The thought of staying in a hotel remains a distant memory for many. To remember how it’s done, and for inspiration of where stay, look no further than your favourite films, and the real-life hotels they feature.
The Headland Hotel in Cornwall
The Headland Hotel in Newquay was renamed ‘Hotel Excelsior’ for the film ‘The Witches’, the adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic book. Luke and his aunt Helga stay at the beachside hotel for the summer on doctor’s orders for Helga’s fluctuating diabetes. Here they encounter a convention of witches who are staying under the guise of the ‘Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.’ In fact, they plot the opposite. Anjelica Huston plays the Grand High Witch who leads the other witches in their plans to turn every child in the country into a mouse.
In real life, the five-star luxury hotel has on its doorstep the beautiful Fistral Beach, a popular destination for surfing. When Rowan Atkinson (who plays the hotel manager) ran a bath during the shoot and went to bed without turning the taps off he caused a flood on the ground floor from his second-floor bedroom, destroying lots of expensive equipment in the film’s production office on the level in between.
If you decide that hotel life is too much, you can always opt to stay in one of the luxury self-catering holiday cottages nearby on a private cliff-top.
Burgh Island Hotel in Devon
Agatha Christie wrote Evil Under the Sun while she was staying at the Burgh Island Hotel in south Devon and wrote the hotel into her story. For the glossy television adaption starring David Suchet, Poirot travels across the sea with Captain Hastings on a sea tractor to reach the residence, which is enviably positioned on its own separate island. As Poirot’s patent leather shoes are swallowed up by sand, he reluctantly gives in to a holiday of enforced relaxation and healthy food, while secrets spill out of the hotel rooms around him. Murder is afoot on the beach and he soon finds himself with a mystery to solve.
For a more peaceful getaway than Poirot’s holiday, The Burgh Island Hotel offers a variety of bedrooms, suites and restaurants. It celebrates its art deco fame and heritage and even offers guests use of ‘Agatha’s Beach House’, dubbed ‘One of the sexiest hotel rooms in the UK’ with its own lounge, bedrooms and private sun decks, complete with an outdoor hot tub. It might be a world away from Agatha Christie but at least it still enjoys the same sea views.
The Victoria Hotel in Devon
If The Victoria Hotel in Sidmouth, south Devon, can accommodate Bertie Wooster and Jeeves with ease, then you should feel at home here too. In the 1990s TV adaptation, Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry enjoy a jaunt along the south coast from their hotel to visit a friend staying at another glamorous hotel (called the Hotel Riviera). Bertie makes use of the picturesque seafront for meetings and mischief in the episode ‘Pearls Mean Tears’. Looking at the red brick four-star Victoria Hotel now, one can well imagine Bertie Wooster skipping across the pretty mini bridge that crosses over the outdoor pool before toppling in while Jeeves watches from the side, proffering a towel and stepping back to avoid the splash.
Parknasilla Resort and Spa in County Kerry Ireland
In ‘The Lobster’, anyone alone and without a partner must spend 45 days at a hotel and fall in love or else be turned into an animal. Colin Farrell stars in this dystopian film as a lonely guest alongside Olivia Colman, who manages the hotel. The occupants bond over activities such as swimming and dismal dances run by the hotel in the evenings.
Happily, the only similarity for real life visitors are the beautiful views of Kerry mountains. Guests of the Parknasilla Resort and Spa can enjoy a meal overlooking Kenmare Bay after they have spent the afternoon taking in the green scenery on one of the many walking trails, or sea kayaking, or a lazy afternoon on Dorothy’s Beach – a sheltered beach cove.
The Ritz in London
The Ritz is the much featured hotel in which Hugh Grant stumbles into a press junket not realising he’s about to interview his new love, the famed actress Anna Scott, played by Julia Roberts in the film Notting Hill. He later finds himself walking her back to her room under the Ritz’s glitzy lights, only to be confronted by her boyfriend who has flown in from America. The hotel, famed for its afternoon teas, offers guests everything they could wish for including a drive in the Ritz Rolls-Royce (for a fee) and facials and hairdressing services.
Park Hyatt hotel, Tokyo
If you do manage to jet off this summer, on the other hand, you might be tempted to visit the Park Hyatt hotel in Tokyo, like Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson in the film ‘Lost in Translation.’ It is fourteen storeys high with commanding views over the buzzing Tokyo streets below. The Plaza in New York, meanwhile, has been the hotel film-set of choice for generations, from Hitchcock’s North by Northwest to the not so classic Home Alone 2, when cheeky Kevin McCallister checks himself into an enormous suite and charges his exuberant stay to his dad’s credit card. If you prefer to stay close to home and see the South of France, it might be wise to recall Somerset Maugham’s sage observation of the French Riviera when he described it as ‘a sunny place for shady people’. Just think of the film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. The Grand Hotel du Cap proves to be the perfect place for movie stars and millionaires alike.
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