Destinations
Whether you're a sprawling game reserve, a luxury resort, a spa-hideaway, a business hotel, an urban boutique property or any other kind of destination we've got a solution that will suit your location. Because every library that we create is tailored specifically to your requirements and your customer profiles we can guarantee that you will have a perfectly suited interpretation of our library system for you.
Please find some indicative solutions suggestions below, organised by some more general location themes. These will hopefully give you an idea of the kinds of implementations that might suit your hotel or resort, based on our experience. Click through to on each one to see a more complete explanation of the ideas involved.
Resort
When you're relaxing and completely away from it all we find that a selection of the top "deckchair reading" titles are indespensible, alongside our contemporary selection of both fiction and non-fiction titles which offer a greater sense of place... more...
City
With the finest of novels set in the very city you're staying in and the regions best historical, art and cultural guides to help you find your way around an unfamiliar landscape we think that city libraries can offer a brilliant way to augment your stay... more...
Boutique
If you have the hippest hotel around then your library is going to reflect that. With the hottest new art and design titles and the best in large-format photographic feature work your library will look nothing short of stunning... more...
Villa
Titles to inspire your stay in the region form the core of this collection. With a small private library for each property, a central reading room and a film library which has the very best in classic, contemporary, documentaries and world cinema... more...
Safari
Featuring the very best of the guidebooks and field guides to let you know exactly what you're surrounded by and a large collection of stunning photographic titles highlighting the local area... more...
Ski chalet
When you're tucked up warm after a hard day's skiing this choice selection of the best contemporary fiction, the greatest of classic literature and the stylish literary output of all the best new writers... more...
Spa
With beautiful illustrated titles to give a greater sense of the region, its culture and design, a wide range of philosophy and well-being titles to help you relax and... more...
Business/conference
With a reference library for the discerning business executive who needs a quick memory jog and a selection of the very best, zeitgeist business books... more...
Villa
It is important to create a home-like feeling in villas and chalets so the books should be quite diverse. Perhaps a few recent cookery books would be interesting too, plus cultural guides and other material relating
to the region. Again, high quality illustrated books are ideal to add character and allow guests to relax.
Our solution for villa properties
We would advise using a 'small library' or suite style selection for each villa. With each offering the very best regional fiction and non-fiction titles, illustrated editions which highlight the beauty or architecture of the surrounding area and a small selection of classic and recent hardback titles which offer an escape from it all, or for some light reading after dinner a choice of escapist paperbacks.
Getting started - to start the process email us your details or download a hotel profile form (doc, 180kb)
City
In our experience, guests at city hotels do not have a great deal of spare time, so there is hardly time to dip into Proust or Tolstoy, and with an average stay of 1-3 nights even a blockbuster novel is beyond reach. But books do have an important role to play by informing and inspiring guests to see more of the city and entertaining those who want to relax with more than a magazine or newspaper. Working with some of the world's leading city hotels we have refined our book selections to meet the needs of the executive traveller, their partners and the premium weekend guests and tourists.
The Executive Shelf
The Executive shelf is best located in the executive floor or club lounge, our executive shelf book selection speaks to the country, location and the short stay agenda. You may consider a small selection of travel writing, city guides, books on the region, short stories set locally or in hotels that capture the spirit of the place. For example books to dip into: W.Somerset Maugham short stories or The Economist World in Figures. Books on the global business agenda; books for local colour - Bulgakov and Pushkin in Moscow, Dunant and Dante in Florence, Dali and Zafon in Barcelona or Dalrymple in Delhi. To see sample city booklists go to our Sense of Place bookmap.
We recommend a small dedicated shelf area within the lounge for the reading titles and a carefully chosen selection of illustrated books that can be set on display stands or piled on tables.
Our solutions for city suites
Reduce the clutter and raise the tone with a thoughtful selection of illustrated books to browse before dinner. In larger suites consider a reading shelf of bedside companions that have been specially selected for the short stay guest. We have added a fast payback retail model for illustrated titles.
Ultimate Concierge
In addition to this why not try out our Ultimate Concierge box, which is like offering your customers their very own 'concierge in a container', with a selection of books that offer a greater sense of the place that they're are staying, with history to give perspective, guides, etiquette and local-tips collections which will help everyone rub along more easily and a brief selection of the very best websites which will help your guests check out 'what's on?' when they're're desperate for something to do that very night.
We also find that signature titles can make a fantastic impact in both lobbies and larger suites.
Download Case Study - Forbury (doc, 92kb)
Getting started - to start the process email us your details or download a hotel profile form (doc, 180kb)
Hotels and writers
"With so many hotels bragging about their high-tech amenities, once in a while it's nice to find a place that actually celebrates the lost art of reading".
Peter Greenburg, Travel Editor for NBC's Today show
What is it that links so many of history's great writers inextricabley with their favourite watering holes and hotels? Perhaps it is the ready access to alcohol and caffeine? Or is it the fires of unrequited love burning in the lonliness of their hotel rooms that inspires great writing? Maybe it's the old maxim that travel broadens the mind. Whatever the reason, many of the grand old hotels have a great litery heritage that persists to this day. We have listed below some of our favourite city hotels with literary connections.
Raffles, Singapore - a staple of the writers circle in the early 20th century including W Somerset Maugham and Joseph Conrad. Rudyard Kipling famously advised travellers that when in Singapore, they must "feed at Raffles".
The Oriental Bangkok's Authors' Wing boasts four famous suites commemorating some of the best-known names in literature. W Somerset Maugham, Noel Coward, James Michener and Joseph Conrad who all sought inspiration on the hectic streets of the Thai capital.
Reid's Palace Madeira is where George Bernard Shaw stayed for nearly two months, playing tennis and, most famously, taking tango lessons on the lawn.
Browns, London - Rudyard Kipling honeymooned at here with his American bride in 1892, returning to work on The Jungle Book. Agatha Christie was also a frequent visitor
The Montreux Palace Hotel in Switzerland was home to Nabakov for many years and a bronze statue now stands guard outside. Neighbouring Lausanne was where Edward Gibbon penned the last line of his "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." A steady stream of writers from Byron and Shelley to Victor Hugo, Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy, were to follow in Gibbon's footsteps.
L'Hotel, Paris is where Oscar Wilde lived out his days in room 16. Later Luis Borges took up residence in homage.
Albergo del Sole al Pantheon, Rome is where Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir spent many a summer. de Beauvoir's feminist tome, The Second Sex, was particularly inspired by her days spent in the company of deeply unenlightened Italian men
The exotic El Minzah Hotel, Tangiers was the city's 1960's literary lighting rod. Paul and Jane Bowles, as well as beat writers from Ginsberg to Kerouac to, most notably Burroughs, took up residence here at one time or another,
The swanky, romantic Ambos Mundos hotel in Havana Cuba was where Hemingway penned For Whom The Bell Tolls. The list of other Hemingway haunts is legendary, and lengthy.
Maison de Ville New Orleans was where Tennessee Williams wrote A Streetcar Named Desire. Around the corner is the spectacular Hotel Monteleone whose regular guests over the years have included Williams, Truman Capote, William Faulkner, and Richard Ford
Hotel Pont Royal is Paris's most famous literary address. Camus, Sartre and Joyce checked into this Left Bank hotel, as have Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Arthur Miller and TS Elliot.
Sofitel Metropole, Hanoi - This French colonial-style hotel was home to Graham Greene and provided inspriation for The Quiet American
The Plaza, New York - Truman Capote held his Black and White Ball here in 1966 to celebrate the publication of In Cold Blood. While up the street lies The Algonquin, synonymous with Dorothy Parker and her round table
The Heathman Hotel in Portland Oregon has a library with more than 3,000 signed, first-edition books by authors who have stayed there, including 5 Nobel Prize winners.
Boutique
These are most often luxury, contemporary and very stylish properties, with a more intimate feel and highly 
personalised services and amenities. We find that these hotels, with their emphasis on quality and style benefit enormously from the introduction of a bespoke library to augment their facilities
Our solution for boutique properties
For a boutique property we would suggest a selection of titles which complement the style and design of your specific location. Alongside a central library of the most up to the minute titles for your guests to select from we find that Signature titles are perfect for providing an extra 'wow factor' when your guests enter their suite or even for the lobby. We find that our selection of large format illustrated titles offer the most impact when small selections are placed in each of the rooms.
The suite 'library shelf', along with a selection of illustrated books, is ideal to create the right atmosphere in the top suites of your hotel. The library shelf is a smaller selection of reading titles for the bigger suites. The book selection speaks to the country, location and the short stay agenda. You may consider a small selection of travel writing, city guides, books on the region, short stories set locally or in hotels that capture the spirit of the place. For example Books to dip into: Evelyn Waugh or Richard Ford short stories; Economist World in Figures; Books for local flavour - Bulgakov and Pushkin in Moscow, Sarah Dunant and Dante in Florence, Dali and Zafon in Barcelona.
Getting started - to start the process email us your details or download a hotel profile form (doc, 180kb)
Private Game Reserves
The books we are asked to provide for safari camps and private game reserves are predominantly practical and informative. And although the larger part of the day is spent out and about, there is plenty of down time for reading in the heat of the day.
Whether one of the more luxurious lodges in Southern Africa or a tented camp in the Masai Mara the challenge is the same - how do we inspire, educate and entertain? Our solutions include a reading library tailored to meet to location, guest profile and size of the camp, books in the rooms/tents and bespoke editions of books on wildlife which offer your guests the very best information and background on what they are seeing on safari.
Our solution for private game reserves
Typically we supply a selection of wildlife guide books and nature titles. Also, short stories and our Sense of Place collection for Africa, covering literature, history, culture and illustrated books. We can also provide bespoke guidebooks which are branded with your logo(s), rebind and reformat existing guidebooks to better tailor them to your location or even create a title completely from scratch which perfectly complements your property
Where have we done this before? - for a case study on a private game reserve in Kenya please email us.
Please find a sample booklist offering A Greater Sense of East Africa here (PDF, 960kb)
Getting started - to start the process email us your details or download a hotel profile form (doc, 180kb)
The Ultimate Chalet Library
Up to 30% of people who go on skiing holidays rarely ski. And people who own chalets abroad spend a lower percentage of their time skiing than those who ski holiday once a year. Latest consumer research shows that reading is a key part of the holiday experience, and a significant number of people admit (often guiltily) to reading books only on holiday. Evidence the volume of books sold last minute at airports.
But why wait until the airport when you can plan ahead? We believe that there is an opportunity to provide you a bespoke reading service that meets the standards of excellence demanded in all other aspects of the modern travel experience in a no hassle, out-of-the-box format. So how can we help give your chalet shelf chic?
Our solution for ski chalets
We will supply a small bespoke library that reflects the location, demographics and theme of your property. The titles are chosen by our specialist booksellers. Even better, we work with leading authors and celebrities to share their personal lists of books that in their opinion best deliver that "sense of place". Each chalet will have its own 'mini' library and a selection of beautiful regional illustrated titles.
Getting started - to start the process email us your details or download a profile form (doc, 180kb)
Spas
The spa is somewhere to unwind and relax so a perfect place for your guests to learn more about their general health and well being. Our small spa-libraries of well-being related titles are the perfect supplement to a new health regime and are designed to be entertaining, enlightening and inspirational. Our Spa collection is a perfect, small library-in-a-box.
Our solution for spas
We tend to supply small libraries of health, wellbeing and nutrition titles, as well as small collections of illustrated books which are essential to flick through before or after treatments. We group these titles into three categories:
Category One
Illustrated and photographic titles to display on tables in your spa reception or relaxation area.
Category Two
The best quick reference books (full of tips and ideas that you can follow to feel better every hour of every day), books to help you relax and de-stress, as well as entertaining, enlightening and inspirational titles to keep you energised and focused.
Category Three
A selection of training titles which are tailored to your spa staff, making sure that your guests receive the bext possible and most up to date treatments and therapies.
Please find a sample Spa Collection list in PDF format downloadable here (PDF, 296kb) It offers a selection of new and notable titles on Wellbeing, Nutrition and Personal Transformation for Spas and Spa Hotels.
We have even produced custom-published titles entirely from scratch for Spa brands such as Champney's. We recognise that every spa brand has its own unique approach and philosophy - we can help you to extend the reach of your brand with a book that allows your guests to take home a little bit of that special spa feeling.
Download Case Study - Champneys (doc, 126kb)
Getting started - to start the process email us your details or download a hotel profile form (doc, 180kb)
Resort
The resort library is designed to cater for the long stay guest who books in for some serious rest and recuperation. Each library is made up largely of hard-back books selected from our 
six core categories which are regularly updated to cover the best of the new season's titles. Our literary and travel experts will help you choose the subjects and titles that are most appropriate for your location and guest profile.
Our solution for resorts
A library collection to educate, inspire and entertain. The total linear bookshelf space at the core of your new library could be anything from 5 to 35 metres. We recommend that this space is filled with a balance of the latest hardcover and some backlist titles drawn from our simple categories. We select mostly 2008/9 titles and blend this with both classic fiction and a few stand-out older titles (in our experience it is better to get a balance across the best of recent publishing seasons and to create a lived-in feeling from day one, ensuring that your customers are instantly at home with your book selection noticing titles they may already know and spotting others that they might have recently seen advertised or reviewed).
Download Case Study - Soneva Fushi (doc, 36kb)
Getting started - to start the process email us your details or download a hotel profile form (doc, 180kb)
Business/conference
From specifically oriented work-hotels with serviced offices to executive floors contained within a larger concern, our libraries can provide an invaluable reference for executives and staff alike. With a reference library for the discerning employee who needs a quick memory jog, a model to work from or a statistic or two, plus a selection of the very best, zeitgeist business books, our business libraries are well placed to augment any meeting or conference.
Getting started - to start the process email us your details or download a hotel profile form (doc, 180kb)
Our solution for business hotels or conference suites
Offer an easy to access executive reference library with a thoughtful selection of zeitgeist business books to browse before meetings. In larger office areas or conference rooms consider a reading shelf of business and world agenda titles that have been specially selected for the executive guest.