  Some recent observations of nearby quasars with HST have apparently failed to
detect host galaxies. We review the HST observations as well as near infrared
ground-based observations of the same objects. We find that the quasar hosts
can be detected in the HST data if they are smoothed sufficiently to reveal low
surface brightness. The smooth hosts are very difficult to detect with HST but
are more easily visible in the deeper, ground-based IR images. The V-H colors
obtained by combining the HST and IR data are compatible with normal galaxy
colors at the redshifts of the quasars. This behavior can be explained if the
hosts are massive early-type galaxies. All together, HST images have been
reported for 15 luminous quasars, approximately 13 of which have smooth
early-type hosts. This kind of galaxy therefore appears to be the most common
host for a luminous quasar.
