The libraries of Rocco Forte hotels, built book by book: Kipling in London, Rowling in Edinburgh

At Rocco Forte Hotels, the books in the rooms and lounges are not there for decoration. Its hotels showcase the writers who stayed or wrote there, from Rudyard Kipling in London to J.K. Rowling in Edinburgh and the stars of The Leopard in Palermo. It is an idea gaining ground in luxury hospitality: books chosen for the place, that guests genuinely want to open.

☰Contents

1. Olga Polizzi picks every book herself
2. The London suite where Kipling may have written
3. Twain, Tolkien, Christie: Brown’s guest list
4. Room 552, where Rowling finished Harry Potter
5. Villa Igiea, the hotel of The Leopard’s stars
6. From London to Edinburgh, a literary journey

Olga Polizzi picks every book herself

Olga Polizzi is director of design and deputy chairman of the family group. She says she chooses the hotels’ books herself, favouring authors linked to the place and titles a guest can pick up and savour for half an hour, over a cup of tea or late in the afternoon.

In her view, one author has proved an unexpected hit across several hotels: P.G. Wodehouse, the English humorist, whose books feature at Brown’s Hotel and in the group’s other hotels, the brand confirms. The trend reaches beyond Europe: in the Gulf, a recently launched consultancy now curates collections of rare books or local authors for hotels.

The London suite where Kipling may have written

Brown’s Hotel, in Mayfair, has named one of its suites after Rudyard Kipling. The hotel says the writer is believed to have written The Jungle Book there, and Olga Polizzi has filled the suite with a wide selection of his books. For the book’s 125th anniversary in 2019, the hotel created a limited hardback edition with Penguin Books, offered to guests with a letter Kipling had written during a stay at Brown’s.

The 112 rooms and suites were decorated by Olga Polizzi. In the same neighbourhood, The Shepherd Mayfair hotel also plays on its history, but for the brand, Brown’s remains London’s first hotel.

Twain, Tolkien, Christie: Brown’s guest list

The list of writers who have stayed at Brown’s Hotel reads like a library: Mark Twain, J.R.R. Tolkien, William Faulkner, Somerset Maugham, George Orwell and A.A. Milne, the creator of Winnie-the-Pooh. Agatha Christie too: according to the hotel, she is said to have written At Bertram’s Hotel in the Drawing Room, the lounge where afternoon tea is served today.

Fashion designer Sir Paul Smith carried on the tradition in 2023. In the suite that bears his name, he personally chose a small library of art and design books.

Room 552, where Rowling finished Harry Potter

Opened in 1902 at 1 Princes Street, The Balmoral is the hotel where J.K. Rowling finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in January 2007. Room 552 has since become the J.K. Rowling Suite. It holds a marble bust of the god Hermes signed by the author, and the door bears an owl-shaped knocker.

Literature turns up elsewhere in the hotel: a function room is named after Sir Walter Scott, the great Scottish novelist, and the SCOTCH bar published its own book in 2024, The Balmoral Guide to Scottish Whisky. The city has other addresses steeped in history, such as the Fingal hotel, set aboard a former lighthouse tender.

Villa Igiea, the hotel of The Leopard’s stars

In Palermo, Villa Igiea is a seafront Art Nouveau palace designed by architect Ernesto Basile and bought by the Florio family in 1899. Rocco Forte Hotels reopened it on 3 June 2021, and its restaurant bears the Florio name.

Its link with literature runs through cinema: during the filming of Visconti’s The Leopard, adapted from the novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Claudia Cardinale, Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon stayed at Villa Igiea. In 2025, the hotel devoted an evening of its open-air cinema to the Netflix series based on the same novel, with actress Benedetta Porcaroli. The group continues to grow in southern Italy with Palazzo Sirignano, opening in Naples in 2027.

From London to Edinburgh, a literary journey

On 7 September 2026, Rocco Forte Hotels launched the Great British Cultural Journey for the UK’s National Year of Reading. Reserved for guests booking a Forte Suite, the offer links Brown’s Hotel and The Balmoral, and takes their libraries further with outings.

In London, the hotel’s historian, Andy Williamson, leads a literary walk, and an Agatha Christie experience marks 50 years since the novelist’s death: a bespoke edition of At Bertram’s Hotel and an evening at The Mousetrap, her stage play. In Edinburgh, guests follow in the footsteps of Harry Potter, Muriel Spark or Sherlock Holmes, and meet crime writer Ian Rankin.