. The most spectacular tantrums and shock moments will be familiar to anyone who has holidayed in similar five-star spots – populated by the self-entitled, but not quite the private jet set. There were the wayward spoiled teens, the drugs, the disgruntled honeymooners, the oddball lone traveller… apart from the fatal knifing in the finale, all run of the mill for such places. The new series (with the return of camp goddess Jennifer Coolidge, alongside new characters played by F Murray Abraham and Tom Hollander), has been filmed at the glorious San Domenico Palace, Taormina hotel in Sicily, also a Four Seasons. Once again, the drama promises to be a masterclass in how not to behave in hotels. I've probably seen it all before, and I don't know who might need to hear this, but there are lessons to be learnt… In the first season of The White Lotus, the main narrative arc featured a honeymoon couple who didn't get the suite they had booked. It ends with murder. Unlikely to happen in real life, but the point is – if you don't like the room you've been given, explain your disappointment. Always specify what you expect from your room when you book. For years, every view I had from hotels in New York was of a brick wall a few feet away, before I realised that I had to say in advance what I wanted to see when I looked out the window. If you don't ask, you don't get. If there is a Pineapple Suite incident, because of a double booking, or if there's a strange odour or noise in your room, ask politely to be relocated, and if that's impossible, then ask for a substantial discount on the rate. If it's really bad, then leave. It's your holiday. Take your business elsewhere. And if they won't refund you the cost of the booking, make sure all communication){kind=link}
To mark the return of the show, a one long-time observer of the affluent on holiday provides some timely dos and don’ts
The first season of The White Lotus was a wonderfully comedic fictional drama about the demands, inequity and inequalities of life in a luxury Hawaii hotel (set in the thinly disguised Four Seasons in Maui, where it was filmed). The most spectacular tantrums and shock moments will be familiar to anyone who has holidayed in similar five-star spots – populated by the self-entitled, but not quite the private jet set.
There were the wayward spoiled teens, the drugs, the disgruntled honeymooners, the oddball lone traveller… apart from the fatal knifing in the finale, all run of the mill for such places. The new series (with the return of camp goddess Jennifer Coolidge, alongside new characters played by F Murray Abraham and Tom Hollander), has been filmed at the glorious San Domenico Palace, Taormina hotel in Sicily, also a Four Seasons.
Once again, the drama promises to be a masterclass in how not to behave in hotels. I’ve probably seen it all before, and I don’t know who might need to hear this, but there are lessons to be learnt…
In the first season of The White Lotus, the main narrative arc featured a honeymoon couple who didn’t get the suite they had booked. It ends with murder. Unlikely to happen in real life, but the point is – if you don’t like the room you’ve been given, explain your disappointment. Always specify what you expect from your room when you book. For years, every view I had from hotels in New York was of a brick wall a few feet away, before I realised that I had to say in advance what I wanted to see when I looked out the window. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.