National Republican., 1873-12-06
HIGH LIFE IN HOTELS.


Modern Pubiic-why First. CIss. Hotel.
Charge First-Ciass Prices.
One OF the most significant signs OF these
times Is found In the profuse luxury Of hotel
life in this and other large cities Of the
Northern States In the coufsc OF every few
weeks or months the public ia rcgaled with
the account OF the opening Of somc new and
grand carayansora OF travel, having the ca
pacltv of village and the gorgoousness Of
palace; and that these accounts are by no
means overdrawn can be demonstrated at
once by visit 10 any one Of tho dozen new
and flrst-class hotels which have been estab-
lished In this city within as many months.
With one exception, these new hotels are
conducted on the European plan--a plan
which has attained great popularity, but
chiefly, II would seem, because the expenses
are met In comparatively small amounts at
time, and not because the expenses In the |
aggregate are any less. There afc only /
about half dozen strictly nrst-class hotels
now conducted on the American plan In this /
city. These are the new and magnificent |
Windsor hotel, whore board Is rated at 50 |
per day; the Fifth Avenue and Clarendon,
with the same arlstocratic scale of prices; |
and tho three leading Broadway houses-the |
New York, 81. Nicholas and Metropolitan
at each OF which the charge is "a. 90 per day.
II must be remembered, however, that these |
are the minimum rates Of board for single |
person In these respective houses, and there |
are dozen different items, In the way Of ex-
ira accommodations, which may swell the
bill for days board to twice the above
named amounts. Thus, single gentleman
occupying apnrlor, bedroom and bath will
be charged Sl0 per day for his accommoda-
tions; and there are many bachelor guests In
these hotels who pay $40 per week for the
single item OF board without groan. These
| figures appear large, and the prices that arc
| charged for family parties would seem still
more extrayagant; but, as the hotel pro-
prletors argne, the guests have the money
and are willing TO pay, 1t, and under these
| circumstances they demand degree Of
luxury and elegance In their accomni oda-
tions that really cannot be afforded, with q
reasonable profit, at any less amount.
THE ENTRAvAoAScE OF HOTEL QUESTS.
The proprietor Of one Of the houses men
| TONED above, In q conversation with the
writer, expressed himself as follows. "Thc
fact Is, the demands OF the American travel
| Ing public have become far more extraya-
giant during the past few years than they
ever were before the war. Everybody Il
richer now than then; or, II they are not In
fact, they seem to think they arc aud act ac.
cordingly. European travel has largely In
creased since tho war, and this may have
had some effect upon tho tastes Of American
guests. They see tho best Of the foreign ho-
tells while abroad, and when they come home
they expect to have, and insist upon having,
every comfort and every dellcacy that they
have found In the capitals Of Europe. Take
the single item OF servants. When we opened
this hotel In 1850 we allowed one waiter in
the dlning-room to every five guests. Now
we cannot get along with less than one to
every three. This Is In the dlning-room
alone, and taking the house all through the
proportion OF servants to guests Is very much
larger In fact, II you take our average
number of servants rs compared with the
number of guests, you will find that thcro Ia
very nearly one servant to every guest. We
have now In this house within dozen or SO
OF four hundred sefvants, and we averaged
last year four hundred and eighteen guests.
Our payroll Is even larger than II was at any
time during the war. In 1880 Il amounted to
800 per month; now II foots up to eli, 900.
Our price FOR toard Ia 1850 was s3.50 per day:
gold, we raised TO "a $3.50, &C., until In
1864, when gold got up to nearly 800, we got
up to S5 per day, and we havn't seen any op-
portunlty to reduce 1t yet and still keep the
house up to Its present standard. You sec,
In a 'ayedollar hotel q guest will not be
satisfied unless ho has servant always at
his elbow and tho very best OF everything
The small hotels and the second and third
rate hotels can cut OF great many corners
In their expenses which we do not dare to
touch. Take tue single item of beef. We
, can only buy the choicest plcccs--thc five
} first ribs for roasts, and short loins for
stcaks-and we have to pay 81 cents per
pound for these, while the lower-prlced d
hotels need not and do not pay more than IL
|, or 1S cents for their beef Our glassware
costs 50 n. dozen aud theirs costs 81. We
, are forced to replcnish our carpets every
, two years; theirs wear for five years. And
so on through the whole list of expenses. IL
, is wcll-cstablished fact that the low-priced
i hotels make money far more rapidly than
!. the grand hotels and realize much more on
! their investments. Colonel French, for in.
stance, died millionaire, which Ia what no
proprietor Of frst-class hotel In this city
has ever done. SThere Is always good deal
Of talk to the effect that the lrst-class hotels
ought to reduce their prices, but really do
1 not find that our guests complain. OF
! course they would like to have prices re-
Q duccd II tho hotel could be kept up To the
same standard; but II this cannot be done,
! they are not willing to forego any of the
comforts or luSurics that they have been ac-
customed to have, and as long as they de-
mand certain style of living and have the
means to pay for II we must Accommodate
, them. That the requirements OF the guests
OF the flrst-class hotels In this city are eN.
trayagant do not deny, but do not know
, as that Is any OF our business, and rs long as
there Is demand for luxurics assure yolI
that we shall be most happy to supply them. '
| The proprietors OF the Fifth avenue, the
/ New York, the Clarendon, the st. James and
, other hotels fully concurred In these state
ments.
y rRoPoRTioS'or SERVANTS To QUESTS.
10 regard to the largely increased amount
- oil help which II Is now found necessary TO
: keep, O convincing array of figures was
shown to the writer In several of The hotels.
From these II appeared that the Fifth-ayenuc
hotel had started In 1850 with go EMPLOYEES,
and had gradually increased the number unit
now II employs about 400, and the average oI
It's guests for the past five years had ranged
from 4lo to i30. The New York hotel ha.
q $50 rooms, and has an average OF about 2ls
!, guests, and It's payroll includes 1sO names
9 This Is outlet house, and Its principal busi
. ness Is with families and Southern guests 81
that there Is less coming and going than ir
some OF the other flrst-c!ass hotels, aud conse,
guently there Is less necessity for keeping sc
large number Of servants. The magnin.
cent new Windsor hotel, occupying the block
ION Fifth avenue, between Forty-tixth and
Forty-seyenth streets, employs an army OF
servants numbering fully 400, but has not
been established long enough TO show an an
nual average of guests. The two great
broadway hotels-the St. Nicholas and Me.
!, tropolitan-employ, next to the Windsor, the
\ largest staffs Of employees Of any hotels In
i the city. They each state the number OF theii
n servants at 400, and show an average OF
J. guests OF about $50. in the ease Of the hotels
which are keep on the European plan the
a proportion Of servants the dodgers In the
hotel and the customers OF the restaurants Il
4 not so great, and 1t Is impossible for their
! proprietors to state the total numbers Of their
, guests from year to year, because they keep
no register OF the customers Of the dining
rooms. The proportion Of the help In both
. departments to the dodgers In the hotel is,
. however very large. Thus tho St. James
hotel, which has capacity for $50 guests
and an average OF perhaps TO, Is obliged to
i keep force OF employees, the year round, OF
I l30.
: IIoH-rRIcED EMPLOYEES.
: The salaries paid TO some of these en-
: ployees arc enormous: The chief cook OF
one OF the hotels named above receives
a 5000 per year, In addition, of course, to
3 his hoard, lodging and washing, md has
: been In the same position for ten years. The
average salary paid to head cooks through
out the city Is stated at from 80, 200 to s9, Zoo
l . per year, and head walters command ali the
4 way from 81 800 to $500. In this respect
! the New York hotels are far more liberal
than those OF any of the capitals Of the Old
World. In London, for example, while there
may be larger number Of servants In the
large hotels, large proportion Of them will