Some hotels will say that they "are on third and fourth floor of an old palace," etc. What does this mean? That is, why are they only the third and fourth floor? What's going on one the first two floors?<BR><BR>I've never seen this language in North America

On the first two floors there may be a different hotel, private appartments ...<BR>It means that the hotel desk is at the 3rd floor

Tim, are you trolling?<BR><BR>Incredible though it may seem, people actually live in European cities, as opposed to merely visit them. Since building restrictions often preclude the building of new, purpose-built condominiums, they buy flats in old buildings. <BR><BR>Now, just as condo owners in N.A sometimes rent out the condo they bought, Europeans may buy and then rent out the bedrooms of a former mansion/palace as tourist accomodation. <BR><BR>The price of real estate in premier tourist destinations, combined with local regulations, can preclude someone buying up the entire building to convert this way.

There may be ballrooms, conference rooms, restaurants, retail establishments, or other businesses on the other floors. This is common throughout Europe.

This is not a troll! I was surprised by this sort of thing when I first encountered it because it's so unlike U.S. hotels. And actually they're not all that common in Europe, although I wonder if it was more commonplace earlier. Last October we stayed in Le Vigne in Florence. The first floor was, I think, private apartments and the second was a medical clinic. And we've stayed in similar places in Berlin and Nice.

They're not unheard of in the U.S., particularly in big cities with intense street level commercial activity. The ground floor is often taken by shops and restaurants, with the lobby a few floors above. I've seen it recently in New Orleans and Chicago.