Europe Holiday: venerability, since it proudly calls itself "the oldest hotel in Europe Holiday." Strangely enough, it is still one of the city's best, though its fortress-like stone walls may turn you toward one of its rivals, the Post or the Britannia.
In Bruges, the Due de Bourgogne is usually the favorite and in Namur and Dinant, gateway towns to the holiday Ardennes, Hotel d'Harscamp, (highly recommendable) and Hotel Terminus are respective leaders, but don't expect, in any of the small-city hotels, to find private baths standard installations. They exist, lots of them in the aggregate, but are very far from universal.
Belgium's seacoast hotels have dreamed up a special bargain for your holiday budget. To any guest remaining longer than one week in any given hotel a cash rebate of 15 to 20 per cent is now offered. Perhaps this plan will soon extend to holiday resorts in other parts of the kingdom.
By 1959, the chain boasted a hundred hotels, most owned by doctors, lawyers, and other financially capable investors. The one-
thousandth Holiday Inn broke ground in 1969. Wilson retired aschief executive of the franchise chain in 1979, after suffering a mild heart attack. Holiday Inns is still the world's largest lodging organization and one of the most recognizable franchise trademarks.
It is estimated that 90 percent of the nation's travelers have spent at least one night in a Holiday Inn. |