Karl Marx famously began The Communist Manifesto with the statement, “A spectre is haunting Europe.” He might have continued, “the spectre of bankruptcy for The Socialist.”
Points are the great equalizer in travel, giving the proletariat access to luxury accommodations previously reserved for the bourgeoisie. Yet The Socialist hotel in Copenhagen will not be honoring Marriott Bonvoy points reservations. Guests are being moved to the far less interesting Copenhagen Marriott.
While Marriott’s website doesn’t reflect this, the chain is no longer selling rooms at the property. The property’s ownership has pulled the hotel from Marriott and rebranded back to its old name Hotel Herman K.
While Marriott took steps during the pandemic to appease the Chinese Communist Party, that must not have been enough for The Socialist. The building’s brutalist facade, with thick concrete walls, even resembles a modern take on Soviet architecture.
With just 31 rooms and rates that frequently exceed $350 per night the hotel is hardly egalitarian. And since North Korea’s Air Koryo sells business class it should expected that this hotel offers four different classes of service (from rooms to suites) and “provides privileged access to the surrounding city.”
The Socialist website boasts that “within lies an interior of exquisite materiality” by which they certainly referred to dialectical materialism. By staying in a class conscious property while promoting socialism, you’re heightening the contradictions of capitalism.
I suspect having guests stay here with Bonvoy status was just too much for a hotel that sought to treat members like comrades. Would they charge an extra fee to accept the Karl Marx Mastercard from Sparkasse bank? And it was simply too confusing to know whether to tip housekeeping, a form of noblesse oblige in a country where workers are paid a living wage?
Despite Bernie Sanders’ predilection for Northern European-style welfare states, this property was more hip-and-trendy AOC socialism rather than the Vermont Senator traveling with his new wife to the Soviet Union in 1988.
The property was hardly the first hotel foray into socialism. The W South Beach used to display the image of Che Guevara as art.
Guevara helped set up Cuba’s secret police and forced labor camps, was responsible for the execution of thousands of political prisoners, and tortured prisoners (including children). He called himself “Stalin II” (though felt Soviet totalitarianism didn’t go far enough and preferred North Korea as a model). Yet associating with Guevara, like “The Socialist” in Copenhagen, makes one hip, trendy, and somehow ‘in’ on the postmodern joke… like Argentines who years ago took to wearing a Che t-shirt that read “Tengo una remera del Che y no sé por qué,”
The Socialist, it seems, simply couldn’t survive the march of capitalism, and has reverted to its earlier name which honors ceramicist Herman A Kähler (1846-1917).
Funny but socialism always ends like this. The worst part of Socialism is that it is taught over and over again to the young or naive and they never seem to learn.
Having a Che poster or artwork is like having Hilter art work but people think it’s cool since they have no idea what he did.
Looks like austere luxury from the photos, ala Europa! When I traveled through Germany, I also found this type of hotel, with exception in Austria at The Golden Hirsh Hotel in Salzbery, an historic hotel dating back to the 1400’s with updates that are lovely, comfy with quiet luxury (as opposed to the ornate and garish Louis periods). Decadent (to Americans) style breakfast with White Glove Service, organic foodstuffs supplied by nearby farmers markets in the town, fishies from the Sea (kippers, Smoked White Fish, Novi Salmon) and all kinds of breads, croissant, & Ryes) ALL homemade including hand churned butter and creme fraishe 🙂
I stayed in a Marriott Bonvoy in Memphis and it was horrid — gaming machines in the lobby with raucous young people, NO closets in the stripped down room and a coffee machine in the lobby (no restaurant) any comrade would appreciate 🙂
@DaninMCI, you do understand that this hotel was in. I way socialist, right. So what you are saying is, capitalism always ends this way, in bankruptcy?
And as for socialism, yeah, those socialists in Finland with their public health care and free university, thinking that they are the happiest people on earth for the past 7 years. Fools.
Odd post.
Owner of the property is a serial bankrupter. It already transferred to another shell company and remains open. Classic capitalist means of self-enriching while avoiding paying liabilities, screwing others. Deserves prison not praise.
No such thing as a 100% capitalist society nor a 100% socialist one. Such things can’t practically function. Nonsense to glorify either extreme. Success is in the middle, like everything else.
Am I the only one who has posted here so far who has been to this hotel multiple times?
There was never anything politically or economically “socialist” about the hotel. It was named to grab attention and as part of trying to be a “social”-esque gathering place for people in the lobby. The Herman K name plaque wasn’t even ever removed from the outside wall of the building, and the owners of the building had problems with their financial situation even before this game of naming it “The Socialist”.
DaninMCI is all so predictable with the false moral equivalency and his moral relativity games. Unlike with Hitler who would want to kill my relatives because of their ethnic or religious identities from birth, Che Guevara was not such a vile and mass murdering racist as Hitler. A poster of Hitler on the wall would be far more vile than a poster of Che Guevara.
@GUwonder if it became part of the Bonvoy properties, it was supposed to be bare bones just like them. I stayed in one in Memphis and it was horrible. Stripped down room with NO Closets (a hook to hang ALL your clothes on (very socialist, don’t you think?_ No restaurant on the property, a coffee machine in the lobby suitable for all good comrades and no bathtub, just a utilitarian shower. In addition, the lobby’s have lots of pin ball machines drawing neighborhood teens and good comrades into it at all hours of the day and night for lots of noise.
Doesn’t sound like this hotel mentioned fit that model at all and it then becomes a moot point because as you mentioned, it was having financial problems before it was taken over by Marriott and mislabeled a Bonvoy property (Which I will NEVER stay at again)
@Drake-1, completely agree. Success is in the middle where the river is deepest. 🙂
@Farnorthtrader:
Best you best brush up on your economics. Finland is NOT a Socialist country. A very well-functioning democracy. I guess the typical American cannot tell the difference between Nordic countries. Since you were opining about Socialist countries, the one you are searching for is Sweden. Proudly Socialist.
Oh, and by the way, also for your education, another mistake most Americans make is thinking that Finland is a Scandinavian country. Nope. That would be Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Finland is part of the Nordic countries, including the Scandinavians and Iceland.
But, for the record, the latest release of the happiest countries includes an interesting sidebar. It seems that countries falling in this survey (U.S. included) is because the younger generations in many countries around the world truly believe that they have fewer opportunities to succeed anymore. That includes the high cost of education, lack of health care for many, and fewer chances to succeed than their parents.
But, go ahead and keep mocking other countries to make up for your shortcomings.
It’s funny that given how much Gary likes to be an subject matter expert, he didn’t actually dedicate that much time to learning how ACTUAL socialists and communists felt about this sham of a company. No genuine communist or socialist has stayed here; they have never supported this mega-corporation. Marriott and the independent owners of this hotel wanted to cash-in on a buzz-word. I can imagine a large group of ultra wealthy people find comfort and good PR in ‘partaking’ in socialism by staying at a hotel like the socialist.
And for all the capitalism diehards in the comments – read the communist manifesto, you don’t have to agree with any of it, but you also possess no right to critique theory if you don’t possess even a rudimentary understanding of political theories.
I’m not a communist, I find the communist theoretical system to be flawed in disconcerting ways. So don’t go off on me for “defending communism”. I’m not defending it on the whole, I’m defending it from uneducated people who don’t even know how to properly critique it.
Should anyone be interested in communist/socialist/anarchist commentaries on pseudo-socialist institutions and the weaponization of democratic socialism against communism, please let me know and I’d be happy to send you something.
And for anyone offended by anything I’ve said – I apologize that my communications have led to that result. My goal is education and to encourage people to educate themselves
@Alan, not sure where you thought that socialist and democratic were opposites (at least I think that is what you were saying). Socialist and capitalist are closer to opposites, although they both exist on a spectrum (from pure communism to pure capitalist, neither of which exist in the real world) of economic systems. Pure democracy (where everything is voted on by every citizen) and pure dictatorship would be the ends of the political spectrum, with Finland’s and Sweden’s representative democracies very close to the pure democracy side of the spectrum, closer to true democracy than the US (4th and 3rd versus 16th for the US in the Association for Development and Advancement of the Democracy Award rankings).
I am aware that Finland is a Nordic, not Scandinavian, country (probably because I am not American).
As far as socialist is concerned, by most Americans’ definition of socialist (and likely most economists), Finland would fit clearly on the socialist side of the spectrum. As noted, basically free public healthcare (including prescription drugs), free post secondary education, and supports for housing, along with a top personal income tax rate of roughly 57% and a requirement that each person’s annual income is publicly available would, in my opinion, put Finland in the socialist economic category. While Sweden proudly declares itself socialist, the actual governmental programs are nearly indistinguishable between the two countries and Finland has a more progressive tax rate structure than Sweden does (with a top rate of about 52%).
And finally, I am not American, and this part of my response to DaninMCI was sarcasm, making fun of his claim that socialism always leads to ruin, when the opposite seems to clearly be true. Guess I should have marked it as sarcasm.
Most of the wealthiest of Swedes residing in Sweden don’t pay more than 25% or their income in tax. They cash out income mostly with capital gains and dividends that are taxed far less than the nominal highest income tax rate applicable to ordinary salaried income.
@McCarthyHatesMe
You sound like a commie and socialist apologist.
and you’re right most of these lefties didn’t stay at that hotel not because they didn’t want to “support” the coporation but because most are unemployed losers who can’t even make enough money to survive without help from capitalist mommy and daddy.
In fairness to the Chinese, nearly every western government is more communist than China is now. The government spies, arrests people for speech in Europe, criminalizes not want to bake a cake, persecutes Christians, criminalizes self defense, controls what businesses are allowed to open, takes money from people by threat of violence (taxation), and imprisons journalists.
Before we criticize China, we should criticize the police state and communism that operates the west, although, why should White Christian people care what happens in China aside from tourist protections.
Ooof. Where did you get hurt little one? Funny how you don’t live in the deep red part of your state.
He’s just being ironic to some extent and reaching for straws. But don’t worry, we still love the fellow. 😀
The hotel was actually reasonably good about Platinum/Titanium upgrades, so it was definitely not a case of all Bonvoy customers are equal to all other Bonvoy customers. It was more like “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than other animals” when it came to the upgrade dynamics at the hotel.
Won’t miss the hotel being part of Marriott since it wasn’t a great value for me even as I had some good success with upgrades at the place for a period of time. Maybe now the hotel will drop its rates post-Marriott affiliation.
Surely, it’s more about who the Marriott regime likes to get into bed with – ie. everyone as long as they have the dosh. ‘Anameofaguy’ points out that the “owner of the property is a serial bankrupter. It already transferred to another shell company and remains open…”
If the money is there, then due diligence and KYC go out of the window. Oppressors don’t need to keep to the rules
‘GUWonder’ wonders, with irony, whether “the hotel will drop its rates post-Marriott affiliation”
Sums the matter up nicely!