The sun., 1900-06-10
RUNNING A HOTEL COSTS.
DEMAND FOR SNOWY LUXURY EATS
UP REASONABLE PROFITS.


lhere was never tlnle Whon nv "'-''
hotels were in operation 40 at present, All 0.
the frst-class hotels seem to have plenty OIL
patrons.yet most Of the hotel managers com-
plain of the smallness Of profits.
What Is wrong with the hotel businessf a
Sun reporter asked OF man VINO ior iofV
years has been q successful hotei manager II
New York and other Eastern cities
Everything Is wrong with H. ne repheo
pessimistically. "A man might as wen expect
TO get rich pedding lightning bugs as running
| an up-to-date hotel unless he runs II as freak
museum. In the first place, the rens are
simply murderous. The public has been edu-
Gated up to a high degree OF hotel Injury ooiid
comfort isn't enough to-day Glitter ana glare
and novelty are what tho people with money
are crying for. Hotels undertook 10 satisfy
these whims A few set the pace. others had
TO fall in line In order to catch patronage. and
competition is so keen that every hotel s on
tremendous strain TO keep up with the pro-
, cession When a hotel is built now the only
idea Is to make 1t bigger and shower and more
elaborate than any Of the others. The archi-
tects turn themselves loose and the capital
lists pour In money. The decoration and FUR
nshing and all that sort Of thing are the most
expensive that money can buy. Plate glass
and marble and onyx and brass and silver
plate are used ~ freely as plaster OF paris.
Decorative effect cuts good deal bigger figure
than practical utility, and nobody counts what
the cost OF running such plant will be.
Then the hotel man rents the place. God
help him There Is so much money sunk in
the establishment that the rent must be enor-
NOUS So little attention has been paid TO
economy that five times ~ many employees
are required as should be necessary In house
of the size. Taxes repairs fuel. all the other
running expenses are monumental. BY the
time the investor has his per cent. on the
money invested and the expenses Of keeping
up the hotel are paid the manager is In hole.
He is in treadm simply working for his
landlord. OF course, he has 10 charge high
rates He couldn't keep things going at all
II he didn't and even as IL Is he doesn't make
money. can count the wealthy hotel men OF
to-day on the fingers of my two hands, and
vet rich hotel men used to be as plentiful as
black berries.
THE bigger hotel Of this modern sort is
the better. The biggest ones stand the best
show for coming out ahead OF the game; for,
after certain point the increase in expense
isn't in proportion to the increase in size The
main cost Of running a small modern house is
| as great as it would be for a large one. Tho
only difference need be in greater dinine-room
| and bedroom accommodations and extra
walters and chambermai6s do not cut much OF
| figure The income OF house may be almost
| doubled by doubling it's size but the expense
| isn't increased IS per cent or course, II the
hotel can't draw crowd, size isn't any ad-
vantage but the complaint just now isn't that
the hotels are not full, but that even when they
! are full, the men who are running them don't
make money.
The absolute folly Of some hotel architects
and builders Is enough to MAKE xsev
hotel has recently been up up IN one & o. our big
Concert s sTsSt Sa bsSocm sS % aSd al that so
OF THING are superb TO the last degree millions
| in them. Well do you know they can't keep
ouarprs @ ter a and n' all the arrsnsements for work
| are so besstly bad that three times the servants
| have all walked out in body; and suppose
keep much uP ,s aI pase ss and
Now, I've had occasion within the last few
years TO pass judgment upon several modern
| New York hotels, Friends. Of mine wanted to
| buy, and the decision was left 20 me. One OF
| the places and a stunning one il looked 10 be
was offered at good deal less than cost, and
| my friends thought II was a bargain. went
up and looked it over. Then telesraphed:
Don't buy if they offer II 10 you for two
cents. There's no money in 1t Tor you II they'd
You see, il was just this way. The hotel
was beautiful and utterly impractlcable,..
mean went down into the boiler room. 1t
| was fun OF men in uniform.
| Seventeen said the engineer.
Great Scott, seventeen men to run this
| boiler room, How much coal do you useY lie
Where are your coal binsY I said. looking
| III u.nt,,
ones we we have, and they only hold twelve tons
| so we have to take in coal every other day
NO wonder they needed extra men; and
Ing under the window. every other day. The
architect that didn't know better than that
ought TO be shot.
| house. Two would have done the work. The
| architect said. You've got the boilers 1t
Won, cost ANYTHING special tho to haze asr all the
70 be fed and there has to be double elevater
force for each elevator, figured out the
we're -four. and one-half servants TO each guest
and vet the house, as II was planned, couldn't
hays been run WIN smaller The
situation is exactly the same in most OF the
swell hotels OF the city, though few Of them
.Economy s Of admlnlstration. There's the
KEYNOTE to successful hotel management.
As I've, been telling YOU, 1t isn't possible in
ought, to be built with that ss the chief end
fact the better. The kitchens are put too
| far from the dining rooms: Things have to
| go through too many hands before they are
| served. and cant be served quickly. Diffi-
| cuties Of cleaning and polishing are not con-
| sidered. Three men are paid TO do what one
| could do II rational arrangements were made
| for his work. ! know one good old hotel that
Ia run In frst.ciass fashion. One ls made As
comfortable there as anywhere In the coun-
| try. The house will accommodate 70O guests
and only 200 seryants are reoured TO run 70.
tration but host Of things TO to make 1t.
"A good hotel man u born, not made but
he'll stand a good deal OF making, too. He
must know how TO spend freely on essentials
and cut corners on non-essentias, but, by
Jove! most OF them have to spend freely on
non-essentials md cut down on essentials nowa-
da"s. The public Ia greatly TO blame. Too
many OF our wealthy people have made their
money fast and they are bound to have show
Of elegance is nashinees. and they are sup
porting the up-to-date hotels.
A foreigner was over here, last winters
big gun he was-and he was talk Ing TO me about
America. have been enter tanned here for
| five weeks. he said, and I am charmed with
| your people and the homes where have been
The only things I've seen that are like the jokes
| about Americans IN tho European funny papers
are your hotels One is more comfortablei IN
them than In our hotels, but they are In such
atrociously vulgar taste ! told him he didn't
strike the right places, but he was right about
! the thing, all the same.
"A few old, reputable hotels are trailing
| along on the old basis. and are making a fair
| proft They haven't thu expanae hapdicap