I was at the height, the heyday, of my career as a travel writer, on the fringes of a freelance career, writing about honeymoon destinations and romantic hotels. It has started on my honeymoon in Morocco when we shyly failed to announce in advance that we were honeymooners, and were given twin beds. The following summer, for our anniversary we toured England and Scotland. At every hotel I asked to see the honeymoon suite, although almost every one was beyond our budget, I got to see it, enjoy the oo - ah surprise of opening the door and being delighted. Then Brides magazine invited readers to send in their stories. I sent in my pictures and text, and was invited to write more.
From then on every time I entered a hotel, whether as a journalist on another assignment, often just having a meal, or attending a drinks reception, I asked to see the honeymoon suite. I acquired hundreds of photos of honeymoon suites around the world.
The biggest tourism surprise was my conversation with the PR for England's Lake District. I was invited up for an event and asked the PR lady if she had a hotel with a honeymoon suite with a four poster which I could see. She went silent.
I thought I had embarrassed her because she could not think of one. Honeymoon suites were my speciality. Often the hotel PR did not even think about them. They were too busy showing off the conference centre microphones, the restaurant's new stainless steel kitchen, the size of the car park. They did not know the hotel's main bedroom had a four poster bed in the attic, until I pointed it out in the hotel brochure from three years ago, before they'd added the new conference centre with the spa and 100 identical new bedrooms.
'You don't have a hotel with a four poster bed?' I queried. 'Is that the problem?'
'No,' she answered. 'In the lake district almost every hotel has a four poster bed. Most hotels have two. Some have several.'
You can imagine that I came home from that trip with lot of photos.
From then on every time I entered a hotel, whether as a journalist on another assignment, often just having a meal, or attending a drinks reception, I asked to see the honeymoon suite. I acquired hundreds of photos of honeymoon suites around the world.
The biggest tourism surprise was my conversation with the PR for England's Lake District. I was invited up for an event and asked the PR lady if she had a hotel with a honeymoon suite with a four poster which I could see. She went silent.
I thought I had embarrassed her because she could not think of one. Honeymoon suites were my speciality. Often the hotel PR did not even think about them. They were too busy showing off the conference centre microphones, the restaurant's new stainless steel kitchen, the size of the car park. They did not know the hotel's main bedroom had a four poster bed in the attic, until I pointed it out in the hotel brochure from three years ago, before they'd added the new conference centre with the spa and 100 identical new bedrooms.
'You don't have a hotel with a four poster bed?' I queried. 'Is that the problem?'
'No,' she answered. 'In the lake district almost every hotel has a four poster bed. Most hotels have two. Some have several.'
You can imagine that I came home from that trip with lot of photos.
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