Hotel Babylon Reveals World of Luxury Hotels

Inside London's Luxury Hotel Business

There is a romance to hotels. They offer us, one of those most precious things, a safe abode away from our home. They do this as a good friend would, with the additive of un-judging service and privacy. The customer is always right with their clichéd requests of more towels or impossible, immediate, immaculate stain removal. Further, though, are the darker sides that a 5-star luxury hotel may allow and hence, reveal. As a character from the film Dirty Pretty Things observed, "The hotel business is about strangers and strangers will always surprise you, you know? They come to hotels in the night to do dirty things, and in the morning, it's our job to make things look pretty again."The hotel requires a secrecy equal only to that of a Catholic confessional or a Madame's brothel. As with all good things of confidence, though, someone eventually comes along delightfully to break it and so they have with the work of the hotelier. A not surprisingly Anonymous author, with the assistance of journalist Imogen Edwards-Jones, has written a pseudo-fictional expose of the inner workings of London's luxury hotel business. He is a 15-year veteran of London's top hotels and currently manages a posh hotel which shall remain unnamed.

The book takes place over a 24-hour period, with each hour taking up one chapter. Discussed is everything from overbooking and up-pricing to celebrities and cleaning staff. To deny the success of this as entertainment would be a sin. However, to consider this on the level of but gossip would be worse still; a revelation of one's philistine snobbery. The advice for the modern cosmopolitan found within these pages is priceless.

For instance, if upon arriving at a luxury hotel one is vaguely told of there being a malfunctioning mechanical act of God throughout the bowels of the hotel and that rooms may not be available, the hotel has most certainly been overbooked. Another excuse of incredulous hilarity is that a guest has been taken deadly ill and cannot move from the room.