Customer Reviews

Hotel Stories: Legendary Hideaways of the World

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4 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

The list of hotels covered is excellent. However, the author gives only the most superficial treatment to the 'stories' from the hotel -- as if a small clip from ONE gossip column would suffice. NONE of the pictures have captions or idenitfiers. I KNOW that many of these hotels have more extensive and interesting stories to tell, even in the limited space for each entry. Space is wasted on travel stuff best sourced from a Fodor's or Frommer's, e.g. the fact that a certain hotel is close to the shopping on Fifth Avenue. Overall, a slapdash work with little real research effort. This is a lost opportunity that is an embarassment to the publisher, and some other author should take up the project. Buy this book only if you can get a very cheap remainder price, and do some library research on your own.

This new book brings stories of legend ands anecdotes with a new twist that enticed me to visit most of these places. Looking at this book that seem to have been published years ago has this "passe" flavor of the old times. I enjoyed it.

HOTEL STORIES by Francisca Matteoli is an intriguing tour of some famous and not so famous hotels around the world. Each place she writes about is described as it is today and as it was at the time of the visits of some legendary figures who stayed in them.It is a delightful and pleasant read for the stay at home traveler or for the traveler planning her next trip.

The list of hotels covered is excellent. However, the author gives only the most superficial treatment to the 'stories' from the hotel -- as if a small clip from ONE gossip column would suffice. NONE of the pictures have captions or idenitfiers. I KNOW that many of these hotels have more extensive and interesting stories to tell, even in the limited space for each entry. Space is wasted on travel stuff best sourced from a Fodor's or Frommer's, e.g. the fact that a certain hotel is close to the shopping on Fifth Avenue. Overall, a slapdash work with little real research effort. This is a lost opportunity that is an embarassment to the publisher, and some other author should take up the project. Buy this book only if you can get a very cheap remainder price, and do some library research on your own.