Book Credits

Andreas Augustin
presents the history of the
Hotel Metropole, Hanoi
in the series
The Most Famous Hotels in the World™
Father of the project is Richard Kaldor, general manager of the hotel between 1997 and 2000, who had the vision and enthusiasm to request a well researched history of his hotel. Greatest thanks to all board of directors of Thong Nhat-Metropole Hotel Joint Venture Company.
I am most indebted to Franck Lafourcade, who led the hotel into this millennium as its general manager, who not only helped to update this book, but gave it a wonderful presentation during the year of the hotel’s centenary. Last but not least my personal thanks to Gilles Cretallaz, the current general manager, who supported our continued research into the rich history of this icon of Asian hospitality industry.
We are indebted to HE Susan Boyd, former Ambassador of Australia to Vietnam, HE Serge Degallaix, former Ambassador of France to Vietnam, to Tore and Vigdis Sund, Michael Rastrup Smith, Sam and Rosetta Miller, Patrick Antona, Robert Farnsworth and Yasmine Bombardier.
Credit must also go to Guy Poujoulat and his successors, Marc Bégassat and Charles-Henri Chevet who – as resident managers – accompanied this project.
The deepest gratitude to the wonderful staff of the Metropole who makes each stay such a memorable one. Thanks to Sarah Grant who successfully set up the hotels PR office when so little was known about its past. The help of her successor Ms Nguyen Thanh Thuy and her assistant Nguyen Hai Au made work on this book so much easier.
Further thanks go to Ricardo Perran, the first general manager of the hotel after its extensive renovations, and to his former assistant Edouard George for his collection of old photographs of the hotel and Hanoi. A word of special thanks goes to Dr Stein Tonnesson of the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies who helped persuade Richard Kaldor that in fact the hotel’s story was within reach, and to Gerard Toupet, the general manager of the hotel Scribe in Paris for the story about the brothers Lumière.
Luong Ngoc Khanh, former Front Office and Business Development Manager, supplied the most important assistance. It was good to talk to Frederick Rech, Richard Eliot, Le Hong Hai, Duong Trung Quoc of the Revolutionary Museum and Vu Quoc Khanh of ‘Viet Nam Pictorial’, Jeanne Loubet, Le Van Phuc, Do Thi Duong Minh, Mike Fogata, Madam Nguyen Thi Xuan Phuong, Maitre Duong Van Dam, Pierre Schoendoerffer, Tiana Silliphant and James Compton. Greetings to Australia, where Beris L Gwynne and Sarah Hodgkinson recalled their days at the Metropole – then Thong Nhat Hotel – during the early 1970s. Thanks also to Pierre Marbote and to Jeanne Réau in Paris. Special thanks to all the others, who were not named before and deserve a deep bow for their every kind attitude and help.
Photographs, drawings, maps and other illustrations: Bill Lorenz, Imperial War Museum and British National Library, London; Famous Hotels Main Archives, Vienna; Archives Nationales, Paris; Centre des Archives d’Outre-Mer, Aix-en-Provence; Institute for information – Social & Science, Hanoi; National Library, Hanoi, Giovanni Di Giorgio.
Collections Edouard George, Beris Gwynne, Peter Fleming and Sarah Hodgkinson, Archives of the Hotel Metropole.
Historic hotel labels: Collection Joao Mimoso
Production: Harrison Dolittle
Editor: Andrew Williamson and Thomas Cane
The 2007 edition was edited by Thomas Cane; Copy editor: Carola Augustin
There is a limited leather-bound edition available.

All rights in this publication are reserved. This book and no part of it, be it historic or contemporary images, text or quotes, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the copyright owner.
Important note to publishers
In particular all historic images were edited and restored by famoushotels and are as such subject to international copyright laws. For a maximum of quality they can be obtained from the archives of
www.famoushotels.org.
archives@famoushotels.org
© 1998–2007 Andreas Augustin

ISBN 981–00–1290–X

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