The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1904-11-30
ODD HOTEL CHARGES
WAYS THEY HAVE OF TIGHTENING
ONES PURSE IN EUROPE.

|
Items In the Bills That Are Not Ap-
preciated by the Victims-One Plac,.
Where You Pay For Fodder Whetb-
er You Have a Horse or Not.
Most British hotels adhere to Z
stereotyped list of charges, though oc-
casionally travellers come upon strange
eXactionS in out of the way places.
British hostelries, however, are far
behind foreigners in the variety and
strangeness of their charges. Nearly
every European country has some curl
osity Of its own.
Many hotels in the Tyrol charge un-
der the heading Of "ohce'' to cover the
clerks time wasted in looking up in
formation about trains and attending
to letters. In some parts Of south Ger
many travellers are invariably charged
for soap, whether they bring their owa
or not
Some small country hotels in north
ern Spain supply their visitors with
nightshirts, for which a charge is
made, and all over the country luggage
not kept in the visitors bedroom is
charged a special storage fee. French
provincial hotels are proyerbially mod
crate but there is hotel at Dijon
which charges ali its visitors fer
fires in summer and winter alike.
Old fashioned hotels in Vienna make
charge for brushing clothes,' and
visitors are expected to leave their ex.
ternal garments outside their bedroom
doors on retiring.
Use of dark room, l florin,' appeared
in the bill of an amateur photographer
know1 to the writer, who changed his
plates in the bathroom of a big hotel il
the same city.
Russia beats the world for strange
hotel charges. In all but first class ho-
tells bedroom towels are charged for,
and visitors, after paying about 4
shillings for bath, are required to
pay an additional sixpence each per
towel.
Country hotels supply beds and mat
tresses, but charge separately for
blankets, sheets and pillows, the
theory being that all sensible travellers
bring their own. Where there are no
railways, the posthouse keepers are al
lowed by law to charge travellers for
fodder for one horse" whether the
horse be kept at the inn or not.
Heavy taxation sometimes leads to
curious hotel charges. Many Greek
hotels charge 10 lepta "a penny a
night for matches. In Italy, where
the salt tax is outrageously high, land
lords of small inns charge a halfpenny
per head for salt. They also invari-
ably charge q percentage on postage
stamps bought at the inn.
use of toilet necessaries' is respon-
sible for 80 centimes (threepence) Of
most Corsican hotel bills. At Ajac-
clio some Of tile better class hotels
charge for table decorations" and
any one who wishes to avoid this ex-
action should instruct the head waiter
to put no flowers on his table. The
item lights in public rooms appears
beside bedroom lights il many Greek
hotel bills.
In Sofia hotel keepers have to pay
a special tax for the maintenance OF
the police force and they extract TINS
from their visitors by charging spe-
cially for hot water.
Most Bulgarian hotels charge a shl;-
ling to any One who comes IN after IL
o'clock at night and to any one who
comes down to breakfast after 10.
There is hotel restaurant in Bucha
rest which widely advertises Hunga'
rian hotel rs its great attraction, but
charges Sixpence for music in all its
bills.
+ In Roumanla, as in Russia, bedding
is universally charged for. Roumanian
country hotels charge fixed price, ac-
cording to the visitors rank, mer-
chant paying only two-thirds OF lle
amount debited to 4 noble.
In northern. Roumania q travellers
paving capacity is estimated according
TO the number OF horses ne tfaFeiS
with. The basis is one horse. and 10
per cent is added to the bill for eac7
additional animal.
Servia. however. beats the world for
the variety Of its hotel bills In ali but
the best class hotels table linen. bed
ding. writing materials, hot water
towels and services Of valet are put
down separately in the bill a Bel
Grade hotel some years ago Installed 4
lift, charging visitors penny for every
ascent or descent.
The rooms Of Seryian country inns
contain nothing but beds and chairs
and if the visitor objects to dress IN
the common lavatory he is charged ex-
ira for towels. soap. water and use OF
washhand stand.
But PERHAPS the strangest hotes
Charge on rh.. continent is that OF I
bic Copenhagen temperance hote;,
which charges sixpence day to every
visitor who s,aokeS on the premises
PearSon's Wee lily.
------