Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1917 — RECORD JAM IN NEW YORK CITY [ARTICLE]

RECORD JAM IN NEW YORK CITY

Big Hotels Are Unable to Cope With Unusual Rush' of Visitors. MANY WAIT LONG FOR ROOMS Hotel Managers Hold Different Views as to Reason for the Jam, but War Has Something to Po‘With It

New York. —Thomas D. Green, president of the Hotel Men’s association, suys New York city has more first-class hotels than London, Paris and Berlin combined. Despite the fact that the hotel capacity of the city, built at a cost of $500,000,000, is more than 100,000, it was difficult for visitors arriving late last night to find rooms, says the New York Sun. In fact, up to ten o’clock the demand for rooms just about equaled the supply. Investigation by reporters for the Sun revealed that the overcrowding of hotels did not end with the football season, but that the automobile show found the hotels still more congested. The present week is regarded by the hotel men as a sort of lull prior to the influx of buyers in greater numbers than ever from all parts of the country. That gives an index of conditions. Every room taken used to be called a “rush.” Now, it is a “lull.” A “rush” is the condition which has existed nearly all winter, when guests sleep in bathrooms or are sent to Newark ami Brooklyn. “New York, the city of .big things.” said President Green, “has not enough hotels to supply the demand, and although there are several hotels with a total capacity of more than 6,0(k» rooms in course of construction they will not be sufficient to provide for the ever increasing number of visitors to the city.” Walt Long for Rooms. Calls at a number of leading hotels last night furnished proof.of this fact. J. W. Rogers, assistant manager at the Waldorf-Astoria, said people had been waiting since ten o’clock in the morning for rooms; that for weeks every private dining room and every small meeting room had been utilized as bedrooms. At the Belmont the same condition was reported and bookings have been made for weeks ahead. Assistant Manager Woods at the Biltmore reported that hotel booked full from September 1 until April 1, and said dozens had been turned away in the course of the day. The Astor, Vanderbilt, St, Regis, Manhattan and other big hotels announced they had all the guests they could comfortably provide for. The McAlpin managers said they had a few rooms left, but that was the first time in days. At many of the hotels it was said persons inquiring for rooms had been referred to the headquarters of the Hotel Men’s association, which has a sort of clearing house for steering strangers to hotels that are not overcrowded.

At the Hotel Men’s association it was said the week had been exceedingly busy. “Every night until twelve o’clock scores of persons were calling up and asking where they could gel rooms. “On Tuesday night,said one

of the men at the headquarters, “a man called up and we referred him to a hotel that only a few minutes before had told us it had five single rooms left. He called back shortly and said every room was gone.” Reasons for Jam. Assistant Manager Rogers of the Waldorf figured last evening that the transient population in New York £ity is easily 135,000, instead of 100,000, as formerly estimated, and he said it is increasing. Various hotel managers said the throngs seeking accommodations tn the hotels at present were greater than at any similar time ■in previous years. Automobile week of course is always heavy. As to the reasons for the jam, the managers held different views. One is the presence in the city of hundreds of people who are shopping before

moving to the big hotels and resorts in the South. Another is the beginning of the Influx of buyers from every part of the country. . The stock market also Iscredited with having attracted to the city a great number of persons, but the recent slump has tended to send away a number of those persons. Another manager pointed out that countless persons who ordinarily spend the winter in Europe or who live there the greater part of the time have returned to America, and New York Is tire only city with the life and gayety to which they are accustomed. The presence of representatives of foreign governments‘interested in war contracts totals up in a surprising manner. Following the rush of automobile week have come many persons drho. realizing that the hotels would be jammed at that time, deferred their business trips to the city until afterward. During the automobile rush it was necessary for strangers in the city to go to Bronxville, Long Beach, Brooklyn and Newark to get rooms for the night.