现代世界的酒店业是19世纪末殖民时代尾声的产物，兼有方便帝国子民和规训当地的作用。二战结束后，世界版图重构，酒店业开启了连锁化运作的模式，既能保证基本品质，又能在亚非拉等地塑造一种现代生活的模板，这是一种后殖民主义式的文化策略，豪华国际品牌成为了一种modern symbol，在冷战时期更成为了意识形态对抗的工具，尤其在欧洲、香港、日本和新加坡，国际连锁品牌的酒店从建筑本身到服务软件，以及其本身承载的各类活动，都无法与政治脱钩。比如港岛的希尔顿酒店，后来被拆除了，但是在1960年代，却是一个西方观察中国的桥头堡。1949年以后，内地的酒店业变成以旅社和单位招待所为主体的人民模式，服务强调自给自足，之前我看北京饭店、友谊宾馆和民族饭店的历史资料，发现这类保留西式服务的酒店主要是服务**活动的，但依然强调舒适而不奢华的理念。1983年广州白天鹅宾馆向大众开放，曾经引发过一场大讨论。84年长城喜来登酒店开业，一度普通人也是很难有机会入住的，但现在豪华酒店遍地开花，只要合法入住，任何人都可以享受服务和设施。
今天推荐一本写希尔顿酒店历史的书，具体是冷战时期希尔顿在欧洲和中东的发展史，偏学术，但不难理解，我把英文简介附上，有兴趣可以找来看看:
In postwar Europe and the Middle East, Hilton hotels were literally "little Americas," offering travelers cheeseburgers, air-conditioning, and respite from alien cultures. Conrad Hilton claimed that his hotels were constructed for profit and political impact, "to show the countries most exposed to Communism the other side of the coin." In Building the Cold War, Annabel Jane Wharton examines the architectural means by which this vision was executed, and then goes on to offer a sophisticated critique of one of the Cold War's first international businesses. Wharton demonstrates that the role of the Hilton hotels in the struggle against Communism was, as Conrad Hilton declared, significant, though in ways that he could not have imagined.
