Mountain and seaside resorts call for various modifications in design. including many spacious verandas and balconies, sun-parlors for winter use, and other features suited to the change.) conditions of a hotel life where recreation and social amusements, or perhaps the search for health, are the main objects. The constructional features of hotels are not sufficiently different in the material employed and the way in which it is put together to require separate treatment.
The governing principle in the design of a hotel should be to make it as safe, convenient, comfortable, and generally attractive as possible. Unfortunately, the order of these requirements sometimes is reversed; or, at. least, inadequate attention is given to the safety of the guests. Safety is used broadly here, to include all that goes to make the building structurally sound. to reduce dangers from fire, and to conduce to good sanitation. Fireproof construction (q.v.) should be employed as far as possible, and there should be adequate fire-escapes and fire-protection facili ties. The latter, at least in all large hotels. in clude apparatus in the way of fire-pumps, stand pipes, hose, chemical extinguishers, and the like. A plentiful supply of water is, of course, essen tial. This necessity frequently entails an inde pendent pumping plant, and always requires an extensive system of piping for both hot and cold water. To meet the demands for purity in drink ing-water, it is frequently advisable to install a filter plant in the basement of the hotel, or, where possible, to sink deep artesian wells. Spring waters are often supplied at table.
Both public and private baths are required. The latter should be in separate rooms with in dependent air and light. Private water-closets generally accompany private baths. The public lavatories and water-closets, both as regards spaciousness and good sanitation. may be taken as a fair index of the rank of most hotels. In general, all plumbing should be of the simplest possible design and should be readily accessible for inspection and repairs. In the choice of floors and floor-coverings, wall finish and deeorations, window and other hangings, it should never be forgotten that frequent and thorough cleansing is imperative, and that everything that creates or serves as a lodging-place for dust, or that cannot be thoroughly disinfected, is a menace to health. Ventilation is most important and,
together with heating, its arrangement should be intrusted to a heating and ventilation en gineer. In the best hotels in the colder sections of America. the buildings are heated with steam or hot water throughout, supplemented. in some instances, by open fireplaces. Well-equipped laundries, with drying closets. are becoming more and more common even in smaller hotels. Either gas or electric lights. and frequently both, are provided in most hotels.
Whatever the rank of a hotel. some means is provided for making known wants without leav ing one's room. The most common method is a simple push-button electrically connected with an annunciator in the hotel office. In some hotels elaborate signal systems are provided so that by moving a pointer over a dial in one's room any want may be made known in the office. Such cumbersome devices, however. bid fair to be superseded by the house telephone system, with a telephone in every room.
The management of modern hotels presents a difficult executive problem. The number of em ployees (which varies according to the hotel, but which is always over 50 per cent. of the guests), the constantly shifting crowd of guests, the nmn berless mechanical details, and the large amount of provisions and supplies which is necessary. all eomplicate the problem. Under the manager, and directly responsible to him, are a steward end n clot. The former has charge of the sup plies rind general supervision over the house keeper, storekeeper, head laundress (and their subordinates). and over the clerks of the account ing department and the plumbers. carpenters, and upholsterers. The steward also generally buys the ry provisions and supplies. Most of the provisions are ordered fresh every day, though usually the larder is stocked with n sup ply sufficient for two days. while the supply of dry Autr on hand is sufficient for a week. The clmf has absolute charge of the kitchen and its staff. The steward makes his purchases accord ing to lists 110.16,11M him by the (ief, who over sees all di tails in connection with the cuisine. A head waiter superintends the dining-rooms and nrranges for private dinners and slippers. For the history of the early hotel. see INN.