The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-11-28
ENGLISH HOTELS POPULAR.
They Have Come to Take the Place of
 Town Houses.

! Town Houses.
 | Twenty-Five years ago London had
 probably the worst hotels of any of the ] great capitals of the world. To-day it
 has some of the best. The hotel habit
 has become fashionable craze. Peo-
 pie now live in hotels during the sea son, instead of taking town houses.
 Those who still have London mansions
 on their hands patronize the hotels for
 meals. Not content with dining out,
 your smart woman of to- day must have her afternoon tea at Claridges, her
 lunch at the Carlton, and some ultra smart people have been trying even to
 create a craze for going out for break fast.
 The twenty leading hotels of London
 represent a capital of something like
 seven millions sterling. During busy
 month they accommodate about eighty
 four hundred guests every night, and
 find employment for forty five hundred
 servants. The Gordon hotels represent
 an investment of three and one-half
 millions. and secured profit last year
 of one hundred and flfty-six thousand
 pounds The Cecil is run on scale
 greater than the whole government of more than one South American state.
 The pioneers of the improved London
 hotels undoubtedly were the Gordon
 company, and their great houses, the Grand, the Victoria and the Metropole,
 were revelations to London. But in recent years they have had very keen rivalry, The Savoy brought luxury to the Thames embankment. The Fred erick syndicate has fought them on their own ground by building monster palaces in various parts of the country, palaces which count their rooms al-n most by the thousand, and the ground they cover by the acre. Then, in 1896, came that triumph of barbaric splen- dor the Cecil, with its accommodation for seven hundred and fifty people Not satisfied with this, the Cecil is now busy adding couple of hundred more bedrooms. Railway hotels have been growing greater and greater the lead- CTS of them being the Midland Grand, with four hundred bedrooms, and the Great Eastern, with four hundred and fifty. Then Claridge's was transformed with suites for one hundred and eighty visitors, and the Carlton came to the fore, with accommodations for about three hundred guests. The Carlton is considered, and rightly, the last word in hotel luxury. It's manager, M. Ritz, is the genius of the European hotel world.
 The hotel world of London, of course, has its romances. Some of the biggest establishments have been created by their proprietors out of little or nothing In one case the secretary of temper ance society opened tiny house. This became so crowded that he had to take a second. House was added to house, were multiplied, accommoda- tions improved, and If one wishes to see the outcome he need only go to Smiths big hotel in Southampton row. In an- other case a butler started boarding house in the West End. His boarding house became hotel. To-day it stands in the front rank of the big London , palaces, and it's owner is 8 great coun- try gentleman, justice of the peace and the owner of fine estates.
 It is strange how, in spite of exterior each hotel has 8 distinct ! character of its own. The man who has money to spend and wishes to make 3 show with it naturally goes to the Cecil. The quieter man seeks the Sa- yoy. None but the fashionable would , penetrate Claridge's. And you should oe at least q senator or foreign prince f you wish to stay at Browns. If you are a nasty business man you go to he Midland Grand or Charing Cross. If you are a cosmopolitan and study your personal comfort you will proba- oly 20 to De Keyser's on the Embank-