The British TV period drama Downton Abbey, which weaves stories around the lives of a fictional aristocratic family and their staff in the early 1900s, seems to have captured the imagination of luxury hotels worldwide. The series was featured as a Masterpiece Classic PBS program in the USA, and New York’s Oheka Castle luxury hotel in New York decided to offer its own Downton Abbey experience. It has created special “Aristocratic Escape Packages” where Lords and Ladies can be entertained in the manner befitting upper class gentry.
This pampering package includes overnight accommodation, afternoon tea, champagne and chocolate-dipped strawberries and a copy of the drama series on DVD. Oheka Castle and Estate on Long Island is no stranger to an upmarket clientele. It was the setting for the marriage of Maude Kahn, elder daughter of Otto Kahn, to Scots Guard Major John Marriott in 1920 with a guest list straight from the Who’s Who of New York Society.
Other luxury hotels cashing in on popular TV series include the urban art hotel, Artists Residence, in Brighton England. It was featured in the Hotel Inspector TV series that shot a behind-the scenes-documentary and the hotel now basks in notoriety.
Similarly, the reality TV show Dancing with the Stars has prompted a spate of package weekend breaks with a dancing theme. Judges and professional contestants from the British version, Strictly Come Dancing, are guests at luxury country house hotels across Britain. Guests have two dance lessons before a performance, plus a Q&A session and photographs with the celebrities.
by Gillian
The Ritz in London – favoured by Royalty and Presidents – has always been at the forefront of the world’s luxury hotels, with its history, elegance and style.
It’s also stuck stubbornly to sartorial tradition: the statement on the hotel’s website is clear enough: in the dining areas, ‘gentlemen are required to wear a jacket and tie’.
But ever so quietly, the strict formality has been allowed to slip a little. It’s now possible for Ritz patrons to wear jeans to breakfast, although the denim must be ‘very smart’ and not accompanied by trainers.
A spokesman for the luxury hotel said: “It was a management decision to change the policy … to make guests feel more comfortable.”
Actress Joan Collins – never knowingly underdressed – is unsure. “I only like jeans in the country, but I’m not too bothered about this. There are some very nice designer jeans, but then you sometimes see someone wearing a pair that look as if they’ve been covered in paint.”
Two reporters from the Mail on Sunday newspaper decided to put the new Ritz luxury hotel dress code to the test and found ‘men and women wearing jeans with casual indifference’. Two men even wore T-shirts with light blue scruffy denims; only one guest – a man in his 60s – wore a jacket and tie.
by Andy Moreton
The Ritz is the last word in luxury London hotels. Book it through Luxique.
A hotel that was once the grandest in the Indian city of Mumbai is in danger of falling down.
Watson’s was built in 1871 from a cast iron frame that was made in England and then shipped to what was then Bombay. The building became one of the most opulent symbols of the period of British rule known as The Raj.
Watson’s fell into decline in the 1960s and was sold. Renamed Esplanade Mansion, it was rented out as office space and is now in a poor state of repair. The impressive atrium has been smashed and the ballroom is used as a rubbish dump. Several of the balconies that once looked out over the Arabian Sea have disintegrated.
In 2005, it was put on a list of endangered buildings by the New York-based World Monuments Fund, but a promise to restore it has slipped off the Indian government’s agenda and it’s thought the structure could collapse any day.
Conservationists say it’s historically important and ought to be preserved. One of its distinguished guests was Mark Twain, who stayed there in 1896 and wrote about Bombay’s crows in Following The Equator.
At its peak, Watson’s had a whites-only policy and legend has it that a prominent businessman, upset at being refused entry one evening, decided to build the Taj Mahal Hotel, which has become Mumbai’s most famous hotel and a symbol of modern India.
by Andy Moreton, with Barney Henderson in Mumbai
We can’t get you a room at Watson’s any more, but Luxique negotiates the best rates at the Taj Mahal and Le Royal Meridien Mumbai.
