Guests, staff and one empty chair
The Grand Hotel has two faces. Guests see the lobby, the ballroom, the bar and the terrace. Staff use the kitchen, the laundry and the cloakroom, and they know the corridors that link them. The best suite is on the top floor, and its door was found ajar.
Everyone in a hotel is watching someone else, which is why the statements in a hotel case tend to be precise: who stood by the bar, who never left the terrace, who was seen beside the piano.
How it plays
Hotel boards mix large public rooms with small service rooms. The ballroom and the lobby can cover a whole corner of the board, so a room clue there narrows less than you expect. The cloakroom and the laundry are tight, and a person placed in one of them settles a lot. Tables block their squares; armchairs and sofas can be sat on.
A good habit here: look first for "beside" clues, because the furniture in a hotel is spread thin and only a few squares sit next to it.
