hotel(novel)
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hotelhotel ** a 1965 novel by arthur hailey.it ** the story of an independent new orleans hotel,the st.gregory,and its management's struggle to regain profitability and **oid being assimilated into the o'keefe chain of hotels.the st.gregory ** supposedly based on the roosevelt hotel.
the novel was adapted into a movie in 1967,and in 1983 aaron spelling turned into a telev**ion series,airing for five years on abc.however,in the tv series,the st.gregory hotel was moved from new orleans to san franc**co.
[edit]characters
peter mcdermott,manager
warren trent,proprietor
chr**tine franc**,secretary to warren trent
aloysius royce,admin**trative ass**tant to warren trent
curt** o'keefe,owner of the o'keefe chain
dorothy"dodo"lash,o'keefe's starlet companion
albert wells,aging hotel guest
the duke and duchess of croydon,guests in the presidential suite
ogilvie,house detective
julius"keycase"milne,hotel thief
herbie chandler,villainous bell captain
marsha prescott,one night guest in the hotel
[edit]story
peter mcdermott:the main character ** peter mcdermott;the general manager with a past.he ** a graduate from cornell university in hotel management and then got a job in a hotel.however then he had been involved with a lady at time when he was supposed to be on duty.th** g**e peter’s wife and the lady’s hu**and a reason to ask for a divorce.getting involved was not a big thing for hotel to **oid but it had marked the headlines of news** so much,that he was d**m**sed from the job and was blackl**ted.but warren trent,the head of st.gregory hotel,ignoring the past and considering the skill,hired him.the novel captures mcdermott attempts to deal with several cr**es in the hotel which involve a range of other characters.
the hotel finance problem:the hotel's unpayable and unrenewable mortgage ** due on friday,necessitating its sale.curt** o'keefe,the one who owns a large hotel chains plans to buy st.gregory hotel in new orleans as the o'keefe chain did not h**e a hotel here.they had offered to pay the two million mortgages due and one million dollar and living accommodation to warren trent as well.however warren did not want to lose the hotel which he had nurtured for so long.they decided upon friday afternoon timeline to make a dec**ion on the deal.warren trent meanwhile decided to mark a deal with journey man union who wanted to enter the hotel industry for long but were not successful.th** way warren trent could maintain an independence of the hotel and still h**e a say in the affairs of it.journey man had decided to send two of h** executives on thursday to study the books of hotel and then decide before the friday afternoon deadline decided between warren trent and curt** o'keefe.royall edwards of st.gregory had been appointed by warren trent to work with the two officers,if required all night,so that they complete the whole of study.however upset with the denial of entry to negro man in hotel,which became the headline of news**s,journeyman union broke the deal.warren trent had no option but to give in to curt** o'keefe.to h** utmost surpr**e,a few minutes before friday noon,the bank manager who had turned down refinancing of the hotel,came with an offer,that an individual,whose name could not be d**closed then,would be paying the mortgage and buying the major shares of the hotel.warren trent would be the chairman,though warren knew that he would be just a figurehead but as it was a better offer,so he accepted.
chr**tine and albert wells:chr**tine ** the secretary to warren trent.peter and chr**tine has a liking for each other.they share many things in common and feel they could be happy together.in hotel one of the guests mr.albert wells had medical problems in h** room.the hotel staff was quite alert and fast enough to move him in another room.he was quite elderly.chr**tine took care of albert wells personally as he was the hotel guest.marsha prescott:in another incident a group of **-aged boys create a major incident that ** aggr**ated by the fact that they are the sons of the local banker,car dealer,and other town notables.they try to attempt a rape on marsha prescott,the daughter of mr.prescott who ** currently in rome.however on l**tening her screams,aloys** royce,(a negro and main help to warren trent who treats him like a son.)steps in and marsha ** able to escape then.peter handles the situation and asks for a written apology from each of the boys involved in it.in said letters,villainous bell captain,herbie chandler ** named as the one who made the incident possible.marsha on the other hand falls in‘love’with peter mcdermott and proposes him for marriage.peter finds it difficult to say no to her considering her affluence and beauty but finally says no as he knew that he liked chr**tine.however he overcomes h** sense of guilt when he gets to know from anna(head maid servant of marsha)that she ** always the same and will be ok in some time and that anna was not married.however marsha in framing a good background to convince peter had said that anna had a very good life with her hu**and whom she had met only once before marriage and it was not necessary to know a person for too long before to decide on marriage.
the dent**t convention:hotel business gains a minimum from room rent but a bulk of its profit comes from the food,conventions held at its place.as a sequel to it,a major convention of dent**ts was supposed to be held in st.gregory.dr ingram,president of convention had arrived and settled in h** room.then mr.nicholas,a negro,arrived at the counter,showing a confirmed reservation.however the hotel policy did not allow negros.dr ingram was quite d**appointed at th** and threatened the hotel authority that he would take the convention out of hotel,causing a major loss to hotel.when peter d**cussed it with warren he said,that after a few d**cussions th** would be forgotten and the convention would be held and there was no need to worry.and after a few meetings the convention finally decided to stay though mr.ingram resigned from h** post.
curt**-o-keefe and dodo:curt** o'keefe,the one who owns a large hotel chains plans to buy st.gregory hotel in new orleans.he was there with dodo,h** girl friend.but it was time for curt** to move on.he got movie role for dodo and thought to go to new york to meet h** new girlfriend.when warren told curt** that he was not accepting curt** offer to sell the hotel,curt** was very d**appointed and in a fit of anger he told dodo that he doesn’t want her any more.dodo was upset,though somewhere she knew the truth already.she had to board her flight to los angeles and took elevator no 4,as she was about to move out of the hotel.
duke and duchess of croydon:in another instance the duke and duchess of croydon are hiding out in the hotel from their responsibility for a gruesome hit-and-run accident which had been the highlight of the news** as the famous hit-and-run case.the duke had gone to a night club and the duchess reaches the club to find her hu**and.on their way back the duchess hits a woman and her daughter and both the woman and her daughter died on the spot.however in the accident the headlight and the trim ring of the car had damaged.anyhow the duke and duchess reached back the hotel and try to find way out,so that there ** left a slightest print of them being involved in an accident.when the waiter arrived in the presidential suite with dinner,the duchess intentionally hit the waiter so that her dress gets spoiled.the duchess created a big **sue over th**,just to make her presence felt in hotel so that it can be interpreted that she was in the hotel.but the chief house officer ogilvie gets hint of it and tries to blackmail the duke and duchess.they finally reach an agreement that ogilvie would drive their jaguar to chicago and a total of twenty five thousand dollars would be paid to him.further by the time the police identifies that the broken headlight and trim pieces would be identified as pieces of which car,ogilvie would be out of new orleans.the tr**el was supposedly on thursday night at 1 am.oglivie gets a written note from duchess asking for perm**sion to drive the car out of garage in case the garage officer asks for.the moment he was driving the car out of hotel peter was entering the hotel and they had eye contact,though peter did not think much of it.however recollecting all the events….a jaguar being driven by ogilvie which belonged to duke and duchess….the broken headlight of the jaguar.the fuss created by duchess on waiter all establ**hed a link towards the involvement of the duke and duchess.peter enquired from garage officer and he **rmed that ogilvie had a written note from the duchess and so was allowed to drive the car away,but somehow the note got m**placed.peter **rmed the police,captain yolles of the incident but they could not prove it without any evidence.after wo**ng hard,the incinerator officer,responsible for garbage recycling managed to find the note.when the note was produced before duchess she frowned.the duke then decided to admit h** crime and decided to le**e and stepped into elevator no 4 of the hotel.
key case milne:a hotel thief operating in the st.gregory.he managed to get keys of several rooms in hotel by using tricks,asking for other room no keys from reception,using girls to obtain key for him and many other ways.when he saw the duke and duchess in hotel,he thought,if he could get the key of their room,it would be an excellent breakthrough.he managed to get the key from reception playing trickery,got a duplicate prepared and stole from duchess room her fif** thousand dollars and jewellery.after obtaining so much of amount he decided to le**e the hotel and boarded the elevator no 4.
climax:the meeting to take over the hotel scheduled at 11.30 am friday was in place.mr dempster from new york had arrived to tell who the boss ...