> BTW, I am surprised there hasn't been more comment on the price.
> For 64 USD, I can get a very good dinner in a very good restaurant
> here in the US. It is mind-boggling that people wait in a 6-week
> queue to pay that much for afternoon tea in London.

It's a fair point, but that's the Ritz. It is the quintessential
English hotel, and one of the most famous eateries in the country. I
don't know how to translate it into American. It's high price, but
it's not a fleecing. In the famous London hotels, you can definitely
get what you pay for.

Hotels for the English have traditionally formed part of our cultural
subconscious. They're not (just) places that you'd go to spend the
night (not that I could afford to stay in one for very long!), but
they're more meeting-places, beautiful places, elegant places. They're
a piece of the Old World preserved and enriched through generation
after generation of use by people who want that little bit more.

I'm sure that they attract the common vulgar celebrity type who wants
to flash their money around, but they're also more than that, which is
why we love them: they're genuinely and sincerely good places to be.

N.b. That's not to say that they won't rip you off. They're just
businessmen. But, on the whole, you can pay a lot of money and expect
a great deal for it. The service and the environment are as good as
the quality and preparation of the products. You're certainly paying
for the name, but for a little slice of heaven once in a while... I'm
not averse to it.

No doubt there are people who have had bad experiences, and I expect to
read a barrage of such replies (heh), but you can get ripped off
anywhere. Like every place in the known world, you have to be careful
with your money - "a fool and their money are soon parted", after all -
but, in general, the London hotels are quite trustworthy. They
wouldn't still be here after all those centuries if they weren't, on
the whole.

London hotels are a part of the English Establishment, and I'm very
happy that they're still with us.

Now if only I could afford to enjoy them more often...


Toodlepip,

Hobbes