The New York herald., 1922-06-12
GERMAN HOTEL KEEPERS
ALARMED AT PROTESTS
Agitation Begun to Force Ne
ductions BY LaU.

s,eoial Gable to THE NEW YonK HERALD
cos,,,,on, noe bu TIE New YonK HERALD
New York Herald Bureau.
Berlin, June III.
The many dispatches that have ap-
peared in American newspapers teiiihs
of the exorbitant prices being charged
Americans have spread alarm ,nrousn
Germany and Berlin hotel Keepers eN-
pect to work out plan 10 meet ui-
complaints of tourists and If possible
bring about a reduction in prices.
The CONSERVATION Is more pronounced
in Munich and Bavaria, where reports
from hotel keepers this waek inoicale
that nearly all the big hotels nave from
thirty to forty rooms vacant.
new record was reached in price oe-
mands on American tourists wnen sew
'aral of the Berlin and Munich hoteis
asked 1850 marks. or 80 TO 80 uay' TOT
rooms in addition to local mead taxes.
which would make daily residence not
including food cost. some 81 or IS day
Tbis / 40 marks is. of course, a rate in
the first class hotels, but the tourist
who has only few days has neither
the tima nor knowledge necessary to
find cheaper places and must expect 10
pay at least 10 per cent OF what ne
would in America for what he gets IN
Germany.
Only Americans and Germans are
crowding tn. early performances OF the
Passion Play at Oberammergau. The
English pilgrimag ge Is expected 10 pegin
about midsummer.
American tourists so far this year be-
lie the German idea that every Ameri-
can Is q dollar king, for they are mostly
business men and their families. VINO
have deferred coming to Europe since
the war and want to see the Continent
in comfort without throwing arount.
their money ostentatiously
What worries the American In Ger
many is not the cost. but the discrimi-
nation. AS for prices. one hears hotel
porters- and walters remark enviously,
with on, lousy dollar you can have a
wonderful time Mere mention of The
dollar stimulates the German imagina-
ton more than Goethe and the Hohen-
zollern family combined.
In u round of the leading German
cities TIE NEW YORK HERALD corre-
spondent found that hotel prices were
at least doubled everywhere for Ameri-
cans. with the exception of one hotel in
Leipzig. where there was but % per
cent increase. The average rate for
| Americans is 50. One does not mind
| paying extra for seat i'm the Munich
State Theater. but standing in line to
| show ones passport, thus losing the
| first half hour Of the performance, does
not increase ones enjoyment.
Restaurant prices In general are fixed
| but the proprietor of one near Oberam-
! mergau gave q so per cent. rebate to
Germans who established their identity.
This corresponds to the system in vogue
in some Austrian cities, where the citi-
zens get the same fare for four-fifths
| less. American protest against such
| offensive discrimination has resulted in
official pressure upon the shopkeepers.
Although the Democratic party is pro-
posing in the Prussian Pariame lent thu
taxation of foreigners at the rate OF
four gold marks or 81 a day, such legis-
lation as yet has not been enacted. The
Landtag is obliged to consider not only
the Versailles treaty but also the pro-
test of foreign tourists in Germany
against general discrimination.
The Prussian Minister OF the Interior
has announced that the Landtag for
the present would enforce only tho
taxes on expensive hotel rooms, thereby
almost exclusively hitting the American
tourists.