Welcome to the Hotel Blog-a-Post-a

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The fall color in Massachusetts was much nicer than our hotel. (Photo by me, taken from our car on October 21.)

When my wife Laurel and I traveled from New Jersey to the Boston area last weekend to watch our daughter Maria and other members of her Montclair High School crew team race on the Charles River, the highlight wasn’t our hotel.

Maria was chosen late to participate in the “Head of the Charles” regatta that draws thousands of competitors and spectators, so hotel rooms in the region were scarce. We eventually found a Bedford, Mass., motel with a single vacancy, and considered ourselves lucky despite the price-gouging cost of $260 for one night. But we did NOT get what we paid for.

The room was small, reeked of cigarette smoke, had flies flitting around, no clothes hangers in the closet, pathetic wi-fi, etc. Outside, very tight parking for our car. The topper was getting woken up at 3:30 a.m. by several minutes of insistent knocking on the door. A robber? Someone locked out of their room but choosing the wrong one to try entering? Needless to say, we didn’t open the door.

Anyway, the one positive about the experience was getting the idea to write about hotels in literature. Bad ones, good ones…

Yes, hotels can be interesting places in both real life and fiction. A varied group of strangers under one roof — often on vacation. Or business colleagues attending a conference. Or family and friends gathered for a joyful wedding. Most guests stay in hotels for a short time, but some for longer.

Real-life and fictional hotels are also places to overhear things. Or to meet one’s lover when having an affair. Or to hide if you’re running from the law. And so on.

The first novel that came to mind was Amor Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow, one of my very favorite books of the past few years. Its protagonist is under house arrest for decades in a fancy Soviet hotel, and, while it’s hardly an ideal situation, he lives a fairly full life within its walls. But there are some dangers and complications.

Then there’s of course Stephen King’s The Shining, starring a struggling writer and recovering alcoholic with anger issues who’s hired as an off-season caretaker at a Colorado hotel. Things don’t go well, and it doesn’t help the characters that some supernatural elements are involved.

Things most definitely don’t go well at the Bates Motel in Robert Bloch’s Psycho novel, which is less famous than the iconic Alfred Hitchcock movie it inspired. I’ve seen the gut-wrenching film but haven’t read the book.

There’s also mayhem in Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, in which 10 people are invited to (if memory serves) an island guest house. They were not glad they came.

Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series features motels in almost every book, given that Reacher is by choice a homeless wanderer who visits various places — always to find adventure and intrigue. In those motels, romance, danger, and other scenarios often play out for Jack. Not to mention the getting of some sleep; it can be exhausting dealing with the bad guys. 🙂

One of the lighter moments in Herman Melville’s intense Moby-Dick happens at the inn in which Ishmael and Queequeg inadvertently find themselves roommates prior to their ill-fated voyage under Captain Ahab’s command. A very funny bedroom scene.

Resorts are hotels of a kind, too, including the one in Liane Moriarty’s Nine Perfect Strangers. There’s also the resort-ish sanitarium in T.C. Boyle’s The Road to Wellville. Both novels have a (supposed) health subtext, and both mix downbeat elements with some upbeat ones.

I’ll end by mentioning Daphne du Maurier’s Jamaica Inn, E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View, and John Irving’s The Hotel New Hampshire.

Your thoughts about, and examples of, this topic?

My literary-trivia book is described and can be purchased here: Fascinating Facts About Famous Fiction Authors and the Greatest Novels of All Time.

In addition to this weekly blog, I write the 2003-started/award-winning “Montclairvoyant” topical-humor column every Thursday for Baristanet.com, which has merged with Montclair Local. The latest piece — about an upcoming Board of Education election, civility, apologies, traffic safety, and more — is here.

125 thoughts on “Welcome to the Hotel Blog-a-Post-a”

  3. Dave , how about a Time change Hotel nightmare !

    I am a little insomniac, and changed all the clocks back two days before. Benefit from that , we have a great Handyman 6ft 3 inches, I am like a lilliput to Him.

    Anyways, I woke up at the wee hours , but decided to toss and turn in bed.
    Then came the Hotel Nightmare.

    We were going somewhere , there is a Daddy , no resemblance to mine, who was gone long ago. Room was in the corner of the lobby. the door remained wide open and there was a man coming in and out . Bathroom was wide open.

    All I remembered was that I had no privacy. 

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  4. Hi Dave,

    I stayed in a hotel once where I was woken at some stupid o’clock by a fire alarm. I was hoping that when I checked out there would be an explanation or apology or something, but no such luck. Sorry to hear that your motel stay was so much worse.

    The obvious (and at the moment only) example for me is the Overlook Hotel. But I’m currently reading “The Stand” so my answer for everything might be Stephen King for a while.

    As for books with no hotels, there was no luxurious accommodation in “The Grapes of Wrath”. Randomly mentioned because I’m sure that you and other commenters have discussed a song about the Joad family. I’m hoping that you might be kind enough to remind me of the song and who sang it so I can have a look for it on YouTube?

    Sue

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  5. Honestly Dave!
    I read the post and thought what a great horror story your trip could be turned into…… kind of like checking into the Hotel California.
    Then I started singing the song in my head.
    Now, a day later, it’s still there – “It could be heaven or it could be hell”. Although I know 4 of the books you have cited, I just can think of another hotel book…. and the song plays on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09839DpTctU

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  7. Batt’s, in Dover, where Katy Carr and friends stay because Godfrey Percy, a character in a book by Maria Edgeworth didn’t stay there.
    The Fortescue, in Jermyn Street, where ‘ lazy’ solicitor Robert Blair stays, and has tea in a big brown pot, in the first stage of rescuing Marion Sharpe and her mother from a charge of abducting , beating and starving a fifteen year old girl. ( Josephine Tey)
    No name, but the ‘ cigar divan’ where Trollope’s well paid Warden stays in London, for coffee and a rest, but donates the cigar.

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  8. Hi Dave, you mentioned two of my favourite books in your post: A gentleman in Moscow and The Shining. My additions are the two Jurassic Park novels by Michael Critchton, Rebecca, which starts and ends in a hotel, and Hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet (not set in a hotel but the hotel is almost a character). Part of What Katy did next is also set in various hotels. My book, Through the Nethergate is partly set in an real inn which shares a real wall with the dungeon of the old Bungay Castle.

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  10. I really enjoyed both the movie Psycho and Bates Motel the show!
    A couple of years ago, I stayed at a hotel and used the deadbolt feature and figured it worked. I was in my room when housekeeping knocked and unlocked the door with their key card and that unbolted the deadbolt, too. At the hotel I recently worked at and left, it was a similar thing where the deadbolt wasn’t a separate component from the main lock so I imagined if anyone wanted to come in and they had a master key, they’d get in. This resulted in me not sleeping well when I spent a few nights there. 😅
    Its an update resort too, but as you say there can be something unnerving about hotels at night. Even if they’re not seedy.

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  11. Barton Fink, Coen Brother’s film,one of my favorites had a surreal old hotel, wall paper peeling off,was it in his mind or really happened? Brilliant movie.

    -Michele
    E&P, way back

    Btw did you get a discount on your hotel? For nearly 300 clams to stay in an unclean hotel,cigarette smoke, some odd person knocking at door at 330am. Sounds like Barton Fink in some ways,a nightmare. 😮

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    • Thank you, Michele! Never saw “Barton Fink,” but it sounds VERY compelling.

      I suppose we could’ve asked for a discount, but I don’t think we would’ve gotten one. We had the feeling that the management couldn’t care less. If we go to the same regatta next year, we’ll avoid this hotel like the plague. 🙂

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  12. The White Hotel by DM Thomas. A series of erotic fantasies. Didn’t read all the book was just interested in reading the case history of Freud’s patient, Anna G. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Ha. James Ellroy’s books usually mentions a hotel and/or hotels, mostly seedy ones, but then again, he primarily writes crime fiction. I think hotels are creepy no matter how nice they are. As well I absolutely abhor B&Bs. My husband worked on the road and I accompanied him, which meant living in a lot of extended-stay hotels. I would often wonder who might have had the room prior to us; were they sick? did they die there? Then while he was at work, I would go shopping for groceries, incidentals, etc. and I remember coming back to the hotels by myself, grocery bags in hand, and thinking anyone could grab me…well, ya know, you don’t want to contemplate these matters for too long. I found it very difficult to sleep. Consequently, when we got home, neither of us wanted to travel. Sorry for your “dark” experiences re: hotels. Thank goodness it was only a temporary stay, even though it will always be a bad memory that lingers. As the song goes: “You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.” Susi

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    • Thank you, Susi! “The White Hotel” definitely fits this topic.

      I agree that there can be something unsettling about hotels, even if they’re fancy/not seedy. Heck, when I was able to stay in very nice hotels while covering conferences for a magazine, the very fanciness of those hotels was kind of off-putting to me. Too much wealth and snootiness on display. Sounds like you had extensive (and reluctant) experiences with the hotel life!

      And thanks for ending your comment with a reference to The Eagles’ terrific song “Hotel California,” which I also weirdly referenced in my post’s weird headline. 🙂

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  13. The old literalist in me felt his heart go pitty-pat when I saw the week’s topic,because I am a happy reader of Joseph Roth, specifically his several feuilletons on hotels, his preferred place of residence, in which he lived out of suitcases for most of his adult life, even after marriage, mostly by choice. His books, from which he often quoted, he kept in his head(!).

    “The Hotel Years” contains 64 short essays, and 8 of them concern hotels. Roth concerns himself therein with a self-made conception of such places, an amalgamation of several, though he does claim, without naming it, to have a favorite. Later biographers have not discovered just which one it might be, or might have been, if it ever was only one. I’d guess it was a fictionalized ideal.

    From the opening paragraph of “Arrival at the Hotel”:

    “Other men may return to hearth and home, and wife and child; I celebrate my return to lobby and chandelier, porter and chambermaid…”

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    • Thank you, jhNY! Joseph Roth is definitely major fodder for this topic! Glad you had an opportunity to mention him in your interesting comment. 🙂

      Quite an opening paragraph you cited at the end of your comment. Very much a hotel fan, Roth, it seems. And, yes, chandeliers do seem to be a thing at moderately fancy to very fancy hotels; the dump of a motel I stayed in, not surprisingly, lacked one… 🙂

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  14. That’s gorgeous fall scenery! I thought of two books, both mysteries. One takes place in a bed and breakfast, Sea Scope by Debbie De Louise; the other is by local writer Carolyn Breckenridge, Tuscaloosa Moon. The story in this last one doesn’t entirely take place in the motel, but the Moon Winx Lodge was well known around town, especially for the unusual sign, which was designed by a late artist friend of ours a long time ago. This post made me think about, at this creepy time of year, why motels and hotels are almost always creepy settings, or at least settings where action can occur and stories can be told; random strangers you don’t know, etc. And homes are, well, usually (but not always) cozy. Homes can be creepy too, in some circumstances … If they’re old, abandoned, you don’t know the neighbors, etc. Or, haunted. Lots to think about!

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    • Thank you, Leah! We definitely saw a LOT of colorful fall foliage in New England two weekends ago. 🙂

      I appreciate the mention of those two books — including the one with a local connection!

      Yes, a large percentage of novels featuring hotel settings make those places somewhat or very alarming. “Stranger danger” is among the reasons, I guess.

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  15. I didn’t think I could add any titles to this topic, but then I remembered The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden. It’s about several children who learn a good deal about life while staying in a hotel in France. Both a coming-of-age story and a mystery, and a most interesting book.

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  16. Sorry about your motel stay. When we’re stuck, we take what we can get, but we don’t have to like it. I’m glad you mentioned ‘Psycho’, Dave. During the gas crisis in 1979, we were heading down the pacific coast to San Francisco. We were running our of gas, but stations were closed (Sunday night). We couldn’t make the city, so we spent the night in a motel in Bodega Bay, and my ex-wife took no comfort in knowing that it was the setting of Hitchcock’s “The Birds.”

    I used two hotels in my Dreamer’s Alliance series. The familiarity and flexibility of a hotel gave me a lot of room to work around all kinds of situations. I like that you can add almost anything you want to a hotel.

    I am currently enjoying a series of 8 novels that have the Harbor Pointe Inn (on the California coast) as a common element. So far, Mae Clair and Gwen Plano have released their contributions.

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  18. I immediately thought of The Hotel New Hampshire as well. I didn’t like at all. It tries too hard to be clever, incest isn’t funny, and I was subjected to yet another writerly self-indulgent bear.

    My all-time worst hotel experience was The Pequod Inn in New Haven, Connecticut. Aside from the room being a total dump, people were partying and carrying on so that I didn’t sleep. I should have known something was up when I saw the placard in the office that said no refunds after fifteen minutes–but my husband and I were both falling asleep at the wheel, and we couldn’t go any farther without some sleep.

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  19. Sorry to learn about your recent unpleasant motel experience. I agree that hotels and motels make excellent locations for a wide range of stories, especially my favorite escape crime and mystery genres. I did not read Deborah Moggach’s “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” but the movie adaptation was an enjoyable comedy-drama about British retirees who took up the challenge of retiring to the exotic hotel in Jaipur, India.

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  20. Wonderful post Dave. And I csn sympathise with your recent what you got for your money experience. Also we once had someone knock on our hotel door in Florida , trying to get in.. A big mistake on their part. Anyway, examples of the topic, there’s two come to mind, re hoterls of boarding houses, both set on Berlin. Grand Hotel by Vicki Baum and Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Ishwerwood upon which the musical Cabaret was based.

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  21. Dave – what an “hotel” experience you had! Unforgettable! YIKES!

    But we have benefited from your experience with your post on books about hotels. Your posts prompt me to think back on my reading history!! During my university days, I signed up for the “books-a-month” club. They would send me a book every month and I would send them payment within a specified period of time. I could hardly pay for food and shelter in those days, but I had to have those books. When I look back, I am amazed by the quality – every one was a hard cover. One of those books was Arthur Hailey’s novel “Hotel” which is a gripping tale that delves into the intricate world of the hospitality industry. The setting is the luxurious St. Gregory Hotel set in New Orleans. And the story revolved around the behind the scenes happenings at the hotel. I never knew how much trouble could happen in such a short time. There was a movie and series that came out later, but the book, as always, was the best. Arthur Hailey was known for his meticulous research.

    Here’s an insightful quote from Hotel: “You never know how much you share with someone until the sharing ends.” Arthur Hailey, Hotel

    The other hotel/inn that came to mind was The Prancing Pony where Merry, Pippin, Frodo and Samwise meet Aragorn.

    A lot of things happen in hotels.

    Thank you for another great conversation. Will be back to read the comments.

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    • Thank you, Rebecca! Yes, quite a hotel experience. Our clothes still smelled of smoke before we finally did laundry a couple days after we got home. 🙂

      Your book-of-the-month club investment back then sounds like a worthy one despite you not having a lot of money at the time. Your spending priorities were correct. 🙂

      I’ve heard about Arthur Hailey’s “Hotel,” but have never read it. A title that couldn’t be more specific to this blog post. 🙂 You described that novel well!

      Last but not least, a great “Lord of the Rings” reference!

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      • Arthur Hailey (British/Canadian writer) wrote several books that were well-liked for their engaging storytelling and detailed exploration of various industries. One of his most famous works is “Airport,” which captivated readers with its thrilling depiction of the inner workings of a busy airport and the challenges faced by its staff. His other books included Wheels, and The Moneychangers. I read The Moneychangers when I was just entering my career in finance. It was about the high-stakes world of banking and the ethical dilemmas faced by its characters. In 1976 it was made into a mini series with a cast that included Kirk Douglas, Christopher Plummer, Joan Collins, Ralph Bellamy, Lorne Greene and Helen Hayes.

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  23. I’m sorry for your and your wife’s bad experience made in a Hotel in Massachusett, but it also brought you to a very original literature topic!:) Many thanks, Dave.
    Your topic brought me to the very famous book by Thomas Mann “Der Zauberberg” or Magic Mountain, which takes us to the Swiss holiday resort Davos and a special Spa Hotel, where the rich and educated people met. The young engineer, Hans Castrop just intended to make a short visit and then, due to some love affair remained several years and learns there, among the many sick people, to think about the last important questions in life.

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  24. Here’s my contribution to this very rich topic – Grand Hotel Europa, by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, and my top favourite – Grand Hotel by Vicki Baum.
    Best wishes

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