Hotel by Arthur Hailey

St Gregory Hotel is a private establishment and Warren Trent, also called W.T., is the owner of it. The novel begins with the introduction to the problems a hotel generally faces .Complaints from guests regarding some rowdy boys partying too hard and how a harmless party goes out of hand giving a push towards the roller-coaster ride of the St Gregory mansion.

In the beginning it is clear that St Gregory Hotel’s ownership is in trouble. The lease of twenty years of the hotel property was due for redemption and W.T. wasn’t getting any lenders as the hotel was facing losses. The hotel was going through a gradual death and where there is death vultures are never far .Hence enters Curtis O’Keefe, hotelier who ran a chain of hotels all over the world and was now eyeing St Gregory. He was someone who seldom faced disappointed in his endeavours, was ruthless, practical, notably devout and was sure of his success. He always had a different starlet accompanying him being the influential person he was; Miss Lash was the beauty this time. Is his success as easy and simple as he has thought it to be?

Duke and Duchess of Croydon were also the residents of this hotel. Duchess was a cool and composed lady who had a haughty air about her. The Duke was complete opposite. He has seldom sober and where Duchess was always in control of the situation, Duke seldom knew what to do. With her calculating nature Duchess tries to avert a disaster putting whole of her intellect and influence into action. But will she be successful in hiding the dastardly crime her husband has committed?

Keycase is a hotel thief who robs the guests staying in hotels and St. Gregory is his place of action this time round. He uses ingenious methods to avoid detection and to accomplish his miscreant activities. But he always lives in the threat of a lifelong imprisonment. Will the vigilant hotel staff catch him and send him to prison for good?

Peter McDermott is the assistant manager in the hotel. He is a highly principled man with a single black spot in his career which forbids him to leave the hotel and work in a more righteous place. He is frustrated due to the lack of power he has and which he knows he won’t ever get.

 This book takes your through the kitchens and dining halls of an hotel. You will unearth the delusions people live through and the callousness of the high and mighty. Till what extent influential people can go, to cover up their crimes and how a petty thief is given a second chance by fate. 

Reading this book you smile and frown and will be pleasantly surprised that how a seemingly insignificant individual changes the course of life of so many people.

 It’s with amazing skill that Arthur Hailey brings so many people with varied lifestyles together in one single strike of fate. It holds the charm of the book To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee) by divulging into racism and how the principles of one man change the tradition.

It’s not that kind of book which you can’t put down but it certainly is that kind of book which will make you read the page twice to make you believe what has just happened. A refreshing book which also gives interesting nuggets and secrets of hotels and how love happens in the most unusual of places and to the most unsuspecting people.

'You have to weigh what you want against what you believe in'