Some Thoughts on Hotel Room Magazines

Like most people, I’m constantly behind on my subscription magazines, so I often fill the side pocket of my computer bag with a few titles before heading for the airport. However, this doesn’t prevent me from being curious about the magazines I find when I check into a new hotel room. They are usually quickly dispensed with, since most of the print deemed worthy of a captive hotel audience is invariably intended to sell something. I have no interest in looking at endless pages of expensive wristwatches, or reading glowing reviews of restaurants that also happen to be advertisers, so I’m usually able to make some progress with the reading I’ve brought along. Every once in a while, though, I come across a winner, which is what happened recently in Istanbul.

In addition to the usual dubious publications on the coffee table, I came across a copy of Cornucopia, a beautifully produced magazine with the very accurate subtitle, “Turkey for Connoisseurs.” Recent topics included turn-of-the-century mansions built by the oil barons of Baku in Azerbeijan, an intriguing travel story about a remote corner of Turkey’s Black Sea coast and a great piece on the British orientalist painter John Frederick Lewis. There was also a restaurant column that had an immediately honest ring to it, because it was actually critical. Cornucopia made me think of the sadly long gone magazine Connoisseur, which offered a similarly diverse and erudite read. It not only left me with a desire to explore parts of Turkey I’ve not yet visited, but got me thinking about what a pleasure it is to find a ‘real’ magazine in a hotel room, rather than a catalog of fancy jewelry or real estate. Travelers are curious people by definition, which is why I think a good quality local read is one of the nicest amenities a hotel can offer you. Feel free to suggest other quality hotel magazines in the comments section.

-A.H.