Motorists and Hotels

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 420, 31 July 1928, Page 7

Motorists and Hotels

Where the Associations Might Help So l'ar organised motordom in New Zealand has concentrated its attention ! on the hotel question to the securing j of concession rates for the members of automobile associations. The association hotel lists are thus in the main j a guide only to those establishments k willing to give a cut in the ordinary j rate. < There is a growing feeling that the united action of motorists could be 1 more usefully directed to encouraging a gradual improvement in the standard i of accommodation. This would be best achieved by listing the houses in each town that give good value for ! ; money in their price classes. j i This is the practice followed by the I < R.A.C. and A.A.A. in Britain, and. in fact, initiated many years ago in i : Baedeker’s guide books for travellers, j Old Herr Baedeker wlien'he founded his great guide book business set an example well worth following. No hotels were listed in return for payment, and none were listed unless the indefatigable compiler had himself j stayed in them. A good selection of hotels and boarding-houses was given for each term, with a price range to meet all purses, the tariffs being quoted. After the names of those recommended a star was placed, and a double star meant outstanding value for the tariff. Even the humblest establishment got their star if the house was clean and ' well kept and the food plain, but fresh | and wholesome. SIMILAR LIST FOR N.Z. A similar basis of listing should be useful in New Zealand, and particularly helpful tor the ever-growing class of motorists who wish to travel as inexpensively as possible. Anybody at a street-corner can tell a traveller which is the leading hotel in a town, fcut discovering satisfactory accommodation at a lower rate is not so readily accomplished. It is in aiding in this that the associations can be most helpful, and they are not likely to achieve much if before listing such establishment they demand an impossible Cut in the al- ! ready modest tariff. A classification on the basis of merit should assist in the gradual improve.meut of the accommodation offering. In a circular published by the N.Z. Tourist League, Sir Geo. Fowlds, president, emphasises the need for this improvement. Commenting on the architectural side of things, Sir George writes: — , GALVANISED IRON OUTWORN "Some very depressing features about our New Zealand hotels, in the country particularly, are the poor elevations and internal designing. Surely even the smallest places can be made attractive and the architects could do better now if they were given sufficient scope. Too many of our hotels indicate that little imagination has been spent on their lay-out. In California and Florida there have been a wonderful variety of hotels erected. The ‘Samarkand,’ a Persian type of carai yanserai at Santa Barbara is a typical

example of this development There is being widely used adaptations of j what is known as the Spanish Mission 1 style in both these States, and it certainly does appropriately harmonise with the surroundings and the climate conditions. In the American Rockies, i the railway companies which erected ; hostelries have worked in the log cabin ' effect which creates atmosphere and j is highly appreciated by the guests, j “Surely it is possible in New Zealand in * our hotels to make use of some features of Maori motifs in interior decoration. The only place that comes to mind where this has yet been done is at the ‘Spa’ Hotel, Taupo. where the dining-room is built on the lines of a Maori meeting-house and around the walls are displayed many valuable carvings. As a new hostel is shortly to be erected in the Tongariro National Park, surely here is an opportunity to plan something unique for : the Dominion, and more in keeping ! with the surroundings than a series of : galvanised iron huts.” In view of the provisions regarding independent brakes set out in the motor regulations, an article that appeared in r'flie Motor" of May 29 should prove of interest. It is a comprehensive review of the methods of brake application at present in vogue, with an excellent set of diagrams illustrating the various lay-outs. These are essential to a proper understanding of the text, and altogether the article is one too long and too technical for short treatment in this column. Anyone interested. however, would do well to read it thoroughly.