Meanwhile, a visiting British dignitary (Michael Rennie) and his wife (Merle Oberon) find themselves in a quandry when he accidentally kills a child while driving drunk and flees the scene. Neither choice appeals to Trent, so his general manager Peter McDermott (Rod Taylor) tries to put together his own deal. Gregory from an upscale hotel into a very commercial one. The other option is to sell to hotel magnate Curtis O'Keefe (Kevin McCarthy), who wants to transform the St. Its elderly owner, Warren Trent (Melvyn Douglas), has a standing offer from developers who want the real estate, but not the hotel. Gregory, a posh but aging and debt-ridden hotel in New Orleans.
The central story revolves arond the future of the St. In that aspect, one could call Hotel a reasonable success. Still, it's a serviceable plot device the key is to wrap the framing story around interesting ones involving the guests.
Of course, the movie's structure-different stories set in a grand hotel-harkens back to.well. Made in 1967, it was based on Hailey's novel of the same title. I always think of Hotel as a follow-up to Arthur Hailey's Airport-when, in reality, the former film came out first.
