The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1921-12-29
TROUBLES BESET
TOURIST ABROAD
Lack of Hotel Accommodations
in European Cities Stumbling
Block to Traveller.
MANY SLEEP IN BATHROOMS
Fortune Awaits Ambitious American
Who Will Go Into tioteI Business
In Europe-EioteI PORTER
Powerful! Fctentate.


ambitious American who will come to
EUROPE and so into the hotel business.
Ihere are, of course, complications
III the way. Building materials are high.
! though when the exchange rate is con-
/ sidered not so high as at home. Labor
demands high wages, according to the
German and Austrian Standard-but
, that standard leaves the skilled work
man earning, according to American
! values, considerably less than 81 a
/ day.
Again, there are inevitable stumbling
| blocks in the way of government tax
wlen piece of land changes hands.
/ Also the international money conii-
| tons which have caused Germany AID
! Austria to become beloved of English,
American, Dutch, French, Italian and
| Scandinavian tourists may chiagc be-
fore new hotels can be built, though it
! doesn't look as though they would.
! At any rate, eliminating unexpected
complications, the hotel business to
the eye of the layman now looks as II
1T must pay better than any other In
the world.
Sleeping In the Bathroom.
| 1t is more or less difficult to get
| bath in any German or Austrian or
| hungarian hotel nowadays, because all
| of the bathrooms are being used for
bedrooms. Not that the guests sleep IL
the tubs, no, they merely sleep in beds
| or cots that have been added to the
usual bathroom furniture, and they
] count themselves rather fortunate than
| otherwise because. while they are en-
| toying the use Of the bathroom as O
sleeping apartment they likewise pre-.
! "":rt thc .&c &c t!:c tub. S!cn. - t!,,.
bathroom myself in Munich, and 1t was
very comfortable.
| Building additions, redecOrating and
renoTating in general, is now too ex-
pensive for the average German or
| Austrian. Private dwellings and public
institutions alike show rather distress.
Ing wear and tear. Hospitals in partic-
n'ar are shabby to point where their
| executives bemoan that they are un
sanitary.
| Prir3ta apartment houses arc spott,
rs to paint and dangerously ruvele;'
as to stair COVERINGS. Hotels are uni
vcrSally, however. in q state of newly
painted smartnesS and are being brave.
ly remodeled and redecoratcd.
Hotel PORTER is. Ali Powerful,
The hotel PORTER always in Europe
| has been dignitary OF considerable
prominence. In his admirars coat. his
linguistic ability, his infallible knowI-
| edge Of train schedules and theaters
and that omnipotence of his in playing
chess-with vacant rooms as his
squares and guests rs his pawns-in
all Of this he Is mighty, and he Is q
| power to be envied by many an up.to-
date potentate.
The PORTER at the Adlon in Eerlin
| Is said to own one Of the smartcst
| villas in Wahnsee, one Of the smartest
| suburbs Of that city.
But the Importance Of the porter
has increased many fold since after
the-war conditions have made a room
In hotel thing to be desirr ID beyond
great riches. Ills nod ami mis- frown are
| Jovian in their might. His nod comes
| only when the wOuld-be guest can show
proof that he wired the hotel for
rooms and that the wire was answered
| favorably. Otherwise, there is the
| frown. 1t is q frown which may, on
occasions, be DETECTED by the proper
means, delicately introduced, or, rath-
er, rendered. 1t Is a frown which may,
on the other hand remain consistently
and honestly discouraging.
Wanted-A Room.
There was, for instance, that expert
ence In Budapest. I had wired for
II, kyn ID
No answer had come. but the PORTER In
the hotel at Vienna had been an op-
timistic soul and had advised risking
1t. risked 1t and arrived at Budapest
shortly after 8 p. m.
1t turned out that the advice Of the
porter was not good advice. There
was no room to be had at the Ritz.
People, the PORTER was pleased to in
form me, were sleeping in all Of the
bathrooms. He recommended another
hotel; the hotel was courteous. but 1t
also was full 1t recommended another
The affair resembled the chariot race
from Ben Hur," though slightly more
thrilling. Every one else in the city
seemed to be trying to find rooms In
hotel, too. If there are traffic laws I'm
Budapest they are made like New
Years resolutions, only to be broken.
The droschke drivers are ancient and
ragged daredevlls, who delight In zig
tagging across the paths of automo.
biles and trains and other droschkes.
They whiZ past one another on the
bias, they clatter out from side streets.
they risk, a thousand times, wheel
caught In IL trolley track and utter dis
aster.
Other horses dashingly drawing 9th
er GrOschkes prance up behind one and
one feels their hot breath on the neck
and they seem about to make their
suppers off of ones back hair. Then
they pass. the wheels Of thSr drosch.
keS ia .hingly near. And another hotcl
IS reached ind one rnces madly
through the lobby. enulat ed by othe..