Even the best hotel in town, Yali Otel, is an unassuming off-white building without a prominent signboard or even a reception desk.

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The summer for a recent grad without a trust fund means work, usually at an internship full of high hopes that their time toiling away at a reception desk or filing old magazines at The Atlantic in Washington will one day lead them to a full time job at CNN.

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Although the rental agency might have a daytime reception desk and an emergency phone number, there's no houseboat concierge to get you tickets to the Concertgebouw.

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When I dropped by during a visit to Beijing last September, I found Chinese security guards manning the reception desk behind a set of locked glass doors.

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The alternative, she said, was that a victim rang a bell at the reception desk of their local police station, and had to "say in an open waiting room, 'I've been raped'".

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The lobby has been swept clean, even while the chandelier above the reception desk hangs at a crazy angle.

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Recently, when I checked-in at a New York City hotel, the manager was at the reception desk and I told him (I already knew his name through my Web explorations) the reason why I had made reservations was based on several previous hotel guests positive comments on the Traveladvisor Internet site.

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Make a beeline for reception, Nossel recommends, and befriend the person at the desk.

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Staff give tours Monday through Saturday that take in the reception area (Minnie Ripperton worked the desk) and main studio (designed by a 21-year-old newbie who inadvertently created the room's remarkable sound).

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