New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-07-30
PEOPLE ARE AFRAID.
THAT ACCOUNTS FOR THE FAILING OFF IN
TRADE AT CITY HOTELS THIS SUMMER
NOBODY DARES TO LEAVE HIs-AFRSIE.S. FOR A
MoMENT-TRIPs TO THE FAIR GIVEN Up on
ALL SIDES-THE SAME STORY IN AND
OUT OF TOWN" FAMILY HOTELS"
ARE TIE ONLY GAMERS.

OUT OF TOWN" FAMILY HOTELS"
ARE TIE ONLY GAMERS.
"Not In twenty years has the hotel business in tls
city been poor st is this summer
The man who made this statement was the chief
clerk of one of the best known and most widely
patronzed hotels I'm this country. lie has been In
The hotel business for twenty and knows whereo.
he speaks. He stood behind the Office desk and
talked TO Tribune reporter last evening
The office faces Madison square. 1t Is the
rendezvous Of politicians. business and tIcy-
oilers. People from all parts OF the world stop there.
on It's register. rather on the registers Of any
summer but the present. may be found fifty OF the
best known names In this country. Every day
prominent men, often a dozen or twenty at time.
have been accustomed TO sign their names to the
hotels autograph album II the hou when the
hotel should have been alive with guests. As II
was during the fifteen minutes when the clerk was
talidng not name written the book and
scarcely person passed the desk. The Office was
deserted.
The trouble IS" continued thc hotel man. "peo-
pie are not making any extra trips for pleasure this
summer. They afraid TO leave home. Men who
have money dare not get away from immediate touch
with the corporation or concern that holds II. They
fear their bank may close or their investment com
pany suddenly be called upon to make a payment
and find II has no ready money The existence II
such feeling throughout the country is what l.
killing The hotel business this summer. To know
that such feeling does exist you have only b talk
with the few business men who do visit rs. man
and his family registered here from Milwaukee
a few days ago. They intended going TO the seaside
for two weeks after leaving here. News came of the
failure of Milwaukee bank and the probable closing
of other similar houses in that city, and Immediately
Mr.. and his family started home He said Re had
no money In the bank that had failed but that I've
was afraid Of the Others.
al suppose our trade this summer has iren -
per cent less than that Of the same month last
year. We had rcckon"d II great business on &C
OF the Worlds Fair People coming from abroad
would stop I'm NewYork Of course: and the proba-
bility was that those from the West who had money
would TO New York for few days after doing
the Fair. But neither Of these suggestions has
proved correct. People in this country not doing
any more travelling than necessary. Early In III"
season. before the silver question: the money strnSency
and the business difficulties were so generally felt We
had numerous letters from all parts OF the country
and from abroad asking for rates for parties Of
from ten to 200 Most Of these parties were 10 come
here thi, summer on trips to the Fair. They
haven't come. They haven't left home. They are
afraid.
$50 many new fine hotels? Oh, they wouldn't
affect our trade at ALL or II at all, very little. The
cholera scare Yes that may have had ITS effect
abroad. But then that comes under The same an
the people afraid afraid that they may De-
quarantned here. and have 10 60 back, PERHAPS
without landing some such thing as that
\ stranger TO the desk Just then, but he
registered from New-Nork "lou scc,7 said the
hotel man, that Is about far away from HON" ~
w-Yorkcrs themselves &C.. They not afraid Of
course but they prefer other hotels noticing, 10
stay at homc.7
And such Is the condition Of affairs at nine out
ten OF the best hotels In this city. AZ the Fifth
Avenue. the Brunswick. the Hoffman House. the ST.
James and the others the receipts this summer are
falling between 20 and 30 per below those Of
last year. Only one Of those visited yesterday told
different story. That the Victoria. There
xas an Increase In patronage shown al this hotel.
II was 20 per cent more than last summer. The
perhaps little by tourists visiting the Fair" Even
with that increase, however, the trade nowhere
near the proprietOrs expectations
Hotel restaurants and cafes also show marked
falling of In patronage some OF them losing
money constantly, and keep open merely rs an ac-
ronlmodaon to their guests Other, have closed
tirey. among these the Brunswick, one OF the hest
restaurants in the city, which Is closed for repairs.
Among the uptown family hotels the reversed
order OF things l. found And this /, tply natural.
People in New-York (as we'll as In other piaccs) are
staying at home. Many of these family hotels have
before held so many bUaId'r, during the summer
months now registered tn r books. An in
vostiga ton Of the summer hotels at any Of the water
one instance alone will illustrate. l. said
that at the Grand Union Hotel in saratoga the other
night only sXty-one people sat down dinner. Last
summer 800 guests were the daily average. And the
Grand tni,n j. better In Its appointments this summer
than ever before.
II Is reported also that The transatlantic liners wyc
carving 20 per cent more passengers last summer each
way than they are the present season.