tied with is as a consultant with a lucrative consulting contract (use of a luxurious private jet, a luxurious car, a luxurious secretary and free stays at the (then) 9 hotels of the group) and as a shareholder(?). The group comes in a financial dip due to 9/11 and the fact that mega hotel consortia start fighting themselves into the market for the hip and famous guests. Up to and including 2005 Morgans Hotel Group reports heavy loses. The first six-month period of 2006 after a financial reorganization with an IPO the results improve. The involvement of Schrager after the financial reorganization is not entirely clear.

However, recently, through his new Ian Schrager Company, and again on a new tack, Ian Schrager avails of one of the newest design hotels which recently was opened in New York city: Gramercy Park Hotel.

Gramercy 01

Now not the tight chic and sometimes contrary of Philippe Starck, but the “Anti Cool”, “Bohemian Eclectic” of Julian Schnabel, painter, sculptor, film director and musician. According to Schrager it became time for something else then the many times copied and now obsolete “Boutique Hotel”, “home Away From home”, “hip” etc.. Well, if you look well to the copper nails of the chair he is seated on, the style has something of Garcia’s Costes, L’Hotel and LeMeridien Des Indes….the style en vogue between roughly 1850 and 1890….a style which, here in the Netherlands, we simply call “Eclectic”…..

Moreover he now is heavily involved in developing very luxuriously apartments. One project is being developped next to the Gramercy park hotel. The owners of the very luxurious and expensive apartments can, if they want, use the hotel facilities. A phenomenon that we see also at other larger hotels.

When I listened to the his voice in an interview about his condo developments, I inadvertently have to think of The Godfather…

Funny to see Ian undergo the reverse development, from nightclub owner to hotelier to property tycoon, when it is usually the other way around: a property tycoon getting involved in the hotel business.

Last edited December 16, 2016

Kruisheren in Maastricht: most beautiful Dutch hotel?

Kruisheren

Willem visited the Kruisheren hotel in Maastricht and got a tour. He labeled it: Probably the most beautiful Dutch hotel.

Brief history
The large complex of buildings served as a monastery and church for the Order of Crutched Friars since its establishment in 1438. During the French Revolution, it served as barracks and arsenal. Early last century, Victor de Stuers and the architect Cuypers took pity on the complex of buildings, which had fallen into disrepair. Following major renovations, the buildings were put into use as a National Agricultural Research Station. Late in 2000, Camille Oostwegel took the initiative to save this unique building from ruin. Large-scale renovations were set in motion and the building was transformed into a luxurious, contemporary designer hotel, retaining respect for the past and opened in fall 2005.

Spaander celebrates 125th: Famous Guests and Art

Emma Wilhelmina Cruijff

Each Hotel has a guestbook.

Hotel Spaander of Volendam, a major Dutch tourist attraction, celebrates its 125th anniversary.

Eddy Guyt who was commissioned to write about its history, found 7 guestbooks in the attic with a wealth of material.

Some famous signatures can now be found online.
Emma was the queen mother of Wilhelmina and Johan Cruijff is a famous Dutch football (soccer in US) player.

Portret 1 Portret 2 Portret 4

Besides, Leendert Spaander, the first owner, had the habit of having all sorts of artists from all over the world staying in his hotel and paying him in kind for the stay. So the hotel has an extensive artcollection of over 1200 works of art.

Source: Algemeen Dagblad, 1st April 2006.

Starwoods’ acquisition of Le Meridien completed

A Pressrelease of November 24, 2005 announced that the acquisition of the label Le Meridien was completed for approximately $ 225 mio by Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

 

Contrary to my guessing Le Meridien will continue to operate as Starwoods 8th label in addition to the seven already existing labels:

The 130 properties of Le Meridien were for the major part contributed to a joint venture of Starwood en Lehman, by the name of Starwood Capital Group LLC, which also paricipates in, for instance, Taittinger champagne.

Recently Starwood Hotels & Resorts itself divested 38 properties for approximately $ 4,1 billion by selling them to Host Marriott.
Host Marriot is the property investment vehicle (with R.E.I.T. status) that resulted from splitting up the Marriott group of companies in a property vehicle and a managment vehicle after Marriott senior died. Probably the heirs needed some cash to satisfy the taxcollector. In addition some heirs were not interested in continuing Marriott and others are, as is usual in family owned business.

For the small business mind of Happy Hotelier it is always mindboggling to see the enourmous amounts involved with the property transactions and also seeing Starwood with a loyalty program of more than 24 mio preferred guests acquire in a nutshell the management of 130 hotels with more than 25.000 employees, who, for the record, will be employed by the owners of the properties and some of who probably will have to find other employment.

The Le Meridien Group that was originally set up by aircarrier Air France (like the GoldenTulip label was set up by KLM) is not French anymore… although its headquarters was already in Londen….

More about this acquisition at the Starwood site.