Mention the words “Great Hotels of Asia” and what comes to mind are: The Oriental in Bangkok, Raffles in Singapore, E&O in Penang, Peninsula in Hong Kong, Park in Shanghai, maybe the Strand in Yangon and most likely the Manila Hotel in Manila.
What is it that makes hotels great? There can be no doubt it’s the cognoscenti who have gone there, or still go, the people in the know, the illustrious and the famous. However, I can think of many other fine hotels in Asia that are, in many cases, better than some of the great hotels. The list is long and Royal Orchid Holidays booklet World Wide Stopovers 2007-2008 lists literally hundreds of these hotels in its 72 destinations around the world. But still, the curiosity rests with the Great Hotels of Asia. What makes them great, or should I say, what made them great?
The ability of a great hotel to sustain itself is to be able to change with the times. It cannot, like a grand old lady, sit back in her fine jewels and faded brocade and become melancholy and content with amusing herself by simply looking on. Some hotels attempt to make the change but fail miserably. Some succeed. Bangkok's The Oriental Hotel is one that has succeeded. The hotel opened its doors nearly a hundred and thirty years ago and, in recent years, for ten years straight in fact, The Oriental Hotel has been listed as one of the best hotels in the world. Not in Asia alone but in the world.
Throughout its colourful history, The Oriental has entertained crowned heads and statesmen, politicians and businessmen, authors, actors and performers. The complete list of the distinguished guests that have been part of this extraordinary hotel's history is long indeed. Ever since Joseph Conrad appeared on the scene, although as a seaman and not an honoured guest, writers have always had a special affinity for The Oriental. Many of their names still live on in the hotel and include Somerset Maugham, Noel Coward, James Michener, Alec Waugh and John Steinbeck, all of whom have visited and written about the hotel.
The Oriental, however, has always meant more than just an accommodation. Perhaps this is its secret. It has been the chosen venue for celebrations and special events. It has been host to exhibitions, concerts, private parties and major social events that have been vitally important to the evolution of the city that has grown up around the hotel.
The celebration of Queen Victoria's Jubilee, soon after the hotel’s opening, was perhaps the first major event, followed soon after by the birthday celebration of Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany. Then there were other events like the first local performance of classical ballet by Nijinsky in 1916 to the annual presentation of the South East Asian Writers' Award, inaugurated at the Hotel in 1979 by H.M. Queen Sirikit of Thailand who graciously presided over the presentations.
Names don’t necessarily make a hotel. With The Oriental its main ingredient is service. To the traveller The Oriental has always been supreme where every need is anticipated and satisfied; a place where every small service is carried out in the inimitable Oriental style.
To the residents of Bangkok, The Oriental has played the role as a social focal point and a window on the world; and I can’t help being partial to The Oriental. When the management buried a time capsule in the front yard on the hotel’s 125th birthday, to be opened on the hotel’s 200th birthday, along with the paraphernalia that was entombed—magazines, photos, newspaper—was my book At Home in Asia.
Another great hotel that I am partial to is the Manila Hotel in Manila. Although it’s not as old as The Oriental in Bangkok it is bound up in history
The Manila Hotel was built in 1912 by the U.S. Army in the Philippines and it soon became the haunt of the rich and famous—its guest book reads like Who's Who in Asia. The hotel's most famous guest was General Douglas MacArthur who made it his headquarters. He had a private penthouse on the fourth floor "equivalent to the presidential palace" from 1935 until the Japanese Imperial Army staff took over as new tenants in 1941.
When MacArthur returned to the Philippines, as he promised he would, he literally had to blast the Japanese out of the hotel. Fortunately the solid foundations and the heavy walls, constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, endured.
The Manila Hotel went through its time of troubles during the pre-Marcos era when it was deeply in debt, due mostly to high-ranking government officials and ministers who ran up huge bar and entertainment bills for themselves and their hordes of bodyguards and never bothered to pay the hotel. But in the mid-70's, President Marcos decided to do something about the Old Manila, as everyone affectionately called it. He wanted to preserve it as an historical site.
The challenge was to reconstruct it, add an 18-storey wing behind the original hotel, and bring it into the modem age. In 1975, the hotel closed its doors and, at a cost of $30 million, the Old Manila was reconstructed and restored to its former glory. When it reopened in 1976, it was nearly five times bigger, infinitely more luxurious and, once again, the Manila Hotel.
Naturally, it required one of the world's great hoteliers to run it and Frans Schutzman was the choice. Frans also saved the old Raffles in Singapore but more about him and the Raffles next week.
I asked Frans what is the key to his success with the Manila. “To be able to pick and hold on to a staff, from the humblest bellboy to the highest executive," Frans said. This is no easy task. The General Manager of a large Asian hotel may have as many as 1,500 trained people working under him. When Frans picked his staff for the Manila he had to sift through thousands of applications but once he had hand picked someone, they became members of the family.
There’s another hotel in Asia that is considered a Great Hotel and that is the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong. It opened its doors in December of 1928 on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong. It was built with the idea that it would be "the finest hotel east of Suez." Noel Coward thought that it was. The hotel is also distinguished by its fleet of Rolls-Royces, which can be hired by guests for a tour of the city. These cars are painted in a distinctive shade of green known as "Peninsula green".
On December 25, 1941, at the end of the Battle of Hong Kong, British colonial officials headed by the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Mark Aitchison Young, surrendered in person at the Japanese headquarters on the third floor of The Peninsula. The Hotel was then renamed "The Matsumoto Hotel" and the uninvited guests remained until August 1945.
In 1994, an extension was added to the original hotel. The features of the existing hotel building were preserved; these include the forecourt, the lobby and the front facade.
Next week we will continue with Great Hotels and visit the three famous ones built by the Sarkie Brothers—Raffle, E&O and Strand. |
Oil painting, old Oriental Hotel in Bangkok
The Oriental today on the Chao Phraya River
The Oriental celebrates its 125th birthday
Even an elephant to help celebrate
Two lovely Thai dancers at The Oriental
Author's Lounge marks the original hotel
The lobby at The Oriental
Classical music every evening in the lobby
Romantic dining on the terrace at night
Mr. Kurt, the GM since 1966
Mrs. Ankana, 46 years at the Oriental with
VIP guest Denise Shaffer
The author with the doorman, also 46 years with the hotel
The Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong, since 1928
An impressive lobby at the Peninsula
The Manila Hotel in Manila, since 1912
Photo of the entrance, old Manila 1918
The same entrance today
The Manila Hotel lobby, truly elegant
A view of Manila Bay from a room at the Manila
|
