The hotel I am usually staying at here in Seoul is called Hotel Lotte. The name sounds familiar to someone raised and educated in Germany. Nevertheless I was surprised to learn that its connotation was intended. The company who owns the hotel was established in Japan by Shin Kyuk-Ho, an ardent admirer of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The corporate name Lotte originated from Charlotte, the heroine of Goethe's famous novel The Sorrows of Young Werther. According to the company's mission statement: "Just as Charlotte stole the hearts of many readers worldwide, Lotte strives to deeply move the hearts of each and every customer." I don't no any other hotel chain named after a literary character, and I have to admit that the Hotel Lotte in Seoul is one of the finest hotels I've been too. Maybe it's because I've never been to a hotel with so many books on display. The book shelves are everywhere here, even in the restaurants. How can a writer not be flattered and charmed by this.
I have been reading „Lotte in Weimar“. In this fiction Thomas Mann describes the visit of the old lady to the town in which her ancient admirer is well established. She spends some days in Weimar’s hotel “Elephant”, up to now the first address in that town – from a view of a foreign tourist. When we visited Weimar we had a look into the elephant and decided to choose a cheap and moderate boarding house.
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