Hotels that Never Really Were, Suite A Quiz

Answer: The Grand Budapest Hotel

"The Grand Budapest Hotel" is set variously in the present, the late 1960s and in 1932. It is the story of a concierge who must disprove a false allegation that he murdered one of his guests. It is also the story of the life cycle of a hotel. The film collected a suite of BAFTA nominations (11), Golden Globe nominations (4) and Academy Award nominations (9), as well it might.

Answer: Hotel California

Written by Don Felder, Don Henley, and Glenn Frey, "Hotel California" was recorded in 1977 and became the Eagles' greatest hit. It won the Grammy for Record of the Year in 1978. The lyrics are opaque and subject to many interpretations. "Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way.

There were voices down the corridor, I thought I heard them say 'Welcome to the Hotel California.' ... Last thing I remember, I was running for the door. I had to find the passage back to the place I was before. 'Relax,' said the night man, 'We are programmed to receive. You can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave!'"

Answer: Fawlty Towers

Cleese and Booth were married when they wrote/acted in the 1975 series but had been divorced when they wrote/acted in the 1979 second series. Fawlty Towers was situated in Torquay, a seaside resort town on the "English Riviera." The few episodes (there were only twelve) revolve around rude and up-tight owner Basil Fawlty and his never-ending conflicts with guests, staff, townspeople and tradespeople.

Answer: the Hutus and the Tutsis

Based on historic events in 1994, "Hotel Rwanda" tells the story of Paul Rusesabagina who used his Hôtel des Mille Collines save his family and over a thousand refugees from Hutu genocide. The film had somewhat limited exposure at first but awards and nominations for awards moved it to the forefront of public attention. The genocide killed just under a million Tutsis; Rusesbagina saved 1268 people.

Answer: The Mountain View Inn in California's Sierra Nevada

"The Mouse and the Motorcycle" (1965) describes how Ralph S. Mouse acquired a motorcycle, learned to ride and set up his own motorcycle garage. The events all occur in the Mountain View Inn, a run-down resort located in California's Sierra Madre mountains. Cleary is famous for creating Henry Huggins and his dog Ribsy, and Ramona Quimby and Beezus Quimby.

Answer: The Hotel New Hampshire

"The Hotel New Hampshire" was Irving's fifth published novel. Irving is known to include, as themes or elements in his fiction, New England, sex workers, Vienna, bears and deadly accidents. Every one of these is present in "The Hotel New Hampshire." It is, in Dickensian fashion, the story of Win and Mary Berry and their five children and, tangentially, of a trained bear named State o' Maine.

Much of it happens in hotels, at least four by my count. Both the hotel in New Hampshire and the hotel in Austria are named The Hotel New Hampshire.

Answer: Hotel Paradiso

Alec Guinness played the role of Benedict Boniface, the author, in the London West End stage production of "L'Hôtel du libre échange" and was invited to translate the role to film in "Hotel Paradiso." The story is complex, Gina Lollobrigida is steamy, and Robert Morley is perfectly Robert Morley. Bedroom humour abounds.

Answer: small

Richard Rogers wrote the music and Lorenz Hart wrote the lyrics for "There's a Small Hotel." It was supposed to be sung in Billy Rose's Broadway musical "Jumbo" in 1935 but was cut. It was picked up by Ray Bolger and Doris Carson in 1936's "On Your Toes." The song was used again, in a completely different way, in the motion picture "Pal Joey" (1957) with a treatment by Frank Sinatra and Nelson Riddle. "There's a small hotel with a wishing well. I wish that we were there together. There's a bridal suite: one room bright and neat, complete for us to share together."

Answer: Twin Peaks

Mark Frost and David Lynch created "Twin Peaks" for ABC. The programme, which was wildly successful with those who liked it, was a ratings failure and was cancelled at the end of the second season. Kyle MacLachlan, as FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper, comes to Twin Peaks and encamps in the hotel during the investigation. The exteriors of the Great Northern Hotel are shots of Snoqualmie Falls Lodge in Snoqualmie, Washington.

Answer: The Shining

Stephen King's 1977 story about a recovering-alcoholic author who takes a winter-time job as the caretaker at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado was made into a 1980 motion picture starring Jack Nicholson. The movie was a success, but the author didn't like it. King personally supervised a television mini-series made of the novel in 1997.