The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-08-06
HOTELS HERE AND ABROAD.
THE Views or A MAN VINO IS FAMIL-
lar WITH THE MERITS or BOTH.

| A New Yorker who returned recently from
| first trip abroad was telling his friends the
other day OF his surprise at discovering that
the large department store was by no means
| an exclusively American possession. The
great com bnation of shops Is called as store
abroad. In distinction to smaller places. and
| London has several conducted on scale quito
| as large as any hero. Berlin Is also supplied
| with these great stores. Only one or two in
| Paris are known by name to Americans who
| think that they are the unique specimens in
Europe Of this kind OF business before they
have gone abroad and seen how common these
| great places OF business are in the largo Eu-
| ropean cities.
The department store Is not an exclusively
| American possession any moro than the large
hotel is. Yet Americans who have not been to
Europe are likely to think that the large hotel
! is also the result of only American enterprise.
| II only takes visit to London to convince the
| traveller of his mistake. The large hotel is
| quite as frequently found in tho cities OF Eu-
| rope as 1t il here. The conventional idea of
| the European hotel rs it exists to-day contcm-
plates 1t as small establishment, supplied
| with few convenences elementary in most
| particulars aud rendered toerable only by tho
superior skill OF its chef de cuisine Most
| Americans expect to find nothing but this type
| OF hotel when they go to Europe 1t is true
| that such places still exist. even without the
redeeming grace OF the good cook. All tho old
| fashioned inconvenient hotels have naturally
not disappeared from the face Of Europe But
| there are many others OF totally different
| kind. Within the past twenty years nearly
every European city has been supplied with
| hotels OF the most elaborate character and
equipped with everything that Is modern and
| luxurious in life.
| These hotels especially abound in England.
| where the small old fashioned hotels arc rap
| idly disappearing. Small hotels still exist
| there and new ones are built from time to
time with quarters 30 iihiteu 'haC oh'' 10"
persons may be entertained there. But these
hotels are IKE 'he ,rault'ona. ola ones oh'y IN
regard TO size, Ihey are hIteu up WIN inc
which which make their limited Recommendations
,'suoi,y ,,g,oion, fortba That con nrrord
to pay what they ask The most expensive hotel
| in England. IL n OF In Europe il n box on a cor
ner Of piccadilly. and the prices there are 80
ANYBODY xo%id eyer 3 wIn i, to Fay them:
ae the 1p OF Tendency to a Unite
when has shown itself in all commercial en-
one corporstiqn., which has also planted two or
three in English resorts. in the Riviera and
peTo Who are Holiday aknr inc Anohs
company owns several q tho new hotels, in
es GG hm"nt Which, is said to be the most
elaborate and convenient OF any yet put up
whsh ,hese msEs hs the SpPea
| ciusively American. English peope who make
he easo ak OF Se NC S1m 2e
gay dining rooms and the drawing rooms with
FAR 81 na
homes than lodgings in house devoted to the
we're called So the big London hotels swarm
| with the natives who come UP to town to pay
their yearly visit to the ,Gayettes and delights
rooms during the table I'G5ie, one Of those un-
fortunate gastronomic results produced by an
covered with French names Its no breach
Of International e s,H to say that all the
Paris has fewer hotels. but It has three or
Nobody would think Of going to them in search
of French cookn at Its best. But the average
ThS s"% cooking rn in the
these great caravansares that exist in Berlin
% ne Ger man cte bbs
owned by stock companies and. as in London,
conducted hy hired manager In them the
superior to what one would ind lin in London l
The personnel of the large London hotels is
scarce. and nobody familiar with their eccen-
trieties regrets that, From the manager down
to the smallest boy in the dining rooms the
mans The latter prepondsrntc With these
Wonder to- Amereass that the s ktcRnns in
those London hotels. which are practically
Continental in every respect. should be so in
feror to what is found In Paris and Berlin.
Nobody could ever find a satisfactory answer
to the inquiry, any moro than the absence OF
good restaurants is to be explained or the
difficulty OF getting good wine anywhere
Even the willingness to pay any sum ask ed has
never solved the difficulty Of finding good
coffee and good wines In London hotels and
restaurants
The substitution OF the corporation and the
hired manager for the owner and the landlord
has raised the question as to the degree of
comfort It is possible to enjoy under present
conditions in comparison with those OF the
past Does the hired manager in the large
| hotel accomplish as much for the comfort Of
his guests as the PROPRIETOR did when he only
look ed after a few and was entirely respOnsibje
for tho prosperity OF his hotel ? Was the old
traditional way of Keeping n hotel better
than that which exists To-dayP Probably
| il was not The old system would not
| have answered so we'll for the great houses
that are open now in Europe, The manager
is compelled to be as attentive and selections
| as the independent propriotor ever was else
he would find it diiiicuit in these days of COM
| pctition to keen his situation The corrorntion
| hotaia ora not 90 on,n,n,Hp bara NJ ~ 80