The Hotel Articles

Five star, four star, three ....... balderdash! A five star hotel in downtown Bombay might be on par with the three star Rex Hotel in Vung Tau, Vietnam, with the hourly-charged Sixty-Nine Hotel in Geylang, Singapore, the two-star Dukes Head Inn in Brixton, London or the tent at the bottom of the garden!

A good hotel is not judged by the room charge but is simply one that can provide a good bed, clean sheets and a view! A guest must feel secure, have decent well cooked food at his finger tips, hot running water and a smile from the front desk. Green slime on the window, a toilet with the last guests results still lining the sides, a drunken guest throwing bottles down the hallway or a cockroach the size of a rat are not acceptable.

Six star my ......

I don't need fancy wrapped toothbrushes or rosemary hand lotion, a shoe shine kit or remote controlled curtains. The bowl of fruit looks pretty until the bananas turn dark brown and the ability to see how much you are charging me from the television set is well, superfluous! I don't even need a bath, a shower will do! I don't need six pillows and a fancy trouser press and I certainly don't need a mini bar as I can't afford any of it anyway!

I do though like to have a room with a window, a door with a lock on it, and maybe a coffee machine - is that too much to ask?

Seven Star .......oh golly gosh".

"For heavens sake madam, do they have to start wailing at four am, is there anywhere at all that doesn't require a plane journey to get something edible and lord above will you stop nattering away on your mobile phone and listen to me"?

Ieuan Dolby
Author and Webmaster at Seadolby.Com