MOTEL PRICES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 6027, 11 October 1906, Page 5

MOTEL PRICES.

COMPLAINTS OF LONDON EXTOBTION. CHARGES COMPART'D. As a reply to London hotel taan» agera' complaints of the “frugal American,” and Anglo-American head of a large business house in London cited to a “Daily Mail" representative bin experience of the charges for dinner at a leading West find hotel. ‘,‘Tho prices,” ho said, “Are absurdly high—-out of all proportion to tho iutnusio value of the food supplied, (including tho baud and tiio tinsel), and at least U 3 per oont. iiiguor than they would bo in any first-class Now York hotel:— Dinner for Two. Melon Cantaloup ... 2 6 Oxtail Soup ... 3 0 Filed) do Solo Walewska ... ... , 4 0 Pigeon braise aux Fetite Pols ... 6 6 Capotun d'Ayleabury 10 0 ■ Chouxliours ... 2 0 Itpinards ... ... 2 0 Pudding an Citron... 3 0 Peoties Muiba ... 8 6 tilaoe Vauille ... 3 0 £1 10 0 "That means 19s 6d each for edible* alone. Ido not mention wines, liqueurs, coffee and cigars, tor they are“ a matter of individual taste. They were, however, on the same scale of leviathan proms. .■ ■■■■■. , v “What do you say of cauliflower fortwo at 2s? Ur spinach 2s P Or Oxtail soup 3s? You can'buy an oxbaii in Smitniiold market for 3d, which will make soup for twenty diners, Perfiapa it was prices like Aylesbury duck at 10s that led to the Americaufi’ lettuce : . lunch for three described,in the ‘Daily itlail.’ What are soles worth in London to-day?. About la 2d a' pound la tho market’; yet when you garni ih. them with high-sounding phrases nka ‘filets do solo Waiowska’ ,4s 6d is ohar-. ed ■ tor enougli for two persons—eetp- : ,: tamly not more than. a pound ol fish. The prices are extortionate and out ol all proportion to cost and reasonable: profit. ' *.mglisli people take so many things lying down, compare New Y r ork hotel , prices with this West End brigandage. 2on - certainly pay one-thud mere lor » dinner at your best hotels and,restaurants than wo do at ours; and it drive* some of us to lettuce.” . - \ CHICAGO PRICES. -

On the other hand, am English travelior writes to the “Daily Mail” to indict American hotel charges. Ho sayse “As I see from your columns that tlu>. charges of London hotejs aim the, frugality of American 'tourist, are under discussion, it may bo of interest to you* readers to give some facts about Anion can liotel prices. ‘As a traveller of moderate means on a recent visit to th© United States I foun dthat nowhere in the, large towns was accommodation ohUunabio in tho good, but not extravagant, hotels for less than £1 por day, and thin figure was greatly exceeded in New York and Chicago. “The carte du jour of the grill-room : of the Chicago hotel at which I slopped shows, indeed, snob prices as to make an Englishman shudder. Lettuce costs thirty-fivo cents (ls,6Jd); Gmyero choose, twenty-five cents (Is OJd)j a full portioii-of roast beef, 3s 7d; and a half portion, 2s Id. A microscopic glass of lager beer cost -7id, Tho sum of a ‘quaitor’ (Is) hod t ohe paid each meal to tho waiter to secure attention, and if it was omitted tho waits wore / interminable. A hot, low, and not too clean bedroom on tho tenth floor of the hotel could not bo had for less than 8n 3d per night, while of tho bathrooms and sanitary conditionsnothing ~: favotu ohta could bo said. Tho amount which under American advice 1 actually paid in tips camo to nearly 20 por cent, of tlw hotel bill.” ; ■ , Explaining tho frugality of Am* cans, the London manager referred te above said some were compelled by lack of means to tour cheaply, while others did so to prove thoir shrewdness. They liked to poo how cheaply they could d» tho tour in order to go homo and boast of it as an achievement “up against/ the English. They wore not naturally moan, but carried away by thoir instinct of commercial cunning.