Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1888-11-09
LONDON HOTEL CUSTOMS.
ITEMS OF INTEREST CLEANED FROM
A TOURISTS NOTE BOOK.

The Great difference BetWsen English
Hotels and Those of tho United States
Special Features of the London Hotel.
a Type-The Proprietor.
Ring your bell in an American hotel atany
time and up comes pitcher cf iced winter:
ring your bell of morning in an English
hotel and up comes n pitcher Of boiling
water, it being presumed that you desire to
shave, Instead of iced water q pitcher IT
hot water is also brought to your room i'm.
me1iately on your arrival at IA English
hotel and this is very grateful il You havo
Just come, tired and dusty, from a railway
journey.
There are no such free and easy manners
to he seen Mt English hotels rs obtain in tho
states. You may lool; in vain for the eaudy
baIroom, with its glitter 4 glass and brass
and its questionable if not Objectionable
works OF art. Nor can strangers enter tho
smoking and reading rooms to lounge and
loaf at will There arc usually two writing
rooms, in which order and quiet reign. and
in one the sterner sex is not admitted Tho
rooms are richly appointed. each desk having
Il small electric lamp, and the finest stations
cry is furnished free to the privileged occu-
pants. This remark applies only to hotels Of
the very first class-tho Lan8hnm, for ex.
ample. You never hear the cry Of "front,'
nor do YOU sec half "A score Of "beil boys
playing pranls in halls and entrances The
office is n place fitted up for the clerks and
bookkocpcrs, and is not used by outsider,
md the public Ill general for noisy rendez
vous
HOME LIKE AND COMFORTABLE.
To one accustomed to the immense parlora
and public rooms of an American hotel the
drawing room and other apartments of an
English hotel seem small but there is n homo
ike and comfortable air about the English
house which American hotels seldom or
never possess. Even tho public rooms Of the
Metropole, a house which cost several millions
of dollars, which covers an acre of ground
and entertains 500 people at ono time under it's
roof, seems small compared with hose of our
leading hotels The comfort of guests. rather
than imposing size of public rooms is their
main consideration. Another special feature
also of first class house over here is tho
wine cellars. The days Of your two bottle
mem may have departed, not so the love
that Englishmen bear for good vine The
Metropolc is owned by a company which has
its own vineyards in the champagne districts
of France, and tho Metropolis extra dry is
a wine that will rank with the choicest
wines in the market. One can readily i'm
agine that wine Is a feature in London hotels
when it is understood that the stock Of wines
in the MetropOlc cellars is valued at &25 900
sterling, or $4,000
While most of the hotels in London are
kept on the European plan. making sep
arate charge for each meal, there is a notable
exception In the Windsor, a new hotol in
Victoria street, Westminster, which is
kept after the American method. You pay
here from S. to 81 per day, according to sig,
and location Of room THIS sum entities you
| to bedroom, light, bath, breakfast and din
ner at table d'hote. The Windsor has a
| handsome exterior; it is well fitted up, and
| has electric light, elevator, besides swim
| ming, douche, needle and other baths Tbs
hotel is conveniently sirusted being within
a few minutes walk OF the Victoria station,
the underground railway, the houses Of par
lament, government offices, HORSE Guards,
clubs, theatres, etc. 1t contains q well
planned coffee room and private dining sa-
| looms which overlook the gardens of Christ
| church.
A TYPICAL FIRST CLASS HOTEL.
| There are many larger hotels in Londoy
than Longs, in New Bond street. but none
with snch an old established reputation, none
! which attract better class Of custom, nor
! any one which is, as a whole, more richly ap.
| pointed The present structure is new haw
/ ing only been finished during the past sum-
mer, but the former Longs hotel stood Ok
| the same site for two hundred years. Its pa
| tronage is drawn from the English nobility,
| and from Americans of good taste who pre-
| fer comparatively small home like mansion
! to a great caravansary. Long accommodates
! only 100 guests. The walls OF tho dining
room are wholly covered with Lobelin tapes
| try. each panel containing akillfuIly exc
cuted picture-a sporting SEEM, duck shoot
ing, fishing and the like, appetizingly sugsee
! tive. But Us for pictures, the walls of every
| room in tho house, even the bed rooms on the
| top story, arc hung with choice engravings
| and paintings in oil by modern artists Of sc
| knowledged merit.
You rarely see the proprietor Of q leadih
hotel in any large European city-the pre-
| prietor and manager are both hard to find.
In London all the leading hotels are owned
| by companies and managed by men; the sec.
| ond rate hotels have women for managers
/ and clerks, and these are usually cross, maiden
| ladies of an uncertain age. They still keep
up tho old and bad habit of charging for
| 'attendancen in English hotels, aud the prize
| is usually one and sixpeuce each person. In
arranging for rooms at the Adelphi Hotel in
! Liverpool, the writer was told that the price
| for two rooms was "eight and sixpeucc."
| Forgetting for the noncs about the charge
for attendance he rendered this agreed upon
amount in settling his bill, but was at once
reminded that for each night four and six
pence more tS1.12) must be paid, there being
three persons.-"M, F." in Home journal
How NIaCaroni Was Named.