- We see a younger version of our Author (the year is now 1968) staying in The Grand Budapest.
- We first see the famous hotel at its pink and lavish prime, but that image soon gives way to its more decrepit current state.
- The Author narrates for us, explaining the hotel has fallen on hard times and that only very few guests now stay there.
- We see these few guests and, as the Author says, they all stay mostly to themselves.
- We are introduced to the concierge, M. Jean, who gives the Author the skinny on an older man who has just arrived, Mr. Mustafa.
- Mustafa is the owner of the hotel and was once the richest man in Zubrowka. He stays at the Budapest a few times a year, but always sleeps in a tiny servant's quarters.