The No-Tell Motel

When I was young, my dad was kind enough to take my mom, brothers, and me along with him on his business trips to the United Kingdom several years in a row. The first time I remember (not counting the one when I was nine months old), we were thrilled to visit the Isle of Jersey -- not only because we were from New Jersey but also because we enjoyed watching the TV show Bergerac on PBS. (It was filmed on the island.)

We stayed at a very luxurious hotel called Longueville Manor. Each room was named after a different piece of literature. Either my parents' or my brothers' and my room was named "The Scarlet Pimpernel". I can't remember what the other room was called.

In another quote from Deception on His Mind by Elizabeth George, we read of a fictional hotel that also names its rooms.

"Treves paused outside the door of her room, its key dangling from his palm by an enormous ivory tag that was shaped like a roller coaster. Each of the keys, Barbara had noted when registering, was identified in similar fun-fair fashion: Other tags were shaped like everything from a dodge'm car to a miniature Ferris wheel, and the rooms they gave access to were named accordingly."

One ponders what the name is for the honeymoon suite. How about "Tunnel of Love"? (Now there's a keychain for you!)

I wonder if naming rooms is, like naming houses, strictly an English tradition. Maybe I've just never stayed at a fancy enough American hotel.