But as you carry the catalogue from room to room, you begin to realize that it functions as an ideal companion, with various advantages over wall text.

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Individual travellers seeking bespoke itineraries are on their own: there is, for instance, no catalogue or database of room prices for China's 4, 500 star-rated hotels.

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Also pleasing is the anecdote of a woman inspecting an auction catalogue in a snootily decorated room, disrupted by a glimpse of city street, sporting fortuitous patches of primary colors, outside the window.

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