The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1920-02-04
BETTER HOTELS FOR VERMONT
There Are Many Good Ones But Some
Weak Links.

| ITpnd DIV the BldlufilN VI FroFiN
think that the hotel business is q sort
Of ''lazy mans job" which, with any
sort of luck. viii provide good, safe
investment for idle money and pay
dividends without much driving pres
sure or keen anxiety for results. As a
matter Of fact, keeping hotel, cspe-
cially q country hotel. is one Of the
most cxacting Jobs there is and one OF
the most uncertain OF results,
In the larger centers of population,
the hotel that spends a LOT of money
on its building, equipment, cuisine etc.
Is fairly certain of good business, pro
vided ii is situated conveniently, but
\ there are a number Of hotels in Yer.
mont that have spent too much money
on their equipment and buildings and
haven't paid a dividend vet, despite
careful management and fairly good
patronage.
| The Barre Times must have had some
Of these eases in mind when 1t uttered
the following:
"There may be hotels in Vermont
which are making their owners rich,
but the great majority of the hotels
are not paying large dividends, II they
are paying any dividends at all. Many
hotels are conducted on the basis OF the
entire family rolling up their sleeves
and helping; and they bring at least
living To the family Others are con
Quoted by those with not enough mem
bers of the owners families available
to carry on the major part of the work,
and, consequently. they are not doing
very well in a financial way. Then
there are the hotels of the larger size
and of greater pretensions, whose work
ers are all on the salary basis. These
are the ones which are finding hotel
keeping rather uncertain financial
venture in Vermont and they are de-
serving to help out their communities
by keeping the hotels open and running
at satisfactory standard.
Where hotel is small enough so
that the husband partner can run the
'front Of the house and the wite-part-
ner the kitchen, dining room and sleep
ing rooms. the problem is comparative
ly simple, but even then the job IS un.
evenly divided II is the exceptional
woman who can stand up under the
strain of such hard work, and the man,
If he makes himself worth his keep,
will find he has a 24hour job on his
hands. sos DAYS in the year. Clearly
that cannot be accepted as the final
solution OF the problem.
Vermont needs more hotels and bet
ter hotels, and, while there are a sur
prisinglv large number of good taverns,
small hotels and village inns III YER
mont. the state suffers here and there
| from hotels whose surprising vlieness
of foods. slovenly service, shabby, dirty
rooms and generally unkempt, uninyit-
ing and slipshod quality repel, rather
than attract, travel.
What TO do with such weak links IN
the chain that is itself inadequate Is
the problem which Vermont hotel men
have before them. because a bad hotel
can do more to disgust, drive away and
keen away the visitor than a hall dozen
Of the better type can accomplish to
attract him.
The bad hotel does not pay and its
owners refuse TO put more money INTO
! il. so that IL gets worse, not better. a
good hotel is more apt to pay and
therefore gets better, not worse. There
is the problem.
In other states and under other con
tditions. the chain" system has done
wonders in lettering hotels. A central
buying plant, sort of school for man
agement. standardized equipment, serv-
ice and cuisine, based scientifically on
the business needs Of each, are some Of
the things that have made some chain
hotel systems successful.
It might not pay in Vermont. but II
would be interesting to see what cen
tralized management would do for a
chain of hotels along some Of the main
touring routes Of Nermont-iust as a
matter of experiment.-Rutlsnd Her
aid.