Stories

Inns, tea houses and taverns that were old before hospitality was a trade.

The first restaurants, the first spas, the first houses that expected to be paid for comfort.

Steam, the grand tour, and the beginnings of the hotel as a public building.

The palace hotel arrives, and with it the idea that a guest might be a stranger.

Electric light, the lift, the private bathroom — and the men who put their names on them.

The golden age at its height, and the war that closed it.

Between the wars: the bar becomes an institution, and then a refuge.

Aviation, the resort, and the first hotels built for people who arrived by air.

The brand, the chain, and the founders who refused both.

Design hotels, the members club, and hospitality discovering it could have a point of view.

Scale, private equity, and the houses that stayed small on purpose.

The present tense — still being decided, and recorded here as it is told.