Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1888-11-08
LONDON HOTEL CUSTOMS.
ITEMS OF INTEREST CLEANED FROM
A TOURISTS NOTE BOOK.

The Great Difference Between English
hotels and Those Of the United States.
Special Features OF tho London Hotel
A Typs-The Proprietor.
Ring your bell in an American hotel at any
time and up comes pitcher Of iced WAGER:
ring your bell Of morning in an English
hotel and up comes a pitcher Of boiling
water, it being presumed that you desire To
shave. Instead Of iced water a pitcher Of
hot water is also brought to your room i'm
mediately on your arrival at an English
hotel; and this is very grateful If you have
Just come, tired and dusty, from railway
journey
There IRE no such free and easy manners
70 be seen at English hotels as obtain in the
States. You may look in vain for the eaudy
barroom, with its glitter Of glass and brass
and its questionable il not Objectionable
works Of art. Nor can strangers enter the
smoking and reading rooms TO lounge and
loaf at Will There are usually two writing
rooms, IN which order and quiet reign. and
IN one the sterner sex is not admitted The
rooms are richly appointed, each desk having
a small electric lamp, and tie finest station
cry IS furnished free to the privileged occu-
pants This remark applies only to hotels of
the very first class-the Langham, for ex-
ample You never hear the cry Of 'front.'
nor do You see half score of "bell boys
playing pranks in halls and entrances. The
office is place fitted up for the clerks and
bookkeepers, and is not used by outsiders
and the public IA general for noisy rendez-
yous
HOME LIKE AND COMFORTABLE.
To one accustomed to tho immense parlors
IN t,f. A., a.
drawing room ard other apartments az an
English hotel seem small, but there is a home
like and comfortable air about the English
house which American hotels seldom or
never possess. Even the public rooms Of the
Metropole, a house which cost several millions
Of dollars, which covers an acre Of ground
and enteItains 500 people at one time under its
roof, seems small compared with those of our
leading hotels. Tho comfort Of guests, rather
than imposing size Of public rooms, il their
main consideration. Another special feature
also of a first class house over here is the
Wine cellars. The days Of your 1.-TWO bottle
men" may have departed, not so the love
that Englishmen bear for good wine The
Metropole is owned by a company which has
It's own vineyards in the champagne districts
OF France, and the ''Metropole extra dfyn is
n wine that will rank with the choicest
wines in tho market. One can readily inn
agine that wine is a feature in London hotels |
when il S understood that the stock of wines |
in the Metropole Gel ars is valued at COS GOO |
sterling, or $4,000
While most Of the hotels in London arc |
kept on the European plan, making sep
arate charge for each meal, there is a notable |
exception in tho Windsor. new hotel in
Victoria street, Westminster which is
kept after tho American method. You nav
here from s. to 81 per day, according to size
and location of room This sum entities YOU
70 bedroom, light, bath. breakfast, and din.
ner at table d'hote. The Windsor has a
exterior; it is well fitted un, and
has electric light, elevator, besides swim
ming, douche, needle and other baths. The
hotel is conveniently situated, being within
. few minutes walk Of the Victoria station.
.he underground railway, the houses Of par.
government Offices, Horse Guards.
clubs, theatres, etc. 1t contains a well I
planned coffee room and private dining sa-
oons which overlook the gardens Of Christ
,hurcl.
TYPICAL FIRST GLASS HOTEL
There nre many larger hotels in London
han Longs, in New Bond street, but none
With snch an old established reputation, none
which attract better class Of custom. nor
my one which is, as a whole. more richly au-
'ointed. Tho present structure is new. hay
ng only been finished during the past sum
nor, but the former Longs hotel stood on
he same site for two hundred years Its pa
ronase is drawn from the English nobility,
md from Americans of good taste who pre-
er a comparatively small homs like mansion
o great caravansary. Longs accommodates
My 100 guests. The walls OF the dining
DOM are wholly covered with Gebolin TAPES.
~, each panel containing skillfully exc
uted pictured sporting scene, duck shoot
ne, Lsllng and tho like, appetizingly sugges-
I've. But as for pictures the walls Of every
Dom IN the house, even the bed rooms on the
op story, are hung with choice sngravines
nd paintings in oil by modern artists Of ac-
merit.
Hou rarely see the proprietor Of a leading
otel in any large European citv-the pro-
rletor and manager ere both hard to find
London all the leading hotels are owned
y companiesa and managed by men: tho see
nd rate hotels have women for MANAGERS
nd clerks, and these are usually cross. nlaitlen
ldies Of an uncertain ace. They still keen
p tho old and bad habit of charging FOR
attendance in English hotels, and tho price
usually one end sixpence each person. In
ranging for rooms at the Adelphi Hotel in
liverpool, the writer was told that tie price {
u two rooms was eight and sixpancen Z
orgettng for the nonee about the charge /
II attendance, he rendered this agreed upon
mount in settling bis bill but was at once /
aminied that for each night four and six {
ence more tsil2l must be paid there being I
iree persons, -"M. Pr in Home Journal
How NTarornrt W..