Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-10-16
On Behalf OF Innkeepcrs
By Frederic j. Haskin

prohibition, is taking the proft ana the
low out Of the innkeepers' lfe.
AZ a matter of fact, this is not exactly |
true. according 10 the men who run hotels |
in New York. The information here set
forth was obtained largely from these men,
and il To be taken as an expression of
their point-of-vicw and experience.
They say that the hotel business hos
by no means become either unprohtable
or unattractive in New York, and the
great business Of entertaining the army
az transients who 20 10 the city every day
for pleasure and business - not IN TOT
crirlp. Quite another reason ac1Qunts Tor
the demise Of the several famous mo-
telries mentioned. The prominent down
town corners upon which they are 10
Gated are worth more for Office space tnan
for hotel guace The value Of the ground
rent in downtown New York has increased
several hundrediper cent in the past lev
years An Office building must be IN the
heart Of the business district but hotel
can serve its purpose somewhere else
nearly If not quite, as well. Experienced
managers could have been found ~ take
over the KnickerbockeT and run II on
eeventeen-year lease, similar 20 the one
under which il has been running, but
they could not afford to pay for that lease
as much ~ the space IS worth IN oitee
buildings. For this reason the knieker-
booker had to 20, and the same . true
of the two others Also the ground hoor
of the Wallick is to be converted 70 bust
ness rarposes and the rooms added 20 the
| Claridge for similar economic reasons.
HOTELS MOVE UPTOWN.
| What all this portends primarily ls
/ another rnIgratjo n Of the famous New York
/ hotel section little farther uptown. The
4 hotel belt used u te from Twenty-third
/ street To about Thirty-fourth Nov II
/ begins at the Pennsylvania depot, which
/ will of course always draw hotels about
sseIf. and runs to Fifty-severth street
and bevond The center % II is around
Fortv-second but it viii not long stay
there
Incidentally, an this may mean that the
shortage Of hotel rooms, which was -
serious during the war, Will b continue
~ times for some years Although NeW
York is nothing like as crowded as u was
IN the davs when thousands Of soldlers
and Others connected with wartime ar
tivities had u come here, il ls still tai
from easy n get a room There was q
touch of d,lllness in the hotel business
during the summer, but It II picking ur
at great rate AZ the days grow cool anc
the winter activity gathers momentum
Meantime, nothing adequate = oeIns
hs,iIt tn rerlace the Zig hotels which have
gone out Of business, much less 70 TAX
care az the normal growth Of the army o
transipnts The new Ambassador hote
a. Foftv-ninth street and Park avenu
YIU have about seven hundred rooms
: and the Embassy at Seventaeth stree
about four hundred. But this ls only efe-e'
hundred rooms In prospect to replace aoo'l
fifteen hundred which have been take
ont OF commission in the three hotels
that are being transformed INTO Oust
ness blocks.
: The reason for thus decline IN bots
srace is that hotel men are atraid oi
sfurnp. Business ls stII good they &C
NIT. and they do not ciaIm. ike maay othe
businesses, 10 be operating II a yer
small profit or none at all for the good {
: the public. But they do not feel any oor
: fidence that the good times vii las
] Heree capital IS q bit SOW about goI
into hotels.
HOTEL. RATES HyLD DOWN.
While many howis have been heard
, recent wears about the exhOroltant prlc
Of hotel accommodations IN View 10
and the hotel men hasten 20 poRnt .
that these have not risen nearly IS much
other things. The cost OF room N New 7 o
: 80 Der cent higher than y vss oeio
the war, but the cost Of everything et
: i a hundred per cent or more mgn'
!. The reason the hotel men have been Al
II 10 make money az tins comparative
: reasonable advance in prices = that
: profit in running hotel N normal TIN
: : figured on basis Of houses about p;
= enpty. Ordinarily a hotel IS never Gu
: fulf. .Thernan who holds the lease = PAIN
!; rent on q number Of rooms from which
= deriving no income. This enOrmo
= source Of loss was removed during Z
= = war BY the fact that ever room WAS =
= all the tame, and additional income =
: often derived from rows Of cots install
: IN the ballroom ana other such IKE {
:, pedients.
y In the same way, the cost OF eating
: hotels has not risen aS much rs the Senei
y cost Of living, according 20 hotel ne
They soleInnly aIhrm that hotel DIM
rooms are almost never run At prot
n II il not the cost of food which nak
- hotel dining expensive but the oveEhe
* represented BY waitrers, decorauol
= naperv and the like. They say that wh
= YOU 20 into 4 hrst class hotel anu
- down 70 table your presence there CO
the management fifty cents, before
:. = begins 70 feed YOU. The waiter who star
- obsedusously by, the large snd vol'
:. tuous napkin which you spread on y,
Z! knees the array of silver which '
: : contemplate with hewilderment or
4 light. the music which seeks to ch
YOU. all cost money. Now II YOU or
only a seventy-hve cent meal, II may
that the management actually lc
As money on YOU.
ne That the major expense goes Tor OF
VI. things than food IS shown by the exp
v ence of various western hotels which IA
er. established cafeterias. In these they 81
the same food out Of the same Htch
# for lust about half what It costs Va
# dining rooms One hrst-claSS New
hotel has now established such cafete
+ and it may be assumed that, the ore
dent having been established, ott
viii follow suit
= SUBURBAN HOTELS.
r A daring pioneer in the movement
+ the hotels away from the center Of
* city is the manager who has recen
+ established hotel at Kew Gardens
X on Long island And this experiment
+ suburban hotel keeping Is said to be y
1T success.
+ As for the factor Of prohibition