‘The jumbo jets, now increasingly common over London, have marked the start of the new age,’ writes Eric Clark in the Observer Magazine of 24 May 1970 (Hotels: A Guest’s Guide for the 1970s). ‘The big question is whether the mass movement in the air can be matched with enough of the right hotel accommodation on the ground.’
Clark advises that, ‘Most hotels now being built in Britain will be in the medium price range, anything from £5 to £10 per night… But the future is less happy for the mass-age traveller hoping for a hotel bed at less than £5 a night.’
And what will these establishments be like? ’Tomorrow’s hotels will be more, not less, anonymous. Food will consist of packaged and convenience foods. The ice – even coffee – may be self-served from a machine.’ I’m looking at you, 21st-century Nespresso. (And where’s the ice?)
‘It may not be as exciting,’ Clark continues, ‘but it should be a good deal more comfortable.’ And comfort is the word when Clark stays at the imposing Grand Hotel in Rome – just to check the difference, of course. It is ‘a vast, living monument to the heyday of wandering monarchs, five-hour dinners, servants’ quarters, and the kind of space that could give a modern hotel tycoon, worried about costings and labour charges, a heart attack.’
Naturally, there are standards the guests have to adhere to at the Grand, such as men being required to wear ties when eating. And some standards are much higher – the Ritz in Madrid, for example, won’t take film stars as ‘the publicity surrounding them is thought to cause too much bother to other guests’.
Of course, what really makes a grand hotel grand is the service, including the concierge ‘fixers’. A good one, claims Clark, ‘will get guests into audiences with the Pope – cutting down to a few hours the months of waiting usually involved’. Now all we want from a hotel is good wifi.
