The New York herald., 1921-06-05
TIPPING IN ITALIAN
HOTELS IS DRIVING
AMERICANS AWAY
Ali Baba's Forty Thieves
Amateurs Compared With
Their Employees.
TAXES AIDING EXTORTION
Visa Charges Whenever Loca-
tion Is Changed Sometimes
as High as 180 Lire.
TAXES AIDING EXTORTION

Special Gable to THE New YORK HENLp.
Copyright, 1921, bU THE NEW YORK lxaALp
ROME, June ALI Baba's Forty
with italian hotel managers, walters,
clerks, Wallets and porters II COM
plants being heard here from Ameri-
cans who have toured Italy are taken
at their face value, and 1t is apparent
that unless the Italian tipping system
Is changed Immediately Italy will no
longer be tempting to Americans.
It was thought that tipping would
be abolished by putting tax of from
ten to twenty per cent. on all hotel
bills. but so far this has only re-
suited in increasing the cupidity Of the
hotel workers, who seem to live up
20 the catch phrase of the famous
Michigan breakfast cereal which ad-
vertises: 1.-The more they get the more
they want"
At Florence hotel employees line up
as of yore whenever a guest departs.
stretching out their hands for gifts. al
though the receipted bill clearly shows
that twenty per cent. has been paid to
cover all tipping, to say nothing of the
ten per cent. luxury tax and the fve
per cent. tourist tax.
At Italian resorts the second rate
hotels charge first rate prices, as FAR
as the tipping tax Is concerned, the pro-
prietors finding 1t impossible to retain
servants unless their palms are well
creased.
Holdup Practices.
in order to obtain personal comforts
tourists must be ready 10 tip heavily In
addition to the service tax" one Ameri-
can tourist told the NEW YORK HERALD
correspondent this week. From the
viewpoint of the walters the tax is ex-
cellent, as 1t assures them of a liberal
tip without earning 1t, and they make
the best of the situation by neglect!ng
clients whenever possible. II is high
time that visitors from the United States
give Italy a wide berth until these ver-
liable holdup practices cease"
| Another tourist writes II have just
| finished a two months tour of Genoa,
Pisa, Florence. Venice. Milan. Perugia
and Lake Como and I'll be mighty glad
| to get back home. On all hotel bills
FIVE or six different taxes were added,
including Is and sometimes 20 per cent.
for services which were distinctly negli-
BILE. Heating, although II does not exist,
also a charge for the use of bathrooms,
although travellers In Italy always know
that water never runs in such places.
Fifty cents Is charged for tying the
baggage at the stations and 10 cents for
checking suitcase overnight. Even the
.gondoliers brazenly triple the legal
tariffs"
Other travellers have discovered that
some northern hotels not only tax the
service to tourists, &C. but even tax the
tax applied. For instance. bottle OF
wine is first subjected TO the wine tax.
then there Is q Is per cent. service tax
on the wine and on the original tax.
Then comes a 10 per cent. tax on all
this. and by applying the resort or tour
ist tax a bottle of wine Is actually sub
jected to taxes seven times, the hotel
more than doubling the original cost.
Police Add to Burden.
But the howl Is directed not alone
against the hotels. both the Italian police
methods and the railroad robbers coming
in for their share OF the general repro
baton whenever two Americans get to-
gether and tell their tales of woe.
The Italian visa charge, which is in
fiicted whenever a tourist changes hotels
or towns. in many cases is as high as
lou lire, OIuCldlS tiiht eiiS 20
in the form of reciprocity for the Ameri-
can $40 visa. This is unwarranted. as
the fee legally is Ave lire except for visas
when crossing the frontier.
Even the lead seals on trunks and
vallses fail to prevent them from being
constantly broken open during voyage
for the removal OF the most valuable
articles they contain. So expert have
the railroad thieves become that they
now carry duplicate seals. which they
amply after the baggage has been robbed.
As a result the American visitors do not
discover that they have been victimized
until they reach the end Of their Journey.
From all reports the systematic swim
ding OF tourists is now spreading to
Swiss towns. where, instead OF the prices
falling and the service regaining It's pre-
war efficiency, hotel rates are constantly
increasing and the tipping tax Is bring
10, oil ha oxrlt off LpoxFD here