Cover
The Suite Life
THE SUITE LIFE
THE
MAGIC AND MYSTERY
OF
HOTEL LIVING
CHRISTOPHER HEARD
Dedication
For my beautiful daughter, Princess Isabelle, as always
Contents
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
INTRODUCTION
BOOK ONE
A Private Oasis of Solitude …
with Room Service
BOOK TWO
Some Kind of Epic Grandeur
BOOK THREE
Suite Dreams
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to the fine people at Dundurn Press, particularly president and publisher Kirk Howard and vice-president of marketing and sales Beth Bruder, who was my first contact at Dundurn. I will be forever grateful for their interest and support. I would also like to thank associate publisher and editorial director Michael Carroll, a calm and supportive editor who made this book better; director of sales and marketing Margaret Bryant; and designers Courtney Horner and Jesse Hooper. From that first lunch at the Scotland Yard pub on The Esplanade, I was instantly at ease with everyone at Dundurn. I knew The Suite Life was in the hands of the right publisher because the company embraced it not just as a book project but understood the whole spirit of it, as well.
Deep, heartfelt thanks go out to my wonderful Fairmont Royal York family — without you none of this would have been possible, not just the book but the very dream itself. So thanks to Fairmont regional vice-president and Royal York general manager Heather McCrory, whose early encouraging words on this material were very meaningful, in fact, crucial, to the process; to my good friend Mike Taylor, public relations director of Fairmont, who first uttered those three magical words — “writer-in-residence”; to Melanie Coates, who is everything from my sounding board to my guardian angel; to Kolene Elliott, who is one of the smartest and most resourceful hotel people I’ve ever encountered; to Serge Laroche, whose patience and understanding made a world of difference; to the very good people in the Fairmont Royal York Health Club — Jeannie Gallant, Alison, Soaria, Will, and especially Josh Stone, my good friend whom I bounced off whatever I was working on for his reaction. Anyone who loves All in the Family as much as I do is a wit I can trust without hesitation. Every single day during the researching and writing of this book began with Josh, and I thank him for his friendship and support. And, finally, thanks to the maids who work the ninth floor of the Royal York — you take such great care of me!
Thanks always to my family, father Bill Heard, mother Marie Heard, and brother Peter Heard.
Special thanks to the beautiful Rhonda Thain. For three books now (and counting), your love and support and comforting touch were extremely meaningful to me. I only hope a little of those things flowed back to you from me during these busy days.
Thanks also to my friend and fellow author Michael Coren for all his encouragement and support (and promotion).
Thanks to Ann Layton of Siren Communications, my fellow hotel lover and good friend. Many of the hotels described in this book I experienced because of you.
Special loving thanks to my beautiful little girl, Isabelle. It was through her inspiration that I was able to see this wonderful place and this magnificent experience as the magical dream come true living and writing this book really was.
And thanks to the griffin on the northeast corner of the Royal York for keeping an eye on me by day and by night.
Introduction
Introduction
I have always associated hotel living with excitement and adventure, with romance and sensuality, with mystery and the sense that within the walls of a hotel everything is possible, anything can happen, and usually does. I link hotels with all the fascinating people I have met because more often than not the encounter was in a hotel. But the idea, the dream of living that life myself, was first inspired when I was 12 years old. Always a voracious reader, I read anything that caught my fancy whether I fully knew the reason for my interest or not. It was at that age that I was reading a book on the eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, about how for many of the final years of his life he resided on the penthouse floors of fine hotels in Acapulco, Mexico, and Vancouver, British Columbia. Hughes was said to have lived in complete seclusion, even though he was in a place where thousands of people came and went on a weekly basis. The mysteriousness of that intrigued me, and as a young boy who was painfully shy and woefully introverted, the very notion of being a part of the world, being in the middle of a swirling microcosm of activity, while at the same time being able to shut oneself away from the hustle and bustle at will, intrigued the hell out of me and still, obviously, does.
My deeply rooted love affair with Toronto’s Fairmont Royal York Hotel also began when I was very young. My mother, Marie, would bring my brother, Peter, and me to the Royal York for weekends from our home 35 miles east of the city. We would come in on Friday evenings, see a stage show or a movie or go to a museum, and walk the streets and eat in little restaurants and shop in huge bookstores. Then, on Sunday afternoons, we would return home. What I noticed about those Royal York weekends was that time appeared to elongate. Two full days at the hotel seemed to feel like a month, with each moment being savoured and enjoyed. Later I came to understand that I had an even deeper connection to the Royal York, but more about that later.
My lifelong attraction to movie history and culture, something I made a career out of, was also significantly intensified in the Royal York during one of my many childhood sojourns there. On one such occasion my mother was out with a friend for the evening and my younger brother was fast asleep in the suite. I was clicking around the TV channels and came across the in-room pay-per-view channels. I noticed that the acclaimed movies Taxi Driver and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest were a mere click away. I was too young to see the films on the big screen due to ratings restrictions, but here they were. I ordered both movies and was mesmerized by their stark realism, the brilliance of their screenplays, and the flawless, indelible performances of actors Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson, their stars. I took in both films twice and came away thinking about movies in a whole new way — that they could thrill and entertain but could also dig deeply into the human condition.
Years later I told that story to Robert De Niro and to One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest producer Saul Zaentz at different times during interviews, both sessions taking place in hotel suites (The Regency in New York City). In preparation for this book I did some rough calculations and determined that I’ve done more than 700 interviews in hotel suites, with a few of the most memorable ones in the Royal York. But the true magic of the Royal York really hit me one sunny afternoon in August.
My beautiful little daughter, Isabelle, was visiting me at the Royal York from her home in Windsor, Ontario, when she was three years old. Isabelle is smart, curious, creative, and energetic. She loves the Royal York and runs in the big, open spaces on the mezzanine level. I follow her around with a video camera so we can make our own little Eloise movies. On that particular Saturday afternoon we were in the lobby, and Isabelle was climbing the stairs leading to the venerable Imperial Room’s large, ornate doors. They were closed, and nothing was happening in the Imperial Room that afternoon.
The Royal York Hotel’s Imperial Room has showcased