Behind the Scenes in a Hotel

BEHIND THE SCENES
IN A
HOTEL
Published—February, 1922
The Consumers’ League of New York
289 Fourth Avenue
New York City
Growth of the hotel industry
The modern hotel industry, claimed by the 35th Convention of the New York Hotel Association to be the fifth largest industry in the United States, is of comparatively recent growth. It is true that from the earliest times there have been inns and small hostels for the accommodation of the wayfarer. But this accommodation was the simple provision of board and lodging. The host and his family ran the house much as the modern boarding and rooming house is run. Until the late nineteenth century these houses, small and few in number, were usually at stage-coach changes along the road. With the great increase in travel, stimulated by the growth of steam railroads, hotels sprang up in great numbers and tended to concentrate in large centers of population. The invention of the elevator and the use of fireproof materials have made possible the construction of gigantic modern edifices. In the last few decades, under these conditions, more and more capital has been attracted to the industry until today there are 40,000 hotels, large and small, in the United States.
The individual hotel has developed into a complex institution, often of colossal size, supplying board and lodging on a most luxurious scale. In all parts of New York State, particularly in the smaller cities and towns, the small hotel with the inn tradition, with a simple table d’hôte service at one rate, still exists. But the tendency in New York City and in first and second class cities of the State has been toward a rapid expansion in the size of the individual establishment with an elaboration of service, and a specialization of hotel types. In the larger cities of the State, there are hotels with 450 or more rooms; in New York City there are many hotels with from 1000 to 2000 rooms. The largest hotel in New York, “the largest hotel in the world,” by its own advertisement, contains 2200 rooms and 2200 baths. In answer to the special needs of special groups, different types of hotels have sprung up—the commercial-transient hotel which supplies complete, efficient but unelaborate service, the apartment house and family hotel with additional comforts and luxuries for residents of a longer period, the ultra-fashionable hotel, and the hotel that specializes in banquets, conventions and other social functions. No distinct classification holds, for there is usually an overlapping of types.