The sun., 1919-02-18
HOTELS PACKED
AND THOUSANDS
SEEK QUARTERS
Opening of Commodore and
Pennsylvania Fails to
Relieve Congestion.
OVERFLOW QUITS CITY
Philadelphia and All Neigh
boring Cities Crowded,
Due to Rush Eastward.
HERE TO GREET SOLDIERS
Western Buyers and Enormous
Number of Winter Resort
ers Swell ThrOngs.
HERE TO GREET SOLDIERS


new hotels the Commodore and the
Pennsylvania. added total OF 1900
rooms to New York's hotel capacity.
Roth the new hostelries have been
hacked to the roof since their opening,
We. their entry into the field has failed
10 relieve the congestion. The stranger
who reached New York last night had
as much chance OF getting a hotel
room as he would have Of finding a
so bill
Only by a rare stroke Of luck may
,.Stor to New York obtain a room to-
cay unless he made reservation for 1t
Cd, least a week or two ago. This holds
,ood not only of the larger hotels on
Broadway and the avenues but also or
the small places that dot the uptown
side streets and the even less preten-
tious rooming houses.
Not only is the city proper overrun by
visitors according to the hotel men. but
me resources of Brooklyn. Newark and
cher cities within easy reach OF New
York have been taxed to their limit. In
Philadelphia the hotels are also crowded,
principally with guests who are waiting
tor chance to obtain accommodations
in New York.
Send Guests to PouGhkeepsie.
Some of the local hotels are booked
solid for weeks and their chief business
worry now is,to provide accommodations
somewhere for guests whose good will
hey are anxious to keep but for whom
they have now neither room nor the
Immediate prospect Of any. A. II.
Smith, manager OF the Great Northern.
Ia West Fifty-seventh street arranged
Nesterday for the accommodation OF
some OF his old patrons in Poughkeepsle.
The Hotel Astor has been jammed for
weeks, principally by officers and men
~ the military and naval service and
riends who have come to this city to
greet them. There was not room for a
single more guest at the hotel last night,
'ccording to C. r. Crooker, the assistant
manager.
The Ritz-Carlton. according to Albert
heller OF its stan of managers, not only
full but is likely to continue so for
some time. as 1t is daily receiving many
!Cquests for reservations.
city n Winter Resort.
The 700 rooms of the Belmont are
taken and there are many requests for
.eservations on the hotel books. Man
ger Eugene Hartigan attributes part
e the unprecedented trade to the fact
hat the mild weather has caused many
persons to forego their usual Southern
trips and spend their midwinter vaca-
ions in New York
q. w. Richards. manager OF the Hotel
Martinique, broadway and Thirty-third
''Teet, said last night that his hotel
Ias been overcrowded for four months.
With the end OF the auto show last
"eek he and other managers had ex-
ne'ted slight let up in the demand for
'ooms. but the places Of the visitors
the show have been promptly taken
'F Western buyers who are now sweep
q into the city on their semi-anual
trips
Inc management OF the Hotel Nc
N'niH, broadway and Thirty third street,
letused to admit that its 100 rooms
we're not enough to meet the demands
Tor accommodation. but applicants for
rooms who had not made reservations in
"dNance we're being turned away last
hlEh' nevertheless.
Manager n. l.. sturm of the new
hotel Pennsylvania said last night that
All the rooms available IN that hotel
were taken and that work was being
,u'hed 10 mako 500 more rooms ready
'o' occupancy. In the meantime hun
ufeas are being turned away daily.
me Ansonia, at Broadw$ and Sew
roW-third street. which iS one of the
n.~Inan group has been doing tre-
menaous business for many weeks. Ac-
.''aing to Manager Edward NJ. Kearney
majority of the visitors now In New
lork are relatives and friends of soldiers
ana sailors who have come to the city
70 greet them upon their retuI from
.7relgn servite r. upor their discharge
from camps in this country.
No Ebb Yet in sight.
y don't know wnat the Travelling
nunilo is going to do when the Twenty
seventh comes back" sighed Mr.. Kear-
he Waldorf Astoria. the I3iltmore.
me Manhattan. tho Vanderbilt. the st.
nagls' the Plaza and practically every
".ner MOTEL In their neighborhoods are
LOW, gowh TO lobby standing room only; ana
10y nave very little OF that The same
lohultlon prevails at the Majestic and
o'her big hotels further up town.
~ looks as IL New York could stand
out dozen more hotels the size OF
Ht pennsylvania and the Commodore, -
naid one manager last night This rush,
"a my opinion Is going to last until July /.
~ me last couple of wet months Broad
way is going 10 see the biggest crowds
VI l's history. or I miss my guess II
you ask me, I'll say that no small per-
.en,ase OF the rush right now IL due
mat Eighteenth Amendment and the