HOTEL ACCOMMODATION

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 166, 9 April 1920, Page 7

HOTEL ACCOMMODATION

Si:--The hotel accommodation 0 irliich is. being' offered to the travelling public and others in certain parts of.the country at present is a. combination of extremes— extremely high in pi'ie? >" n d extremely ' poor in quality. ; I knowthat according to the Licensing t Act hotelkeepers are compelled to- provide accommodation before a license will bo "ranted. 1 think, however, that hcensin<r committees ought to go further and see that reasonable accommodation is provided at a. reasonable price. I nil oil tho road every day, ami I know what I am talking about. At a small country hotel the other day I w.s charged 10s. per day. The least said abont the food and. beds the better. The bathroom was unusable; at the time I was there it was being used for th-2 storage' of rubbish. The sanitary arrangements—well, the less said about them Hie better. In another hotel in a country town<on. tho West Coast, friends of mine who staved could hardly get iuto '¥ dining: roo'-'i for (lies, so my friends "dined out but paid them 10s. per, day just the same. This booking per day or vcck and paying for meals whether eateni or not is just barefaced robbery. J-I'o point is just, this-. Have I the power, ns n traveller, to book my beu lor a week, or any length of tims I please, without also being forced to pay .for meals during that time ? I certaulj think I ought to have the right to do so if I wish. ■ ■ Til's matter of accommodation lias a vor? close effect upon the housing -.nortago at'present. Jfarried ■couples and families aro forced into the hotels aiul' havi to pay the high charges' imposed. I know of. n.case in the town already referred to where a man and Ins wile ami one child were compelled (o pay seven guineas .a week for board ano lodging and.the food is wretched. Hotelkeepers :eamint refuse ; accommodation, but. i i many cases they. do. the next nearest thing: the.v treat von as thongli you were a nuisance and cliarge yon an atrocious price. If the Government is looking for profiteers they , can get all th'y want bv'-visiting certain of tuo hotel'. The" bar is the all-in)iwrtant thing with them—l am, cte., *• April 1, 1020. ;