Just today I learned that it was based on a 1965 novel by Arthur Hailey, which was turned into a 1967 feature-length film.
Spelling licensed the Hailey book so he wouldn't have to pay the Shapiros -- which was nakedly obvious at the time, even from a great distance.
Esther Shapiro wanted to spin off the Fallon character to be a hotelier in 1982, going into the third season of DYNASTY. But Pamela Sue Martin was pulling her own hair out to get
off of DYNASTY, and had no desire to do some crappy, cheesy spin-off where she would host a bunch of guest stars and their crappy, cheesy storylines.
Martin says Esther was majorly pissed that she'd refused to do the new show, but that's how Fallon came to take over La Mirage (shouldn't that be "L
e Mirage"??) on DYNASTY which would have a depressingly crappy, cheesy, particle-board design for its lobby that no one could fathom (even the producers dropped that lobby after two years).
Immediately, Spelling optioned Arthur Hailey's
Hotel and the Shapiros sued -- and sued for damned good reason; the Shapiros argued that, with their hotel-based spin-off nixed by Pamela Sue's rebellion against doing it, Aaron Spelling simply obtained the rights from Hailey in order to avoid involving the Shapiros in the project (or giving them any money).
There was a subsequent settlement, and Spelling agreed to make Esther his Queen of Nothingness in Spelling Productions; I have no idea what financial stuff was worked out... And so ensued a slew of lawsuits between the executives of DYNASTY (over various money issues), which might suggest a mindset and value system by the brass that explains what happened to DYNASTY, their "not knowing what they wanted" for the show and their "not minding the store" (as John Forsythe observed).
As far as HOTEL itself is concerned, the lobby is fabulous (even a miniature version of it might have been nice for La Mirage). But when I'd heard they'd cast Bette Davis for the program, I'd hoped they might give HOTEL a bit of a gothic, moody, Victorian flavor; I was disabused of that fantasy within 10 seconds of the airing of the pilot.
So I couldn't sit through much of HOTEL. Too "Spelling" for my tastes. But I rarely watched LOVE BOAT either. And bitched through most of DYNASTY.
Later, Bette Davis was quoted as saying that she was "lucky" to have had her stroke (and other health problems) as it prevented her from continuing on with the series, one she asserted should have been called "BROTHEL" due to all the bedhopping.
But,
bon appétit!
