The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1952-08-01
HOTEL OPERATORS ARE
EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE

O@ANOPOAOAASsA ASANAA ~
for the making of a successful
hotel man. Now frankly, is there
any calling which requires more
tact and foresight, courtesy and
accommodating nature than this
business of running home for all
sorts of people, and so often peo-
pie one never saw before?
A good hotel man is like moth
er and a father; he is like COM
forter in time of trouble; he has
to have a wide knowledge of many
complicated phases of the indus
try; he is the head of a big fam
lily; an exacting family because
they consider themselves as pay
ing for what they get, and most
of them demand lot for their
money.
The hotel man has to have lot
of tact and patience. He must deal
with the unreasonable as well as
the reasonable, and be qualified to
forestall the exhibitions by the
former so often disgusting enough
to drive away the latter who might
be standing by. He has to be on
guard against parties seeking fun,
or entertainment, or licentious
pleasure, who could easily damage
the reputation of his hotel; yet
he remembers he must ever seek
to avoid offending anyone who
might be patron, or who might
pass words to discourage other pa
tronage.
One would think that the hotel
man, having to manifest so many
gifts, and so much ability, would
be qualified to succeed in any call
ing. So he would perhaps. did he
like some other calling. But too
often good hotel men cannot be
good in other professions. That
we think is because their heart is
not in some other profession. Few
men can make a big showing in a
calling in which they have ne
heart.
The hotel profession is no doubt
a joy to those successful men who
like their work. Day after day,
along with the bad, they find SO
much good to make life worth
while. There come old friends,
month after month, year after
year, until they wear like an old
shoe. They are never hard to suit,
they are a pleasure to deal with.
The hotel man knows their pref
erences and it is always easy to
make them comfortable
People who travel a great deal
soon develop preferences for GER
tain hotels, preferences which no
doubt comes of the type of service
received on the first visit, or the
personality of the employees, or the
comfort of the surroundings. l
most always enjoyed staying at
the Picadilly, a modest hotel, in
New York, except when things
dropped little out of quality dur
ing the war: / like the Benjamin
Franklin in Philadelphia; the EN-
erson in Baltimore, Murphy's in
Richmond, the Robert E. Lee in
Lexington, Va, the Raleigh in
Washington, the Sir Walter in Ra-
leigh, the Robert E. Lee in Win
ston-Salem, the King Cotton in
Greensboro, the Goldsboro in
Goldsboro, the Alamance in Bur-
lington, the Charlotte in Charlotte,
Pine Lakes Inn in Myrtle Beach,
Virginia Dare in Elizabeth City,
the Patrick Henry in Roanoke, the
Joseph Hewes in Edenton, the
Louise in Washington, the Ga
briel johnson in Smithfeld, the
Queen Anne in New Bern, the
Thomas Nelson in Norfolk, the
Fort Pitt in Pittsburgh, the Bat
terry Park in Ashville, the Prince
Charles in Fayetteville, the Bien-
vile in New Orleans, the Beau
mont in Beaumont, Texas, the Rice
in Houston, and so on and so forth.
The recollection of them is assur-
ance that on any return trip I
will think of these hotels first. I
have stopped at many different
hotels in New York, Philadelphia,
Washington, Richmond, Norfolk,
Baltimore and other large cities,
but / remember first the quiet and
comfort, the convenience and the
service next, and in those l men
ton, everything was nearest salts
factory.
One could go on indefinitely
naming smaller hotels where it is
a pleasure to stay. Engelhard,
Swan Quarter, New Holland, Bel
haven, Hatteras, etc. The Fisher
Inn which used to be operated in
Columbia was a fine place.
A, fellow naturally admires in
others qualities of which he has
little. The patience of hotel man
too often must be the patience of