Hospitality History in “Hotel” by Arthur Hailey

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Summary
Contextual Analysis
Evaluation
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Can you imagine yourself a real manager of the hotel, whose life is full of unexpected, thrilling events? This book is sure to help you! The Hotel is the best-selling novel written by the well-known British and Canadian novelist Arthur Hailey. It was primarily written in 1965 and achieved enormous success. The author did not decide to become the writer from the very beginning. During the Second World War, he served in the Royal Air Force and worked at many jobs after that and was sometimes writing. One of his novels connected with this experience is the foundation of television drama, which appealed to the general public. Seeing such success, Hailey decided to become a full-time writer and wrote several well-known realistic novels. The majority of the author’s books are connected to the industry. He wrote not only about the hotels but also paid attention to airlines and banks. Hailey’s texts attract the readers, as they are realistic. The author spent months conducting numerous researches to deepen into the subject and make his plots true to life.

Moreover, he described human conflicts and the way they are influenced by the environment in with the characters exist. The chosen copy of the book was published in New York in 2014, which proves that it remains popular even though it was written more than 50 years ago. The Hotel is translated into almost 40 languages, and 160 million of its copies were already sold worldwide; today, these numbers can be even greater (Thurber, 2004). Even though a lot of attention in the novel is paid to the people’s relationships, it allows the readers to see how the hotels are managed from a social-economical perspective. Arthur Hailey uncovers the day-to-day hotel is running as well as the problems faced by the personnel for the readers to realize how the management is maintained and how easily it can be influenced by the things that look inconspicuous at first sight. This novel describes how the manager tries to save the hotel during the crises. The author fulfilled the purpose of the book and the needs of the audience, as he described realistic events, created a down-to-earth hero and made the plot thrilling.

Summary

The book is not only divided into parts but also consists of several sub-plots. It combines the characteristics of the romantic novel and hotel story genre (Matthias, 2006). Thus, the way Arthur Hailey described the events in his book is likely to appeal to both men and women.

Peter McDermott is an educated manager who is demoted and sent to work at the St. Gregory (an insignificant hotel in New Orleans). He was working in a prestigious hotel but neglected his duties and was caught with a lady. This event entailed a divorce and dismissal. However, the head of St. Gregory paid no attention to the issue. Warren Trent accepted McDermott even though he was blacklisted and hired him. Thus, the manager was to do his best to operate the hotel and lead it to success. St. Gregory is to pay the mortgage. As Trent has no money, he is demanded to sell the hotel. Curtis O’Keefe, the owner of a prosperous chain of hotels, gets involved in the situation. He wants to buy St. Gregory and to turn it into one of his hotels, as yet he has none in the city. However, the situation is saved, as the bank manager comes and says that some person is willing to help. He will buy the main shares and pay the mortgage.

The relations between Christine, the secretary, and Peter are developing slowly, but they are sure to like each other. Several boys try to rape Marsha Prescott, a daughter of a department store magnate, but Aloysius Royce, Trent’s assistant, stops them. To conceal the possible rapper, one of the employees tries to bribe the general manager. Marsha decides to get married to Peter, and he does not know how to refuse. She is beautiful and well-cared-for, but his feelings for Christine occur to be stronger. However, Marsha does her best to convince him.

One more relationship issue occurs between O’Keefe and his girlfriend, Dodo. Getting to know that the hotel is not going to be sold, Curtis becomes angry and tells her that he does not like her anymore.

The dentist convention is going to be held in St. Gregory. The main lecturer turns out to be a Negro, but the hotel policy does not allow them. Thus, the doctor threatens to dismiss the convention and cause a great loss. Still, the situation is improved, and Peter has no reason for worrying.

The Duke of Croydon and his wife get into an accident and kill a woman and her daughter unintentionally. They try to hide at the hotel. Peter sees the chief house officer driving their car but does not pay much attention. Over the course of time, he realizes what has happened and refers to the police officer.

The problems faced by the hotel do not end yet, as the thief is operating in it. Keycase Milne stills the keys and makes the duplicate. In this way, he steals a lot of money and jewelry from the duchess’s room. However, after this, Milne leaves St. Gregory.

Finally, it turns out that Albert Wells, a guest of whom Christina took care of all this time, was the one who bought the hotel. Peter is promoted; a new life starts for him and Christine.

Contextual Analysis

The Hotel describes the events that happened in 1964 for five weeks and were connected with St. George. As it was mentioned earlier, the hotel was located in New Orleans. Needless to say that at that time, the everyday reality was not the same as it is now, even though there are some similarities.

At that time, the desegregation took place in New Orleans, and it influenced the book significantly. Race discrimination was still present, and African Americans were not considered equal to European Americans. The employers refused to hire them and pay decent salaries (Buchanan, 2014). They were commonly called “Negroes”, which was treated normally. Such things can be seen in the Hotel. Their gravity is underlined, as it is claimed that “there were certain orders he could give the room clerks, but admit a Negro as a guest was not among them. On that point, there was a firm, standing instruction which could be countermanded only by the hotel proprietor” (Hailey, 2014). The doctor, who was an African American, got angry, but he yielded to the situation and agreed to have a convention in St. Gregory. Thus, such an attitude to the guests is unacceptable nowadays, but then it even did not influence the hotel.

One more thing is the development of the hotel industry. Many prosperous owners wanted to have a hotel in each big city in the country to make the chain more popular and earn more. Due to the great competition, they had to create new items as quickly as possible. That is why it was much easier to buy the hotel that already works and improve it than to create a new one from the very beginning. It explains the actions of Curtis O’Keefe and his behavior, as he got to know that St. George is not selling.

The issue of corruption is on the front burner today, and it was current in the 1960s. The author states that the owner of the hotel where he conducted his research was suspecting that his employees were engaged in corruption and paid bribes as well as got them: “so what I now believe is that the elderly Seymour Weiss had become weary of his hotel, suspected that corruption existed, and did not object to my searching it out and presenting it, along with other venality, in the fictional form” (Hailey, 2014).

Thus, to my mind, the influence of the historical and cultural background on this book cannot be denied mostly because it was written on the basis of a real story. Even though the author changed a lot as well as fabled, the connection between St. George and a real hotel remains clear.

Evaluation

Arthur Hailey wrote his novel as he wanted the readers to deepen into the world of hotel management. To make the book interesting and attractive, he decided not to focus only on the working process. Otherwise, the text would be not a novel but a guide for the personnel. Thus, the author was targeted at the readers’ emotions. He combined the description of human relations and exciting events with the elements of hotel management. In this way, Hailey was able to meet the needs of both male and female audiences. To prove this fact, the veracity of the text will be investigated, the hero and plot peculiarities.

The events described in the novel are realistic and trustworthy. As the author mentions in the foreword, he wrote his Hotel on the basis of the real one. In 1964, he went to New Orleans to gather the information and start writing the novel. Hailey conducted his research in the Roosevelt Hotel. It existed in real life, and the author lived there for two months. In order not to refer to it, he changed the name to St. Gregory. The owner, Seymour Weiss, suspected that the staff was engaged in the bribery, so he encouraged the research. He told the department heads that Hailey would come to have a talk with them and ordered them to provide him with fair information. Moreover, he was eager to see what is happening with his hotel in fictional form. The author mentions that he confirmed the owner’s suspicions and described the issue in the Hotel.

The book depicts the realities of that time, which can be seen after a brief historical investigation. The development of the industry and the appearance of numerous hotel chains took place at that period of time. Race discrimination and desegregation are also described by the dint of Dr. Ingram and Aloysius Royce. The way the hotel gains profit (room rent, restaurant, conventions) is examined as well as the ways the manager tried to increase it and deals with other issues.

The main character is a sympathetic man, and the readers can easily walk in his shoes. Peter is presented as a down-to-earth hero. Following him through the novel, the readers realize that he is a typical man who tries to cope with the problems and get back in the swing. It is easy to identify oneself with him because everyone was once in a familiar situation. Peter once-neglected his duties and was fired, but he found another job. He fell in love but faced troubles in his personal life. Moreover, things are not that good at work. The author provides the readers with the ability to empathize with Peter making him ordinary. Thus, they become the participants of the described events and keep reading until the end.

The novel became a best-seller by dint of its thrilling plot. Arthur Hailey described the peculiarities of real management in the background of some fictional events. This novel is not a historical report, so it contains imaginary and exaggerated information to appeal to the readers. The events described in the book are very intense, as various things are happening within five weeks. A dismissal, divorce, rape, murder, theft, several crises are just some of them. This tension targets the readers’ emotions and makes them read as quickly as possible to find out what will happen next and how the issue will be solved.

Conclusion

Thus, it can be concluded that Hailey made a thorough work that attracted the readers 50 years ago and remains popular. His novel is excellent writing, as it combines the true to life information about hotel management with the description of people’s relationships in fiction situations. Where else can thrills, romance, and valid data be so perfectly embodied?

References

Buchanan, S. (2014). Desegregation in New Orleans rooted in 1960s Dryades St. Boycott. [Press release]. Web.

Hailey, A. (2014). Hotel. New York, NY: Open Road Media.

Matthias, B. (2006). The hotel as setting in early twentieth-century German and Austrian literature. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Thurber, J. (2004). Arthur Hailey, 84; bestselling author of ‘Hotel,’ ‘Airport’ [Press release]. Web.

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