Hotel (novel)
Encyclopedia
Arthur Hailey
Arthur Hailey was a British/Canadian novelist.- Biography :Born in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, Hailey served in the Royal Air Force from the start of World War II during 1939 until 1947, when he went to live in Canada. Hailey's last novel, Detective , is a mystery told from the perspective of a...
. It is the story of an independent New Orleans hotel, the St. Gregory, and its management's struggle to regain profitability and avoid being assimilated into the O'Keefe chain of hotels. The St. Gregory is supposedly based on the Roosevelt Hotel, although the old St. Charles Hotel is also cited as the basis for the novel.
The novel was adapted into a movie in 1967, and in 1983 Aaron Spelling
Aaron Spelling
Aaron Spelling was an American film and television producer. As of 2009, Spelling's eponymous production company Spelling Television holds the record as the most prolific television writer, with 218 producer and executive producer credits...
turned into a television series
Hotel (TV series)
Hotel is an American prime time drama series which aired on ABC from September 21, 1983 to May 5, 1988 in the timeslot following Dynasty....
, airing for five years on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. In the TV series the St. Gregory Hotel was moved from New Orleans to San Francisco.
Characters
- Peter McDermott, manager
- Warren Trent, proprietor
- Christine Francis, secretary to Warren Trent
- Aloysius Royce, administrative assistant to Warren Trent
- Curtis O'Keefe, owner of the O'Keefe chain
- Dorothy "Dodo" Lash, O'Keefe's starlet companion
- Albert Wells, aging hotel guest
- The Duke and Duchess of Croydon, guests in the Presidential Suite
- Ogilvie, house detective
- Julius "Keycase" Milne, hotel thief
- Herbie Chandler, villainous Bell Captain
- Marsha Preyscott, one night guest in the hotel
Story
Peter McDermott: The main character is Mr. Peter McDermott; the general manager with a past. He is a graduate from Cornell University in Hotel Management and subsequently got a job in a hotel. However then he had been involved with a lady at time when he was supposed to be on duty. This gave Peter’s wife and the lady’s husband a reason to ask for a divorce. Getting involved was not a big thing for hotel to avoid but it had marked the headlines of newspaper so much, that he was dismissed from the job and was blacklisted. But Warren Trent, the head of St. Gregory Hotel, ignoring the past and considering the skill, hired him. The novel captures McDermott attempts to deal with several crises in the hotel which involve a range of other characters.The Hotel Finance Problem: The Hotel's unpayable and unrenewable mortgage is due on Friday, necessitating its sale. Curtis O'Keefe, the one who owns a large hotel chains plans to buy St. Gregory hotel in New Orleans as the O'Keefe chain did not have a hotel here. They had offered to pay the two million mortgages due and one million dollar and living accommodation to Warren Trent as well. However Warren did not want to lose the hotel which he had nurtured for so long. They decided upon Friday afternoon timeline to make a decision on the deal.
Warren Trent meanwhile decided to mark a deal with Journey man Union who wanted to enter the hotel Industry for long but were not successful. This way Warren Trent could maintain an independence of the hotel and still have a say in the affairs of it. Journey man had decided to send two of his executives on Thursday to study the books of hotel and then decide before the Friday afternoon deadline decided between Warren Trent and Curtis O'Keefe. Royall Edwards of St. Gregory had been appointed by Warren Trent to work with the two officers, if required all night, so that they complete the whole of study. However upset with the denial of entry to Negro man in the hotel, which became the headline of newspapers, Journeyman Union broke the deal. Warren Trent had no option but to give in to Curtis O'Keefe. To his utmost surprise, a few minutes before Friday noon, the bank manager who had turned down refinancing of the hotel, came with an offer, that an Individual, whose name could not be disclosed then, would be paying the mortgage and buying the major shares of the Hotel. Warren Trent would be the chairman, though Warren knew that he would be just a figurehead but as it was a better offer, so he accepted.
Christine and Albert Wells: Christine is the secretary to Warren Trent. Peter and Christine have a liking for each other. They share many things in common and feel they could be happy together. In hotel one of the guests Mr. Albert Wells had medical problems in his room. The hotel staff was quite alert and fast enough to move him in another room. He was quite elderly. Christine took care of Albert Wells personally as he was the hotel guest.
Marsha Preyscott: In another incident a group of teen-aged boys create a major incident that is aggravated by the fact that they are the sons of the local banker, car dealer, and other town notables. They attempt to rape Miss Prescott, the daughter of Mr. Prescott, a department store magnate, who is currently in Rome. However on listening her screams, Aloysius Royce, (a Negro and main help to Warren Trent who treats him like a son.) steps in and Marsha is able to escape then. Peter handles the situation and asks for a written apology from each of the boys involved in it. In said letters, villainous Bell Captain, Herbie Chandler is named as the one who made the incident possible. Because of his collusion in this, Chandler is threatened with firing on the spot, however, McDermott plans to take it to Mr. Trent, because of Chandler's years of employment. Chandler attempts to bribe the general manager, but fails, and is told to leave the office in a cold rage. Chandler plots some kind of revenge against McDermott, and he steps on Elevator #4.
Marsha on the other hand falls in ‘love’ with Peter McDermott and proposes him for marriage. Peter finds it difficult to say no to her considering her affluence and beauty but finally says no as he knew that he liked Christine. However he overcomes his sense of guilt when he gets to know from Anna (Head maid servant of Marsha) that she is always the same and will be OK in some time and that Anna was not married. However, Marsha in framing a good background to convince Peter, had said that Anna had a very good life with her husband whom she had met only once before marriage, and it was not necessary to know a person for too long before to decide on marriage.
The Dentist Convention: Hotel business gains a minimum from room rent but a bulk of its profit comes from the food, conventions held at its place. As a sequel to it, a major convention of dentists was supposed to be held in St. Gregory. Dr Ingram, President of convention had arrived and settled in his room. Then Mr. Nicholas, a Negro, arrived at the counter, showing a confirmed reservation. However the hotel policy did not allow Negros. Dr Ingram was quite disappointed at this and threatened the hotel authority that he would take the convention out of hotel, causing a major loss to hotel. When Peter discussed it with Warren he said, that after a few discussions this would be forgotten and the convention would be held and there was no need to worry. And after a few meetings the convention finally decided to stay though Mr. Ingram resigned from his post.
Curtis O'Keefe and Dodo: Curtis O'Keefe, the one who owns a large hotel chains plans to buy St. Gregory hotel in New Orleans. He was there with Dodo, his girl friend. But it was time for Curtis to move on. He got a movie role for Dodo and thought to go to New York to meet his new girlfriend. When Warren told Curtis that he was not accepting Curtis' offer to sell the hotel, Curtis was very disappointed and in a fit of anger he told Dodo that he doesn’t want her any more. Dodo was upset, though somewhere she knew the truth already. She had to board her flight to Los Angeles and took elevator no 4, as she was about to move out of the hotel.
Duke and Duchess of Croydon: In another instance the Duke and Duchess of Croydon are hiding out in the hotel from their responsibility for a gruesome hit-and-run accident which had been the highlight of the newspaper as the famous hit-and-run case. The Duke had gone to a night club and the Duchess reaches the club to find her husband. On there way back the Duchess hits a woman and her daughter and both the woman and her daughter died on the spot. However, in the accident the headlight and the trim ring of the car were damaged. The Duke and Duchess arrived back at the hotel and try to find a way out, so that there is left a slightest print of them being involved in an accident. When the waiter arrived in the presidential suite with dinner, the Duchess intentionally hit the waiter so that her dress gets spoiled. The Duchess created a big issue over this, just to make her presence felt in hotel so that it can be interpreted that she was in the hotel. But the chief house officer Ogilvie gets hint of it and tries to blackmail the Duke and Duchess. They finally reach an agreement that Ogilvie would drive their Jaguar to Chicago and a total of twenty five thousand dollars would be paid to him. By the time the police identifies that the broken headlight and trim pieces would be identified as pieces of which car, Ogilvie would be out of New Orleans. The travel was supposedly on Thursday night at 1 am. Oglivie gets a written note from Duchess asking for permission to drive her car out of garage in case the garage officer asks for. The moment he was driving the car out of hotel, Peter was entering the hotel and they had eye contact, though Peter did not think much of it. However, recollecting all the events - a Jaguar being driven by Ogilvie which belonged to Duke and Duchess - the broken headlight of the Jaguar - the fuss created by Duchess on waiter - all established a link towards the involvement of the Duke and Duchess. Peter inquired from the garage officer and he informed that Ogilvie had a written note from the Duchess and so was allowed to drive the car away, but somehow the note got misplaced. Peter informed the police captain Yolles of the incident, but they could not prove it without any evidence. After working hard, the incinerator officer, responsible for garbage recycling, managed to find the note. When the note was produced before the Duchess, she frowned. The Duke then decided to admit his crime and decided to leave and stepped into elevator no 4 of the Hotel.
Keycase Milne: A hotel thief operating in the St. Gregory. He managed to get keys of several rooms in hotel by using tricks, asking for other room number keys from the reception desk, using girls to obtain key for him and many other ways. When he saw the duke and duchess in hotel, he thought, if he could get the key of their room, it would be an excellent breakthrough. He managed to get the key from reception playing trickery, got a duplicate prepared and stole from duchess room her fifteen thousand dollars and jewelery. After obtaining so much of amount he decided to leave the hotel and boarded the elevator no 4.
Climax: The meeting to take over the hotel scheduled at 11.30 am Friday was in place. Mr. Dempster from New York had arrived to tell who the boss was and it was Albert Wells, the hotel guest, whom Christine had taken care and thought of as not a rich man, had bought the hotel. To the utmost surprise of peter, Peter was appointed the Executive vice-President of St. Gregory and would be running the hotel with Dempster being the officiating president, the position Dempster had in all other hotels owned by Albert Wells. It was within the meeting itself that Christine came running and told that elevator number 4 met an accident and had a free fall.
Dodo suffered a lot of injuries and was rushed to a hospital. It was then that Curtis realized how much he loved Dodo and got the best neurosurgeons for her. She was soon out of danger. The Duke was dead on the spot in the elevator. The duchess -- still cold on hearing that, had no expression. The policeman, Captain Yolles, thought now the blame of hit-n-run could be easily moved on Duke as he was already dead and Duchess could save herself. Keycase managed to be safe and ran away from the country with all that money. Warren Trent was happy that he could retain his hotel being its chairman. Herbie Chandler, the evil bell captain, would be permanently paralyzed and would never work again. Aloysius Royce left the hotel to study law but not before he and McDermott drank together.