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FINAL CHECK OUT

Published: 15/02/2012 - Filed under: Editor's Note »

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I don’t know of a hotel that doesn’t crave some kind of publicity, and this week, the Beverly Hills Hilton received it in full measure, although perhaps not the type that would make its general manager glow.

Unless you were asleep these past couple of days, you wouldn’t have been able to miss the screaming headlines about the demise of pop diva Whitney Houston, found in her guestroom bathtub and despite efforts by paramedics, called in by her aunt or bodyguard (the facts remain hazy), could not be revived.  

Now, besides joining the pantheon of troubled artists, who, using the evocative phrase have “gone too soon” (swirling background music please), the once willowy Whitney also enters the growing circle of celebrities whose final moments were played out in a solitary hotel room away from the klieg lights, eager fans and prying paparazzi they were so used to.

Sensational check outs include rockers Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, who both overdosed in the Hotel Samarkand, Notting Hill London and the Landmark Hotel (now Highland Gardens Hotel) respectively in the 1970s, followed by comedian John Belushi of the same causes in 1982, choosing a garden bungalow in the Charteau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard for his last gig. The year 1997 saw NXS singer Michael Hutchence committing suicide at the Ritz-Carlton Sydney, while a decade later, bosomy model Anna Nicole Smith could not be resusciated after taking a deadly cocktail of prescription drugs while staying at the Seminole Hotel & Resort in Florida.

Nearer home, we had the very strange case of Kill Bill/Kung-Fu star David Carradine, who was found lifeless in the clothes closet of his guestroom at the Swissotel Nailert Park Bangkok after some weird activity. Thanks to loose lips in housekeeping, the lurid details and some photographs made their way to local tabloids, of course, horrifying the general manager and owners of the well-known establishment no end.

You may ask, what happens to a guestroom that’s been the scene of a death, whether grisly or uneventful. According to my sources, anything that’s been in touch with the deceased will be disposed of, and in cases where the room number has been publicised, the number of the unit may be changed to prevent the next occupant from feeling any leeriness. However, it's not been unknown for some customers to request for John Belushi's cottage. Go figure.

A death is always a sad occasion, celebrity or not. For those who have gone ahead, including the irreplaceable Whitney, we wish them peace wherever they may be.

Margie T Logarta

Managing Editor, Asia

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