Evening star., 1944-11-08
New York Hotels Warn
Public 10 Stay Home,
Room Shortage Acute
BY the Associated Press.

H NEW YORK.-New York Is
faced with the most critical short
age Of hotel rooms in its history,
and the prediction is that it's going
to get worse before 1t gets better.
Hotel men are cooperating with
the Army and Navy, service clubs
and committees to find rooms for
an increasing influx Of men In uni
form and their families. They are
warning the public to stay home.
But when a hotel is full, it's full.
For all practical purposes occupancy
is 100 per cent. One hotel reported
102 per cent occupancy, which
meant 1t was using private dining
rooms or other quarters.
If you must come to New York,
and even If you have reservation,
you will have to stand in a long
queue waiting for some one to check
out.
Or you may sit in the lobby all
day hoping And then, If you give
it up and 60 back to the station
you may find there is no transpor-
tation to take you away from New
York, at least no reservations.
Even the president of the Amer
lean Hotel Association, Glenwood j.
Sherrard, was unable to obtain a
room reservation recently for a
business associate.
Had In Wait His Turn.
Another case was the effort to
have a room in readiness for top
ranking naval officer The reserva-
ton was made, but the message to
the officer was that he would have
to wait his turn.
Hotels are overcrowded because ::
/. Conventions continue; there
were so scheduled for October. Ho-
tells no longer are soliciting them.
2. Optimism over an early end
of the war has brought people to
New York in holiday spirit.
3. War workers, with more cash
than ever before, come to enjoy new
luxuries.
4. A tremendous influx of soldiers
and sailors, possibly 80 per cent
with overseas service. They get top
priority.
S. Servicemen's families, here to
welcome them, or to bid them fare
well. They. too, get priority.
6. Apartment dwellers and subur-
ban residents, lacking domestic help,
gasoline and oil, have taken per-
manent quarters in hotels.
7. The OPA has frozen an unde-
termined number of rooms which
must be retained for permanent
guests
8. Out-of-town buyers, who for
merly came in July. August and
September and again in January,
February and March, now stay in
definitely, to buy when goods are
available.
9. The usual businessmen on busi-
ness trips.
10. Wealthy European refugees
living in the continental-type hotels.
IL. Before the emergency the
average stay of guest was two and
a half days; now it is three and a
half; one reason is they are wait
ing for transportation home.
More Veterans Return.
The immediate problem is to find
rooms for servicemen and their
families. One reason for this in
fiux is the rotation plan under
which overseas personnel is being
returned from the European the
ater in growing numbers for 21-day
furloughs.
MAJ. Gen. Thomas A. Terry. COM
manding the I'd Service Command
pointed out at an emergency meet
ing recently that New York is the
furlough goal of a large percentage
OF these veterans and says rooms
must be available. He also noted
that many Army men pass through
the city on official duty.
Military officials asked that daily
ALLEGATIONS of rooms for servicemen
be made as follows: Transient ho-
tells, 3 per cent; semitransient, 2 per
cent, and residential hotels, per
cent. They hoped that at least 1000
rooms will be available for the serv-
ices.
There are 60,O0O-odd hotel rooms
in Manhattan. In the New York
Worlds Fair years-1939- -40-occu-
pancy was only II and IS per cent
respectively. In 1941 occupancy was
68 per cent; 1912, 78 per cent; 1913
90 per cent, and now, 95 to over LOG
per cent.
Management Gets Blame.
Rooms for wounded men or serv-
icemen's wives with children are
commandeered from persons having
confirmed reservations who are
often most articulate in their con-
demnation of the management"
! Hotels generally grant the service