Chapter “Room Service” by Bill Bryson appears in the book Im a Stranger Here Myself. The thesis of this chapter is to inform people about old and modern hotels. He also shows readers that he loves the old hotels.
Bryson always wanted to visit the Motel in San Luis Obsipo, California. This motel was a famous stopping place on the highway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It was the first motel to be named motel even though it was not the first motel ever. Bryson always gets excited he goes to a motel. The 1950’s were the golden age of motels. During this time period Bryson was one of those people who traveled by car across America. There were two types of motels during that time. The first one was very well fashion and the second was not. But the second one was the one that they stayed in the most. This all changed during the modern age. Holiday Inn went from 70 outlets in 1958 to 1,500 in less than twenty years. Recently when Bryson was driving back from Washington D.C, he insisted that they should sleep at an old fashioned motel. He looked for a motel that was like the ones from the good old days. After a long hunt they founded Sleepy Hollow Motel. Across this was Comfort Inn. After they looked at the features of Sleepy Hollow Motel they figured out that they just want to go to Comfort Inn.
it's perfect how u summarized this chapter, and i agree with your summary.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with Bill Bryson in his chapter “Room Service” that the new chain hotel lack the same personalized, nostalgic feeling that the older, “Mom and Pop” owned motels of the yesteryears have, I do have to say that I prefer sanitation to nostalgia any day. The story the author tells at the end of this chapter about trying to encourage his family to stay at one of those old motels is very similar to what my father used to do every family trip. We’d pack up the car and head off for a destination no less than two days drive away, dreading the moment when he decided that we had driven far enough that day and that it was time to stop at a motel with “a little character” which was code for “in desperate need of closing by the health department.” It took all of us getting head lice on one of these trips for my father to finally agree that staying at a nice reputable hotel chain (with health and cleanliness standards) was best for the family. It was a relief to see Mr. Bryson come to the same conclusion.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Bill Bryson's chapter "Room Service": Gives lots of information about Old motels, I believe that the new hotels are so much better. As you discribed in this chapter, that your family members chose to go to Comfort Inn rather than Sleepy Hollow Motel because they also know that it is better. If you compare these two setting's, you automaticly realize that the feeling you get when entering these opposite places are much different. When people enter a hotel they know that this place has a swimming area, gym, and more things to do than just sleep. On the other hand, when people enter a motel, they just want to sleep there and leave. reason being this place of resting only offers one feature which is a bed.
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