ANDRE BALAZS, the premier hotelier of
our time,
has played impeccable host to the worlds most famous people
CHATEAU MARMQNT
IN HOLLYWOOD,
<*<MERCEP
STANDARD
What makes his inns the. place for bacchanalian A'LISTERS?
For the first time. HE REVEALS HIS SECRETS
"Ifyou must get in trouble, do it at the Chateau Marmont.'
Harry Cohn, "boss of bosses" of Columbia Pictures, c. 1939
' 11 good hotels tend to lead people to do things they wouldn't necessarily do at home. A good hotel allows you to escape your own environment. It allows you to let your guard down. And the minute you let your guard down, you realize you're not at home, you're not in the same circumstances, and therefore behavioryou might not indulge in at home suddenly becomes acceptable, even desirable.
Very few people understand the art of hospitality. A good hotel should go out of its way to protect people's privacy and the sanctity of their personal lives. Certainly I have no opinion whatsoever about what's appropriate or inappropriate, as long as you're not disturbing someone else or violating their privacy. I mean, who cares what anybody does? I think it's fair to say more adultery goes on in hotels than any other place in the world. It's human nature, and it comes from that unique psychological
displacement that happens when you enter the safe, embracing, nonjudgmental world of a good hotel.
All misbehavior can become cliched, but there's nothing better than highly original, creative misbehavior. That's delightful. It's not exactly a new thing to be a bad-boy rock-and-roller in a hotel. Rock-and-roll misbehavior is, by definition, a protest against society's mores—basically you're talking about fighting or trashing things. That's not psychologically interesting behavior. High-society misbehavior, however, takes mores for granted and then goes on to address something more interesting.
There is a reason all our hotels are popular with what you might call the creative community, people with good imaginations and a sense of style, whether they're writers, actors, directors or artists of any kind. They embrace the nonjudgmental. And that embrace of creativity and individuality—which is part of our hotel's mandate and part of our culture—allows people, encourages people, to do things they feel comfortable with. We don't pass judgment, ever.
Let's say a guest is being too noisy and the room next door complains: It's not that there's an absolute resolution. The best solution is an adjudication in which both sides end up happy; it's not that one side is right and the other is wrong. Anytime guests have a conflict, the hotel will get involved, but there's no such thing as a conflict between a guest and the hotel per se. There are only conflicts between two guests. Who the hell is the hotel to make a judgment?
The first rule of hospitality is discretion. Foremost, a good hotel needs to make you feel safe. For people to feel safe—to feel their privacy is being respected—they must trust that the hotel will never say anything to the media about a guest. We have an absolute rule that we fire people if they talk to the press. If anyone does, or reveals anything or hints about anything about any guest, they are fired. We've brought court cases against staffers who have violated that dictum.
Many hotels say the best surprise is no surprise. Other hotel chains say their lodgings are like a home away from home. Both those slogans are notions I would reject outright, because the best surprise...is a good surprise.
AS TOLD TO SPENCER MORGAN
