The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1894-03-17
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RUNNING A BIG HOTEL.
The Vast Force OF Employees Re-
quired for Varied Duties.
From the N. Y. sun.

Simplest thing in the world, my dear
sir. All you have to do is to rent build
ing, hire clerk and cook and some other
help, charge your guests more than it costs
to keep them, and there you are.
This really seems such a simple under
taking that in these times of financial fan
cifulness, it is strange, since people must
live in hotel or elsewhere, and so many
cannot live elsewhere, that more people do
not adopt this easy method of accumulating
wealth beyond the dreams of avarice But
when one comes to investigate the running
of big hotel, it is quickly discovered that
this simple formula must be regulated to
the limbo of that more celebrated one for
easy accumulation of wealth in stocks ;
buying when they are low and selling when
they are high. So Sun man concluded
after he had passed day in studying
merely the organizations necessary to the
running of a big hotel, without touching
upon the thousand details of financing,
economies, wear and tear, and kindred sub
jects which turn hotel mems hair gray.
The Sun man learned facts which go to
show that running hotel requires as much
planning, organization, detail, and execu-
tive ability as go into the successful build
ing, launching, and sailing of first-class
man-of-war, with one or two big naval bat
ties thrown into the job.
The information was derived from MIR.
Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf, and his
steward, Mr.. Thomas NJ. Hilliard.
When Mr.. Boldt was asked to give some
facts about the organization of: his staff,
and his army of four hundred employees,
he called Mr.. Hilliard to his assistance,
and they together furnished the facts and
figures given here
The Waldorf organization, it should be
stated first, differs somewhat from that of
other large hotels. There is no officer in
the organization known as the manager of
the hotel. Mr.. Boldt as proprietor is his
own manager, and the officer next to him
in the executive department is known, not
as the hotel manager, but as the proprie-
tors manager. The other difference in the
organization is in the greatly increased
number of departments which come under
the direct control of the steward, as will be
seen further along. But these are only
differences in detail; the story of the organ
ization of the Waldorf is sufficiently like
that required in any other very large hotel
to prove the intricacy and variety of ad-
ministration involved
TO begin, then, with the administration
department. Mr.. Boldt has his first as
sistant, who is known in the organization
as his manager, and is the man in authority
on the main floor when the proprietor goes
out.
The main Office force consists first of
two room clerks. These officials must be
men with absolutely no temper, but with
vast capacities of judging human nature.
Next come two bureau of information
clerks, who were formerly known as
"Front r or key clerks, but they are more
than that in the big modern New York
hotel. They must not only be prepared to
answer every possible question, from wheth-
er Barnum's show is still on the corner of
Ann street and Broadway to what is the
the most direct route to Timbuctou, but
they must be able to impart this informa-
ton in great variety of languages. There
is package clerk who conducts carefully
systematized delivery business, entering
and checking every package and requiring
a receipt for every package delivered to
guests. These, with two cashiers, stem
ographer, and three night clerks, make up
the force in the main office with which
guests come in personal contact. In an
Office upstairs there is force of bookkeep-
ers and clerks under the management Of a
comptroller where all the accounts of the
hotel are kept. The comptroller has un-
der him eight checkers and the checks
made out by each of these eight are in
quadruplex, one of each going to cashier,
one to the department through which the
check originated, one to the book Of the
comptroller, keeper of that department,
and one is retained by the checker. The
comptroller's force compare and verify
these and keep the accounts arising through
the various channels of purchase, pay roll,
supplies, repairs, and the multitude of de-
tails suggested as the story proceeds.
Returning to the first floor and the force
which comes directly under the eye of the
management, the first in evidence, to the
entering guest at least, are the sixteen to
twenty bell boys. In the Waldorf these
bell boys are really only Office messengers.
They do not answer room calls, deliver
cards, or supply any service to guest after