Hotel History – Details, episodes & analysis

It's our first book club episode! We're talking about Deadly Summer Nights by Vicki Delany, a fun cozy mystery that takes place at a Catskills resort in the 1950s. Don't worry, no spoilers.

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As the summer wanes, we would be remiss if we didn't pay homage to another summer resort of bygone days. This time we're headed across the pond to the seaside town of Bournemouth in England, where British Jews created their own Borscht Belt of sorts to spend their summers and holy days feted with kosher delights.

Read more about Bournemouth here.*

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🎶 Music:

Crinoline Dreams by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

We've dug into some interesting corners of the internet (thank you messynessychic.com!) to bring you five strange, surprising, and fun hotels around the world, including the last steamship on the Nile, a hotel in the south of France that wishes it were a ship, a conservation-based hotel where you can hang out with giraffes, a kitschy hotel turned pop culture icon, and a Hogwarts-esque castle in Poland offering a wizardry school for those who never received their post by owl.

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🎶 Music:

Be Carefree - Calm mood of a weekend in anticipation of unusual adventures by Oleg Mazur Free Music is licensed under a Creative Commons License

New York City at Christmastime is the most wonderful time of the year! We bring you our top five NYC hotels during the Christmas season, all full of immaculate decorations, bespoke packages and excursions, and boozy brunches for Christmas and New Year's Day to take the edge off all the holiday fun.

☕️ You can support Hotel History (and our caffeine addiction) here or on Patreon.

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🎶 Music:

Advent Season by Torben Fugger is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

The Savoy Hotel redefined hospitality for London in the late 19th century, and it remains one of the top hotels in the world. In Part 3, we discuss the hotel's history following World War II through today, including Queen Elizabeth's coronation ball, Bridget D'Oyly taking the helm, famous celebrities who stayed (and got turned away), and a fun reality TV show back in 2020 titled, fittingly, "The Savoy.

☕️ You can support Hotel History (and our caffeine addiction) here or on Patreon.

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🎶 Music:

Four-Way by William Ross Chernoff's Nomads is licensed under an Attribution License.

We interview the creators of The Hotel Who, an immersive and interactive theater experience currently based in Los Angeles (but hopefully coming to more cities soon). They tell us about their current show (a 1930's murder mystery held in a castle in the Hollywood Hills), how they got started, and what's next for this unique art form.

🎟️ You can buy tickets to an upcoming show here

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🎶 Music:

Masquerade by Beat Mekanik from the Free Music Archive licensed under CC BY.

Salem, MA, is a town steeped in history. It is forever embossed in pop culture as Witch City thanks to the witch trials in 1692 and its 20th century resurgence as a spiritual (and literal) home for many Wiccans. Salem's hotels are also entrenched in history. Built anywhere from the 1600's to 1925, they offer an escape wrapped up in local history, lore, and even a few ghosts.

☕️ You can support Hotel History (and our caffeine addiction) here or on Patreon.

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🎶 Music:

Nocturnal by Beat Mekanik from the Free Music Archive (License: CC BY)

If you fancy a midnight run-in with the famed Headless Horseman, or maybe just want to stroll down the road with the Lady in White, you should take a little trip to Sleepy Hollow. Yes, it's a real place made famous by Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. In addition to its ghost stories, it boasts a plethora of historical places, including the Florence Inn and the Castle Hotel & Spa.

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🎶 Music:

Scary by Liborio Conti.

The Savoy Hotel redefined hospitality for London in the late 19th century, and it remains one of the top hotels in the world. In Part 2, we discuss the hotel under Rupert D'Oyly Carte from the Belle Epoque, through the Jazz Age, and into the Second World War with plenty of scandals, spies, and intrigue along the way.

☕️ You can support Hotel History (and our caffeine addiction) here or on Patreon.

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🎶 Music:

Bees Knees by The Virginians.

They Call it Dancing by Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra.

Lady of the Evening by Herbert Berger's St. Louis Club Orchestra

The Savoy Hotel redefined hospitality for London in the late 19th century, and it remains one of the top hotels in the world. In Part 1, we discuss the man behind the vision, Richard D'Oyly Carte, his decades-long partnership with light opera composers Gilbert & Sullivan, and some of the early scandals that plagued the hotel, (including one of its most famous guests, Oscar Wilde).

☕️ You can support Hotel History (and our caffeine addiction) here or on Patreon.

📰 Sign up for our free newsletter, The CHECK-IN.

📖 Join our book club here.

📚 Shop our bookshelves here.

🤳 Follow us: TikTok | Instagram | X

🎶 Music:

Theme6