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BEHIND THE SCENES

IN A

HOTEL

PUBLISHED--FEBRUARY, 1922

The Consumers' League of New York 289 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK CITY

BEHIND THE SCENES IN A HOTEL

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'h?te 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.

As the individual hotel has grown, hotel corporations and syndicates have developed. In New York City the largest, most complete hotels, almost without exception, are operated by hotel corporations. Two companies are each managing five of the largest hotels. Another company manages five hotels, two of which are in first class cities of New York State and three in other states. One company manages a group of fifteen smaller family hotels in New York City. Four hotels in four different up-state cities are managed by still another company. These corporation managers have united to form the New York State Hotel Men's Association and the Hotel Association of New York City for discussion of standards of operation. This exchange of opinion has resulted in the turning of hotel managers' thoughts to standards and policies in regard to labor, though as yet little of a concrete nature has been accomplished.

The labor force required to furnish service in the modern hotel has necessarily increased enormously since the day when the host of the old-time hostel and his family personally cared for the needs of their guests. The following extract from a hotel manager's pamphlet on the running of big hotels gives some idea of the problems of labor management: "The operation of a single metropolitan hotel is too complex an undertaking to be likened to a gigantic piece of housekeeping. When it comes to running a group of six of the largest hotels in the world ... the performance becomes of colossal size. The idea of employing 510 men just to cook food and another 925 just to wait on table, finding need at the same time to call in an average of 3000 waiters a month to help out on banquets, requiring 380 chambermaids to make beds and so on, must strike one pretty much as indicative of doing business on a wholesale scale."

Hotel managers, however, have been too prone to treat their business as housekeeping on a big scale. The transition from the small home industry with a few paying guests has been too rapid for adjustment to large scale method and standards. The attention of the hotel management, so far, has been directed toward standards of service to the public. It has only begun to think of standardization of conditions of employment for workers. It is perhaps the most backward and unregulated of industries from the point of view of wages, hours and living conditions, and comparable only with domestic service. It is one of the few industries which continues to house its employees as a part of the wage payment. It is one of the few industries in which tipping or the giving of gratuities to workers by the public persists.

There are inherent in the business certain definite obstacles to standardization of labor conditions. The most serious of these is that it is an almost continuous industry where work is carried on for eighteen of the twenty-four hours with peaks of greater volume throughout the day. The hotel managers, however, have not as yet put their best effort into solving this problem and to working out standardized conditions of employment.

Because for many years it has been aware of the long hours and living-in conditions in hotels, the Consumers' League of New York undertook a study of the hotel industry in the summer and fall of 1921 to discover the hours, wages, working and living conditions for women workers in the hotels of New York State.

The material used in the report was obtained by the investigators through their personal experience in working in typical women's jobs in the hotel industry and by applying for work in a number of occupations in hotels and hotel employment offices. The material is necessarily incomplete and uneven though supplemented wherever possible by interviews with workers in the industry, officials and members of labor unions, employment agencies, etc. The report on wages, hours, and living-in conditions is a statement of the facts and conditions found in the hotels covered.

For the purpose of this investigation a hotel was defined, according to the American Travel and Hotel Directory, as "any building or structure of the better class used or maintained in whole or part for the entertainment of the traveling public or persons of temporary residence; with sleeping rooms furnished for hire with or without meals and maintaining an office or lobby register."

The scope of the investigation was necessarily limited because of the general condition of unemployment in other industries which turned many women to hotel work. The selection of hotels for the study, therefore, depended in a large measure upon the chance availability of jobs for the investigators. An attempt was made, however, to obtain work or apply for work in hotels as representative of the industry as possible. Hotels ranging in size from 25 to 2200 rooms were selected. The commercial hotel, the family apartment type, hotels featuring conventions and social functions--both transient and residential hotels were included. No resort or seasonal hotels were chosen.

It was found that the hotel industry centers in cities according to their size. The cities of New York State were classified according to population into first class cities of over 175,000; second class cities of from 50,000 to 175,000; and third class cities of less than 50,000 population. It proved to be far more difficult to secure employment in second and third class cities than in first class cities. In smaller centers this was in part due to the greater stability of the labor force and in the case of industrial cities to the unemployment situation. In cities of a few controlling industries, which had closed down, the hotel housekeepers invariably answered an inquiry for work with the statement that the works had shut down and so they had long waiting lists for all jobs.

The investigators applied for work in 96 hotels in New York State.

First class 47 cities

Buffalo 12

New York and 25 Brooklyn

Rochester 10

Second class 28 cities

Albany 7

Binghamton 3

Schenectady 4

Syracuse 8

Utica 6

Third class 21 cities

Elmira 2

Hudson 2

Ithaca 2

Kingston 2

Newburgh 3

Troy 4

Oswego 2

Poughkeepsie 4

Total 96

Work was secured in sixteen hotels, fourteen of which were in first class cities, one in Rochester, two in Buffalo, and eleven in New York and Brooklyn. One job was secured in Syracuse, a second class city, and one in Troy, a city of the third class.

It is impossible to give the exact percentage of women to men employed in hotels. A recent survey has been made, however, by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics of hotels and restaurants in 26 cities. This report shows that 40% of the employees in hotels and restaurants are women. The percentage for hotels alone would undoubtedly be larger because men are usually employed as waiters in the larger restaurants and in restaurants there is no large group of women chambermaids as in hotels.

Footnote 1:

United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. Wages of Hotel and Restaurant Employees. 1919.

Of the women in hotels, 56% are in the housekeeping department; 23% in the kitchen, dining room and pantry departments; and 20% in miscellaneous departments. The miscellaneous departments comprise office employees, laundry workers, elevator, telephone and telegraph operators, seamstresses, wrap checkers and newsstand salesgirls. They have been excluded from this study on the ground that they are not typical of the hotel industry and may be studied under their respective occupations. Since newsstands and checking rooms are usually concessions, the investigators felt they could not be adequately dealt with but should be separately investigated.

More than half of the women workers in hotels are employed in the housekeeping department. 40.2% of the women in hotels are chambermaids, 10% cleaners or bathmaids, 2% linen room girls and 3.8% housekeepers. Housekeepers have been excluded from this study because of the small percentage and the difficulty in securing information. The study of the housekeeping department, therefore, is confined to chambermaids, cleaners, bathmaids and linen room workers. The investigators worked in 14 jobs in the housekeeping department as chambermaid, bathmaid and linen room worker.

Footnote 2:

Minimum Wage Board of the District of Columbia. Wages of Women in Hotels and Restaurants. 1919. P. 10.

In the kitchen, cooks and assistant cooks are excluded on the ground of number. The information in the kitchen, dining room and pantry departments is, therefore, confined to waitresses and pantry workers. Two jobs were obtained in the kitchen as pantry worker. No work could be obtained as a waitress. All information regarding waitresses was secured from interviews with workers.

During the war the hotels of New York City found that advertisements, private fee-charging employment agencies and bulletins posted at the employees' entrance, were bringing in inadequate returns. The New York City Hotel Men's Association, therefore, opened its own free employment bureau, which served as a clearing house for all jobs open in hotels belonging to the Association in New York City. One hotel company opened its own employment bureau to recruit workers for the five hotels under its management. This proved to be a temporary expedient only, to be used at a time when the hotels were in need of workers. When unemployment, due to the industrial depression, grew, the free employment bureaus were discontinued. This was at a time when the workers most needed them. The basis for the closing of the employment bureaus was voiced by one employment manager, "We don't need to do that now; we have a long line at the door every day for every job."

At present there is a return to the use of the advertisement and private employment agency. The old, unintelligent method of hiring the first worker in line after a casual interview, whether or not more suitable candidates may be available, is again the practice. In all but five of the hotels in which work was applied for the timekeeper and the head of the department interviewed the worker. It is true that some of the larger hotels in New York City under the control of big hotel corporations have developed employment departments. The employment managers have no labor policy, however. They are little more than clerks. They receive calls from the heads of departments and refer workers to them as they apply. No central record is kept. No job specifications have been worked out and no record is kept of the workers who leave. Even where there are employment managers the actual hiring is done by the heads of departments whose attitude is only too often, "These girls won't stay long anyway, so it doesn't much matter who is hired."

The following example illustrates how unintelligently an interview can be carried on by a housekeeper who was apparently an excellent manager of her department in other respects. The bad psychology and entire lack of employment technique in the interview is obvious. The interview took place in a first class hotel of a first class city in New York State. The girl waited for three-quarters of an hour outside the linen room. Finally, the housekeeper, a robust, emphatic person, came up the stairs. The girl took the initiative:

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