Omaha daily bee., 1883-05-30
Englieh Hotels,

A correspondent of the New York
Tribune, writing from England, ex.
presses surprise that no American has
started a hotel In London. He says
there are enough dkgusted Americans
to fill three hotels run upon the sys.
tenn In vogue In the United States.
What the writer inveighs most
strongly sgsinst Is the gratuities ex-
acted from the guests by the servants
In the English hotels. All tourists
have experienced this intolerable nui.
sance, which, In England, as In Orien.
tai countries, Is recognizeda as an easen-
tiai part of the hotel system. Tip.
ping enters into the economy of all
hotels In England. Any person en-
ployed about a hotel there, from the
proprietor down, can be feed. 1t is,
however, q disgrace to those high
classed hotels that they make these
gratuities the basis of an arrangement
with the servants. The menials are
paid a mere pittance, and 1t is on.
joined upon them to make up the bal.
ance of their wages by soliciting aims
from the guests. Indeed, the head
waiter In many hotels is required to
pay q bonus tor the position. And
this Is not confined to hotels alone; 1t
Is we'll known that the Earl of
Shrewsbury employs his servants with
an understanding of this kind. Many
of those noble lords would perhaps
feel insulted or treat with contempt
the ASSERT IN that they are the recip-
Tents of gratuities, hut nevertheless 1t
is true. Is they do not solicit aims
directly they do indirectly, for they
depend upon the public to pay a Dor
tion of their servants salaries.
The editor of The Examiner and
Times, Manchester, during the visit
of the shah of Persia to England, sug-
gested that "No fees to servants"
should be prominently inscribed over
Buckingham palace and Windsor
castle. He was prompted to this by
the fact that when the sultan visited
England and was entertained at the
palace he incurred serious expense by
solicited aims. One noble lord In
waiting whined like a sturdy beggar
until he got his little keepsake. But
the degrading practice prevails to the
greatest extent in the hotels. In
short, In these establishments 1t
amounts to Wholesale beggary. Pay
Is asked for every and the slightest
SER Ice; for carrying baggage to a
room, for opening q door, bringing a
glass of water, for lighting the gas, or
for showing the way to q room. There
Is q servant at every door In the house,
and each n expects to be paid for
the privilege of stumbling over him
while he opens the door. AK an EN-.
ploye for Information and there will
not be a civil answer unless he sees
a movement of the hand toward the
pocket. TheMtraveler is feeced
from the time he enters until
he leaves. Added to this
nuisance Is the fact that In an English
hotel every want is extra. The GUS
tom is to light the guest to his room
with a bit of candle about two inches
long, or rather the lighted Fragments
taken along to light the gas. The bit
of candle Is charged for In the bill
An indignant trav eler onos after In.
specting his bill marched back up four
fights of stairs and appropriated the
bit of candle. The soap also comes In
as extra, and what enrages an Ameri.
can most is that he finds In his bill q
charge for attendance when his pock-
cts have been depleted by feeling the
servants. After the regular bill is
paid it costs about ten dollars to get
out of the house, for q waiter with
giistening eyes will dog every step and
rise up like Banquo's ghost at every
door. The chsmbermaid expects ten
shiilings, the head waiter ten, the
porter ten, the boots five, and then on
departure the second porter fingers at
the cab door for two shillipgs. A
hotel In London conducted on the
double system, n charge for every
thing, and have 1t perfectly under.
stood that such charge Is all there is
to pay, would be full every day In the
year.