THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 23, 1994 TAG: 9410210093
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STEPHEN HARRIMAN
LENGTH: Long : 111 lines
THE FIRST HOTEL in America opened for business 200 years ago this month. It was really a pretty big deal in 1794. What has evolved is even bigger today. Travel and tourism is now the nation's third-largest industry.
``The inns in colonial America were patterned after their British counterparts, with only a few rooms and as many as 10 large beds in each room,'' says Ward Morehouse III, an author and hotel industry historian.
Of course, no one expected bathrooms, electric lights, air conditioning, running water or even privacy. It wasn't unusual for hotels to ask guests to share rooms, even their beds, with total strangers. ``The innkeeper didn't consider it a profitable night unless there were at least two people in every bed,'' says Morehouse.
The City Hotel, at 115 Broadway on the corner of Thames St. near Trinity Church in New York City, was the first American structure to be designed and built as a hotel. It had 73 rooms, considered immense by contemporary standards, and became a center of social activities, hosting George Washington's birthday celebration in 1798, and a dinner in 1820 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims.
The Adelphi Hotel in New York, began a tall trend when it opened in 1827. At six stories tall, it was considered the city's first skyscraper.
The Tremont House in Boston set the international standard for hotel design and amenities when it opened in 1829. The 170-room facility was the first to offer the option of single occupancy, the first to feature locks for every room and the first to install bathrooms and toilets - eight ``privies'' and an equal number of ``bathing rooms.''
And, in a fit of wild extravagance, the Tremont also offered a free cake of soap for every guest.
Early in this century, Ellsworth Statler created the first chain of middle-class hotels, setting the standard for comfort, cleanliness and moderate price. The Statler Hotel in Buffalo, N.Y., for example, offered business travelers ``a room and a bath for a dollar-and-a-half.''
Other hotel ``firsts'' which we take for granted today:
1844 - New York Hotel in Manhattan offers some rooms with private baths.
1859 - Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York installs an elevator to carry guests between its six floors.
1881 - The Prospect House in Blue Mountain Lake, N.Y. installs electric lights.
1904 - The St. Regis in New York features the first individually controlled air conditioning and heating in every room.
1908 - The Gideons place their first Bibles in rooms at the Superior Hotel in Iron Mountain, Mont.
1947 - The Roosevelt Hotel in New York is the first equipped with television sets in every room.
All this information comes from research done by Promus Hotels, which includes Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites chains. FROM HERE TO THERE
The Arts Center of the Portsmouth Museums is sponsoring a trip to Philadelphia March 9 to 11 that will include a visit to the Barnes Collection of French Impressionism at the Philadelphia Art Museum, a look at the Philadelphia Flower Show, a concert by the Philadelphia Orchestra and a stop at the Winterthur Museum of Decorative Arts along the way. Cost: $513.50 per person, double occupancy ($478 without the orchestra concert) includes motorcoach transportation, two nights accommodations, baggage handling, two lunches and one dinner. Info: 393-8983 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. BUDGET BUYS
Florida is on sale at Choice Hotels (Quality, Clarion, Sleep, Friendship and Econo-Lodge), where, for example, you can stay in Orlando for $27 a night, Miami for $69. Running through February, the ``LO-RATE'' discount program has 52 participating hotels in budget, all-suite and resort categories. Info: (800) 4-CHOICE.
Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen will be twinkling with Christmas lights for the first time in its 151-year history. From Nov. 18 to Dec. 31, the park will be open - free - Tuesdays through Sundays (closed Dec. 24, 25, 26) and fireworks will ring in the New Year. Christmas-shop while in Denmark and get a 15 percent to 19 percent VAT refund. Call the Danish Tourist Board, (212) 949-2322, for details. The SAS Weekend Money Saver package to Copenhagen, from $395, includes round-trip air from Newark, N.J., and a two-night hotel stay, through Dec. 8 (also Jan. 12 to March). Info: (800) 221-2350.
A similar deal from SAS to Sweden: A Thursday to Sunday package for $395 per person includes round-trip air from Newark, two nights accommodations in Stockholm with breakfast, a Stockholm Card that is good for public transportation and entrance to most of the city's 70 museums and attractions. It's good from Nov. 1 through March. Info: A local travel agent or SAS (800) 221-2350. ACCESSIBLE SMITHSONIAN
The Smithsonian Institution is offering a free guide for visitors with disabilities that describes in great detail the accessibility of its Washington museums and other public areas. The guide is available in a 48-page printed brochure as well as in large-print and Braille versions and on audiocassette. To order, designate the format in a request to Smithsonian Information, Washington, D.C. 20560, or call (202) 357-2700. TTY users can dial (202) 357-1729. COUNTRY CRUSIN'
Norwegian Cruise Line will have you two-stepping your way out of Miami on a weeklong country music theme cruise aboard its really big ship, the SS Norway, Nov. 5 to 12. The show is headlined by Tammy Wynette, Billy Dean, Steve Wariner and Ragen Ivy & the Prairie Band. If country isn't your style, the ship also has its annual Big Bands at Sea cruise from Nov. 23 to Dec. 3. Prices range from $1,429 to $5,379 per person, double occupancy, including air fare. Info: Your travel agent or (800) 327-7030. MEMO: Travel-wise is compiled from wire-service reports, news releases, trade
journals, books, magazines and the deepest recesses of the writer's
mind. Send comments and questions to Travel-wise, The
Virginian-Pilot/The Ledger-Star, P.O. Box 449, Norfolk, Va. 23501-0449. by CNB