AMERICAN HOTELS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5224, 9 January 1928, Page 3

AMERICAN HOTELS.

SATISFYING MODERN NEEDS'.

PROVIDING FOR TH 1? TRAVELLER.

Whilst the coming into effect of prohibition in New Zealand has affected the available accommodation to the travelling public adversely, it has -had just the opposite effect in the United States, where the hotels, robbed (theoretically, at all events) of the liquor tradej, have vied with one another to do the traveller well in many things that counUfor comfort and which, in this part of the world, may be regarded,as luxuries (writes H. Plimmer, in the Dominion). Most people are aware that tiherei are few hotels in the large cities that do not have a bathroom and telephone included in the cost of the room, and such accommodation cpn be obtained in almost any Of the larger centres flor from 3 dollars to 10 dollars, a night (which price does not include meals of any kind). , A CATCH IN IT. Of course there are catches, even when you pay something in between the prices mcnt’pned. For instance, the stranger to the country, finding the telephone at his elbow whenever 'he is in his room, is apt to use it a good deal, more th an he would if there was a little trouble attached to gettingV l connection ; and’ is consequently surprised at the end of the week to find several dollars being charged for telephone calls. Them he finds that for every call made he is charged 10 cents (sd), a discovery that as a. rule makes him a little less eager to take the receiver from h’s bedroom hook.

But apart from the telephone and bathroom, the conveniences are very good, and at times surprising. It was a Little unexpected to find a Bible in every room at some of the New York hotels. On inquiry as to this practice, a shrewd American hotel manager said that the idea ofl having the best/Book ev . er written. could scarcely be objected to, “even if the plot .were a bit hackneyed.” Every guest is provided with a clean set of towels, each day, and daily the fresh cakes of soap ’(always wrapped in paper) .are placed at one’s disposal. Ice 7 water is always to be had for the asking, and steam heat means the turning of a faucejt. > . ALL WANTS SUPPLIED. . What amazed me not a little was to-find a clean face-cloth (in an envelope), new boot cloths for removing the '’dust and restoring the morning

•shine at any time during the day, and needles, threaded with black and White cotton,. for the use, of the ladies. But the new hotels go even further. In one chain of new hqtpls in the east, radios are; supplied in e.very room, so that guests remain, ng in the hotel of an evening may listen -

in to any one of a dozen magnificent programmes. Indeed, people may retire to bed, and, with. the. aid of the head ’phones, may lie there, in comfort and warmth and drink in the music from any one dfj half a dozen symphony orchestras, or whatever other .class of music appealed to their fancy. In some hotels reading lamps , are, attached to the head of the bed itself (elongated globes within a metal shade), manipulated by a simple sideways switch of ebony. Incidentally, there is ,no annual or any other charge for radio sets in the jjnited States. A person’s liability ceases when he purchases and has installed his wireless, set, most of which are now independent o faerials of any kind. In England one sees'thousands of aerials in every suburb, but in America such a sight is not nearly so cdmmon, owing to the internal aerial having come into fashion. . DINING ARRANGEMENTS. In all American hotels the travelled 1 may book his seats for any theatre ; may have his reservations made in any train or steamer ; may purchase any-paper, daily, weekly, or monthly, on the; premises. All hotels, have their hairdressing- saloons and mani-

curists, and,' in the larger hotels in New York, there is an array of shops within the building from which almost any common necessity may be purchased, the goods ranging right up to the choisest evening confections for ladiejs, and evening dress, shirts, ties, socks, shoes, etc., for men. In the matter of food, such is the demand for . light refreshments as against the heavy six or eight-course meals of yesterday that not only is thQie a large dining-room for full dinners, but there is provided a modern cafeteria, where one may help oneself to anything that one may desire. The help-yourself ideia is rapidly gaining ground. It is a. common enough sight at mid-day to find such places crowded, and the; process’on p people along the counter practically endless. All the staff has to do. is to keep the counter well supplied, and j to remove ..the soiled dishes from the tables. At such places it is possible to get quite a good meal for half a dollar, particularly if one is partial to salads, in the making of which ( Americans excel.