BASIC THEORIES OF HOTEL PLANNING Before an architectural office begins planning and designing a hotel, it should know exactly

how a hotel operates . Every type of building must function smoothly to achieve the end result that the client is seeking . The primary function of a hotel has not changed from the earliest recorded hostelry to tire present-day hotel, whether that be a hotel of 100 rooms or 3,000 rooms, whether it be an incity hotel or a resort hotel, whether it be a convention hotel or a farnily-type hotel . The earliest hostelry offered ' bed and board' as well as pleasant surroundings in which to enjoy both commodities. The earliest hostelries and caravansaries worked on the same principle . The guest arrived at the front door, where he was greeted and arrangements were made for his lodging and food . A stable for horses and carriages, or a compound for cartels and cargo, were provided at the rear of the establishment . A rear yard was used by the innkeeper's wife and her assistants to prepare food which was then cooked in a kitchen . We therefore had a house divided in two . The front half of the house included the reception area arid the public rooms, or the covered arcades in the caravansaries, where the guests gathered to dine and to socialize . The other half of the house, or to use a terns which is still applicable, the back of the house, was where food was prepared arid where the guests' service amenities were taken care of, such as laundering, the shoeing of horses, or the repair of harness and traveling gear . This duality of a hotel must be thoroughly understood by an architect before pencil is put to paper to start the design . For convenience's sake and for ease in preparing a preliminary study, we will assume that all these services take place on one level . Figure 1 indicates the flow of services and hotel personnel . For the time being, we will ignore tire actual rooms arid concern ourselves only with the level where the "greeting" takes place and where the services are rendered . The 'greeting area," for future reference, will be known as the front of the house, and the place where services occur will be known as the back of the house . It must be borne in mind that, as far as planned circulation is concerned, there must never be a mingling of the front-of-the-house services with those of the back of the house . At no time should the guest be aware of everything that is taking place at the back of the house, but, at the same time, the smooth operation of the front of the house is completely dependent upon what is taking place at the back of the house . The two functions must be kept separate and yet so interrelated that both function smoothly and efficiently . Hotels are designed and built so that the client, owner, or operator of the hotel will get a satisfactory financial return on his investment . In order to achieve the greatest return for each dollar invested, we again face a dual problem . In the first instance . the guest must feel completely comfortable and at ease from the moment lie steps through the entrance doorway, checks in, goes to his room, avails himself of the food and beverages available, 870 spends a comfortable night in a well-appointed, scrupulously clean room, and returns the next day to a room which is as fresh and inviting as it was the moment he first entered it after checking in . Everything for the guests creature comforts should be carefully considered, whether it be the ease of finding the registration desk, the cashier, the bars and dining rooms, the elevators that will take hint up to his room, and finally the room itself . The service at the registration desk, in the bars and dining rooms, arid in the guest room itself as well as in the corridors must be such that the guest finds his every want courteously and efficiently taken care of . The physical environment becomes an important part of the guest's creature comfort . These factors include color and decor, lighting, proper air temperature, comfortable furnishings and, above all, a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere . Everything that the guest expects and should get will be a result of what takes place at the back of the house . It is only in this area that everything that will keep a guest contented during his stay is arranged for and so ordered that everything the guest is seeking is accomplished unobtrusively and, what is most important, economically .Economic operation of a hotel depends entirely upon the back-of-the-house services . Since these services are primarily concerned with hotel personnel, the plan must be so arranged that maximum efficiency from each hotel employee can be achieved without taxing the employee and without allowing the guest to feel the drive for efficiency that dictates every phase of hotel planning . HOTEL ECONOMICS The economics of a profitable hotel venture brings us to the third duality of which the architect should be extremely conscious or aware during every phase of the planning stage . This involves the economics of a new hotel, which will center upon the cost of construction and furnishing . These costs represent, together with the cost of the land, the amount of money that is to be invested . They are the base upon which the hotelier will figure his financial return . A rule of thumb devised many years ago by a prominent hotel architect still seems to be a sound rule to follow . At that time, it was stated that for every dollar of income per room, $1,000 should be spent in the construction of that room . We must bear in mind, of course, that when we speak of a room we are speaking figuratively, with the knowledge that the cost of a room would also carry its proportionate share of every other part of the structure, such as the hotel lobby, the dining rooms, the bars, the corridors, the offices, the laundry, the kitchens, and all the other facilities that will be found in a hotel . Using that rule of thumb (that is, $1 income per $1,000 invested), a room that costs $10,000 to build should bring in $10 for a night's lodging . Unfortunately, with rising costs of operation, this balance of $1 per $1,000 will not always hold, but it is still a good rule of thumb . With hotel rooms now going at from $10,000 to $40,000, we find that a $10- per-night room is a rarity and an average of $20 and $30 is more common, while luxury hotels run as high as $40 arid even $50 per night's lodging . From the above, it becomes obvious that the architect should know approximately what type of hotel his client wants, as expressed in terms of cost per room per night, in order to establish some sort of rough budget for the cost of the hotel . At this point, it should be pointed out that we are talking of cost of construction, which does not include furnishing and equipping the hotel . Another fact which does not really affect the planning of the hotel but which the architect should be keenly aware of is that preopening expenses are sizable . They are, in fact, a part of the original investment and should be charged to cost per room . More will be said of this at an appropriate place . The second part of the financial considerstion in the design of a hotel is the cost of operation . We now know what it will cost to build the hotel, and so some sort of preliminary budget becomes feasible . The architect may not know what it will cost to operate the hotel, but he should understand every facet of hotel operation and develop his plans to achieve maximum economies in the operation of the hotel . This includes the hours spent by such personnel as maids, porters, housekeepers, chefs, cooks, dishwashers, laundry workers, bellrnen, receptionists, bookkeepers, reservations clerks, banquet managers, and executive staff . If we would, for a moment, think of a hotel as a plant which turns out a finished product, we would think of the finished product as the creature comforts of the guests (bed and board) and of the kitchens, laundries, and service areas as the machines . The hotel personnel would be the workers who operate the machines in order to achieve a fine product at the lowest possible cost . With these thoughts in mind, we can now take up each facet of hotel operation-front of the house and back of the house-which will be discussed in detail and illustrated with diagrams and drawings so that each part of the jigsaw puzzle which forms a hotel can be fitted into place to achieve a smoothly functioning, pleasingly desirable, and financially profitable operation . First let us clear up the question of preopening expenses, which should be considered as a part of the total cost of the hotel . Before a hotel is put into operation--in fact, months before the first guest arrives-- certain hotel personnel are employed who will eventually be charged with the operation of the hotel .Such employees would include a manager,a chief chef, a controller, an advertising and/or a public relations firm, and an engineer who will be operating the mechanical equipment of the hotel . These people will usually be found on the site of the hotel under construction anywhere from six months to one year before

the hotel is completed . Their salaries are part of preopening expenses . Another factor in preopening expenses would include stationery and other supplies that various key personnel will need before the opening of the hotel as well as, ultimately, the cost of hotel stationery, typewriters, bookkeeping machinery, and Commercial HOTELS office supplies . Another preopening expense will be a cost allocated for opening ceremonies, which often include cocktail parties and banquets for people from the news media and civic organizations as well as for civic authorities . All these costs are considered preopening expenses . One other item that must be considered in preopening expenses is the training of the personnel that will service the hotel . This will include maids, housekeepers, chefs and cooks, waiters and waitresses, and front-office and clerical personnel . There also will be others, such as maintenance men. bellmen, and porters . These can add at least 30 percent to the construction cost .Another facet of costs, which the architect may or may not be involved in, involves furnishings for the hotel . In this category will be found not only the actual beds, dressers, chairs, tables, and floor coverings in the guest rooms but also the furnishings, floor coverings, special lighting fixtures, and decor items needed for all public, spaces . These fall into the categories of lobbies, dining rooms, bars, cocktail lounges, coffee shops, meeting rooms, banquet rooms, and a host of other facilities which will be found in hotels . Another large portion of the costs which normally would not be a cost of construction would be the equipment for all kitchens and bars as well as the equipment, if such a facility is to be included, of laundries and valet service . Going further, we will need lockers for employees and other amenities for the service personnel . Finally, we come to a group of items which will include glassware, china, silver, pots and pans, linens, pillows, and uniforms for outids, bellmen, waiters, etc . When we lump preopening expenses together with all the items enumerated above, we will find ourselves adding anywhere from 50 to 75 percent more to the actual construction costs . All these figures will not influence the budget for construction, but it would be wise for an architect designing a hotel to be conscious of these additional expenditures . BACK OF THE HOUSE Though rarely seen by a guest, the back of the house is the most crucial part of the plan . It must be laid out with two paramount objectives : control and efficiency . Foodstuffs, housekeeping supplies, and a great many other items must be received out of sight of the hotel guests . Such receiving is usually done at a loading dock, which should be covered so that deliveries can be made regardless of the weather . An operating hotel, even a small one, will have deliveries going on throughout the day . The receiving of shipments as well as the checking of whatever comes into the hotel and,finally, sending the various items received to their proper destination must be under tight control . This is usually the function of a receiving department that should be located directly on or adjacent to the loading dock . Tight control must be exercised in two directions . In one direction, it is not uncommon for material to be delivered and, within a short time of its having been left on the dock unchecked, for the management to find that this material has disappeared or that some parts of the shipment have gone astray . The second part of the control is to make sure that, once these shipments have arrived, they go directly to their destination without a chance- of becoming lost on the way . As an example, lot us say that a shipment of liquor is delivered to the hotel . It is a very simple thing to pick up a case and remove it from the loading dock before the receiving clerk has checked the shipment through his control point . It is also a very simple thing to have a case of liquor disappear on its route, once it has been checked in and before it gets to the liquor storage room . This type of pilferage will apply not only to liquor but to almost every item, including linens, foodstuffs, and even iterns of furnishings . A good back-ofthe- house plan will be worked out in such a way that the flow of supplies is tightly controlled by the security that the architect works into his plan . Another example will suffice : It would be poor planning to have a valuable item such as liquor carted through a passageway and past an employees' locker room on its way to the liquor storage room . It would take but a rooment for a case to disappear from the cart into the locker room . A tight, wellplanned back of the house will have circulation patterns that will provide the utmost in control . It is this type of planning that is definitely the province of the architect . There is one further item in the control area which, at first glance, might seem highly unimportant : namely, the movement of garbage out of the hotel to a point where it will be picked up by garbage trucks . Experience has indicated that a good deal of pilferage in hotels is accomplished through

the medium of garbage removal. Well-wrapped steaks and cans of food can be concealed in garbage and removed by an accomplice before

the garbage haulers pick up the refuse . In the larger hotels, garbage destructors or compressors may be used, in which case tight

surveillance is necessary only in the garbage receiving area . Where garbage is shipped out, it is wise to have the garbage rooms so placed

(and, incidentally, refrigerated) that the receiving office has this space in full view to discourage an outside accomplice or an employee who is leaving the hotel from entering the garbage room to filch what was placed there previously by someone in the kitchen or the supply areas. Another form of control which must be exercised and which becomes a part of the architect's planning is the flow of personnel into and out of the hotel . Hotel personnel usually come through at a point close or adjacent to the receiving area . This is not necessarily a must, but it is advisable because the same control office can observe the coming and going of the help . Usually time control is through the medium of a time clock, which is punched by the employees. It is not uncommon for thieves to attempt entry through the service area and to work their way up through service elevators to accomplish what they came for. A tight control at the point of entry and egress of all employees is highly desirable and can easily be accomplished if it is the same point as that at which food and other hotel supplies are brought in . Once again, the architect's careful planning will make it possible for employees to reach their various dressing and locker areas with a minimum of travel time lost . It must be borne in mind that there is class distinction in hotels and, as an example, that dishwashers and porters are not placed in the same locker rooms as head waiters and reception clerks . The distinction here is for from a fine line . The mix of hotel employees will be dictated by the hotel operator, and he may determine whether waiters and bellmen are to be placed together or separated. Maids and waitresses may or may not be in the same locker room, depending on the hotel operation . Locker rooms should be provided with ample toilet facilities and showers. Once the personnel have changed into their uniforms, the plan of the back of the house will make it possible for the people to get to their work stations with little time lost . Maids and porters will want to get to service elevators along the shortest possible route. Chefs, cooks, and dishwashers should get to their work areas without going through long, tortuous passages . It is usual to issue uniforms in an area as close to the locker rooms or the point of entry as possible . In this phase of planning, it should be borne in mind that uniforms are usually under the control of the housekeeper, so that the proximity of the uniform issuing room to the housekeeping department becomes a most important consideration . It should also be borne in mind that the housekeeper controls soiled and clean laundry as well as clean uniforms ready for reissue. The interplay of all of these activities will dictate a finesse in planning to bring all these activities together and to achieve as little loss in time and motion as possible . At this point, let us sum up this portion of the back of the house. A flow diagram (Fig . 1) for a typical back of the house will indicate that the service entrance is located out of view of the main entrance to the hotel but has direct access to a street or road capable of handling truck traffic. The loading dock should be protected from weather so that food, laundry, and supplies will be offloaded and stored and not get rain-soaked while waiting to be checked in . All personnel will enter the hotel at this point. At least two small offices will probably be located here, one for the steward (or receiving clerk) and another for the timekeeper . Outside the steward's office there should be a floor scale to check the weight of produce as it enters . If the food storage and preparation kitchens are located on a different level, a sidewalk lift or conveyor belts should be provided . The timekeeper will check the employees in and out and help to discourage those who may be tempted to steal. Immediately past the timekeeper, the kitchen where it will be used by cooks and

employees should be separated into two different traffic flows, one for the food service personnel, the other for everyone also. Once food service personnel enter their traffic flow, they should have no contact with either guests or other house personnel with the obvious exception of waiters. All this is simply a matter of security . If there is any deep dark secret of successful hotel service design, it is a built-in security system, which is a direct outgrowth of the architect's plans. Uniform issue is related to the housekeeper, the housekeeper to the laundry room, and the laundry room to the soiled linen room . The soiled linen room connects by vertical linen chute to the service room on every typical floor, and every typical floor is connected by a service elevator that opens to the lower-floor service area convenient to the scrutinizing gaze of the steward and the timekeeper . For convenience, a trash chute (Fig . 2), going from every typical floor service area, should be located next to the linen chute. This will force an arrangement where the trash room is close or adjacent to the soiled linen room and both of these are near the service entrance for ease in pickup . Laundry Facilities A laundry is a usual adjunct of most goodsized hotels . Many hotels avail themselves of city laundry service, in which case there is no laundry room at all or only a small laundry which handles towels only . A hotel laundry that does its own uniforms and flatwork (sheets, pillowcases, linens, etc.) requires a good-sized space for washers, dryers, drum ironers, and various pressing machines-each suitable for its own type of flatwork, uniforms and guests' laundry, and men's and women's wearing apparel. If the laundry is done by a laundry service out of the hotel, then items like towels require a comparatively small space for washing and drying, since only washers and fluff dryers are necessary, together with an area for folding and stacking the clean towels. Larger hotels will maintain their own cleaning department for dry cleaning and pressing of woolens and similar garments . Such a cleaning and valet service is usually a part of or close to the laundry area, and it is definitely under the supervision of the laundry manager. It may be that, in the not-too-distant future, experiments with disposable sheets, pillowcases, and uniforms will do away with laundry services in hotels . Presently, the disposable types that have been produced are still not of sufficient strength and durability for hotel use, although the future may produce exactly that . At present some "no iron" linens are in use, thus eliminating some of the large ironers. Housekeeping Department The housekeeping department, having several functions, is the province of the chief housekeeper, who will usually have assistant floor housekeepers . Under the housekeeper's strict control and supervision will be all the maids and porters . These people, after donning their uniforms, will come to the housekeeper for instructions and vary often for supplies to take with them to the various guest-room floors. The porters will deliver to the service areas on the guest-room floors all linen and soap as well as facial tissue, toilet paper, matches, room service menus, and ashtrays . (Most hotels use inexpensive ashtrays that carry the hotel name and that the guests may take along as souvenirs.) The housekeeper's area is also a storage area, for here are kept all the supplies that become a part of housekeeping . Aside from such obvious things as a stock of linen, paper goods, soaps, etc., the housekeeper will carry in her warehouse storage area additional lamps (which are easily broken by guests) and small items of furnishings which are easily removed or destroyed. In the housekeeper's department there will usually be s place for a seamstress to chefs. Freezer, refrigerator, and cold storage

mend those sheets, pillowcases, and drapes that need repair . It might be useful for the architect to know how many rooms a maid can make up during her daily tour of duty . In some areas unions control the number of rooms, and it may be as little as 12 per maid . It rarely goes beyond 15. One porter is usually assigned to each maid . In addition to the regular daytime maid, there will be, in most hotels, a night maid who will make up beds for guests ready to go to sleep. This entails the removal of the bedspreads, straightening of the room, the supplying of additional soap, toilet paper, etc., all for the guests' convenience. One night maid usually can handle twice as many rooms as a day maid handles Food and Bevef ige Service We have now taken care of the bed portion of the "bed and board." Now let us examine the "board" part of a hotel service. The board, of course, refers to the old English trestle table where guests took their meals. In the earliest hostelries, the innkeeper's wife took care of the cooking, maids took care of the serving, and a large board or table sufficed for the guests . Today's food operation is a highly complicated one, and an architect should be familiar with the entire operation. Most hotel kitchens and food preparation areas are planned by experts known as kitchen engineers. It is not the architect's province to plan a kitchen, but it is certainly helpful for the architect to have a good working knowledge of what takes place in the food preparation area and in the kitchens . It will make for better communication between the architect and the kitchen engineer when they are discussing the planning of these spaces . Just one word of caution-each expert will want more space than the plan can possibly allow. They don't really need that much space. The kitchen engineer will conjure up visions of irate chefs stalking off the premises, but experience has indicated that the architect's knowledge of what the requirements are will temper the demands of the kitchen engineer . Let us follow the flow of the raw food from the time it is delivered to the steward until it is finally cooked and ready to be picked up by the waiters or the waitresses. After the comestibles have been weighed in, checked, and signed for, they are sent to either dry storage or liquor storage (a room with a big lock on it) or to one of the various cold holding rooms or boxes. Canned food and other bottled or packaged food which does not need refrigeration will be sent to dry-storage rooms. In this storage space will also be kept the various condiments that the chef will need in the preparation of his food . Vegetables will be sent to an area where they will be stored ready for preparation. A refrigerator box of the proper temperature will be needed, as well as work space, sinks, and cutting boards where vegetables will be prepared for the chefs as needed . The peeling of potatoes, cleaning of carrots, trimming of lettuce, etc,, are done in the vegetable preparation area and not in the kitchen area . Dairy products will go to their own cold-storage boxes. Fish, fowl, and meat will go to a separate area where boxes must be arranged with proper temperatures for their storage. Some of these items will be kept frozen, others in aging boxes, and others in simple cold storage. Fish preparation needs its own space. The hotel, in its purveying department, may buy cut and trimmed meat or portioned meat and fowl . In the latter case, only a storage area is necessary, since no preparation takes place. Where a hotel does its own butchering, it is necessary to know what size cuts the hotel intends to buy (halves, quarters, etc .), and it may be necessary to provide ceiling rails to transport them . Once again, it must be borne in mind that all these In cilities are under tight control . Once the food ties safely reached its destination in the rooms just described, there must be no place for it to go except into the boxes require heavy insulation . Slab sinkages

in these areas should be provided for. If this is not done in advance, then boxes will be set on top of the slab, therefore requiring a ramp from the work area to the box . This is something that is far from desirable in a smoothly functioning kitchen . If the architect is not fed this information before construction starts, it may be necessary to depress the entire slab in this area and then, after the boxes have been placed, use fill to bring the working area up to the level of the boxes. At this point, a word or two should be said about the bakery facilities . The bakery shop should be a separate entity, having its own refrigerator boxes as well as all the pertinent equipment that a baker will use in his art---and an art it is, indeed . The baker will be called upon to bake not only the everyday bread and rolls and the run-of-the-mill cakes and pastries but also unusual designs in birthday rakes, wedding cakes, etc ., and he may often be. asked to carve ice figures for elaborate food displays or buffets . Here again, one should be reminded that the bakery should be close to the actual food service area so that not too many of these goodies find their way into the locker rooms or out of the hotel entirely . We now have everything delivered, prepared, and ready for expert transformation by cooks, chefs, and garde mangers who will be preparing soups, ragouts, roasts, epicurean sauces, and hors d'oeuvres. Let us take a walk through what would be an ideal kitchen, assuming that everything is happening at one level. (See Fig. 3.) The food brought in from the various prep areas consists of fish, meat, fowl, vegetables, and condiments . The food from the prep area is brought to the various points where it is to be used. One of the first areas to which a good part of the prepared food will go is the rough cooking area . Here we find the big soup kettles, the vegetable steamers, the ovens, and the hot tops where most of the bulk foods will be prepared . Since many large pots are used in this area, there is usually a pot washing area close to the rough or preliminary food cooking area . Rough cooking is usually backed up to the finished cooking area . In this finished cooking area, the chefs will be preparing sauces and gravies as well as broiling and trying and applying final flame to various types of meats, fish, and fowl . Between the chefs' ovens, broilers, and fryFig . 2 Trash or amen chats .

ers, which are aligned in a straight line, there will be an aisle for the chefs. On the other side of this aisle will be the serving tables from which the waiters will pick up the finished food . At the bottom of these tables will be plate. warmers which the waiter picks up and sets on the table so the chef can place the order of the specific dish that is required . Also on this table will be bains-marie, which are pans immersed in circulating warn or hot water into which are put already prepared vegetables, gravies and soups, all kept at the proper temperature, so that the chef can ladle the required portion of food onto the dish where he has already placed his steak, broiled fish, fried fond, or other entre . Above this long serving table will be small pots and pans which the chef will take down and use to prepare theSmall portions of whatever food is called for on the waiters order. This food preparation area will have reach-in boxes for cuts of meat and fish which have been prepared and are ready for the final stage of cooking. The chef reaches in and takes out what he needs to prepare the required dish . Off to one side, somewhere in the waiter's line of traffic., will be the garde manger section . Here have been delivered all the prepared vegetables and fruits so that the garde orange( can arrange salads, prepare cold desserts, and work up tire various types of hors d'oeuvre as well as seafood cocktails and other cold items for the start of a meal car salads that accompany the main dish . The garde manger, on special occasions,

will prepare special trays of cold, exotic dishes used for buffets or banquets . He will have his own reach-in boxes for all the types of fruits, vegetables, seafoods, garnishes, etc., that are used . Farther along the waiter's course will be a section, close to tire exit, where such items as bread and rolls, butter, coffee, tea, ice, and other items are stored . Bread and rolls may be in a roll warmer . Here also will be found the coffee urns, toasters, and egg boilers. This entire area is for self-service by the waiters, who will pick up the items they need on their way to the guest waiting for the delivery of his food . Now let us, for a rnmnent, leave the kitchen and go into the dining room . A bus boy has picked up the soiled dishes after a guest has completed his meal . He brings the soiled dishes into that kitchen area which is allocated for dishwashing. In some cases the waiter will pick up his own soiled dishes and deposit them in the dishwashing area . This is a very noisy operation in which sound should be carefully baffled; but because of the need to get the dishes from the dining room to the dishwasher, the dishwasher is usually placed close to the dining room area so that the dishes can be disposed of as soon as the waiter or busboy enters the kitchen . The dishwashing area is, of notes sity, not only noisy but also a rather untidy operation, SO it must be kept fairly isolated from the actual cooking and serving area . The reason for keeping it within the kitchen is obvious since the dishes, as soon its they have been properly cleaned, will be brought back into the kitchen area for the service of freshly prepared food . The waiter, coming into the kitchen, places his orders and follows a definite path along the cooks and chefs' serving tables, the garde manger's serving tables . and the pick-up area . Then, before entering tire. dining room, Ire will usually go by a checker's desk where he presents a check indicating the items that he is taking out of the kitchen to the diner. A checker controls all foods and beverages leaving the kitchen area to make sure that the items are correct and the prices properly indicated. One other space will usually occur in our ideal kitchen--a service bar with a bartender who will prepare tire drinks that the waiter has ordered. Here again, it roust be on the direct path of travel, so that after the prepared drinks have been picked up by the waiter, he will pass the checker, who will check off the drink items as to quantity and price. Before leaving the kitchen, we must look at some other areas that we will usually find in our ideal kitchen. There will be a chef's office, which is set where the chef can observe all the activities in tire kitchen. His office is usually enclosed with glass to give him aural privacy but complete visual control. Here the chef will prepare and plan menus. He will be placing orders for food and will generally be operating a rather complicated and meticulous part of the hotel service. In addition to the chef's office, there may be two other areas (once again, assuming that everything is happening on this one level) . The first of these is the room-service area . Here there must be sufficient space for a fairly large number of roomservice rolling tables, which are set and ready to carry the dishes that have been ordered by the guest via telephone. These tables are usually set up with their linen, glassware, and silver. In the warming compartment below the tablecloth, the room-service waiter will place the hot dishes, and on top of the rolling service table he will place the cold dishes . The room-service area is always close to tire cooking and garde manger area . Much of the room service will consist of breakfasts or sandwiches and salads . Wherever a hot dish is called for, the room-service waiter will pick it up at the chef's cooking area . The roomservice area should, of necessity, be as close to the service elevators as possible . These,

of course, must come (town to the kitchen from the service areas on each of the guest floors . Normally, we will find a room-service operator, who sits at a telephone taking calls from the guests . These calls are especially numerous in the morning, when many guests are calling in for their breakfasts rather than coming down to the dining room . The cooking area, consisting mainly of griddles, will be manned by short-order chefs who are ready to prepare various hot breakfast dishes, and the garde manger section will be manned by a crew who are expert in the preparation of breakfast menus. For the rest of the day, sandwiches and salads coming from the gardo manger will be most in demand. Another part of the kitchen will be devoted to tire banquet area . We are assuming that this hotel is not too large and does not require a separate banquet kitchen but rather a banquet serving area . We will see again that the chefs will prepare the banquet food, managing their schedule so that it does not interfere with lunch or dinner . In the banquet area there will be mobile cabinets that take trays. These are electrified cabinets arranged to keep dishes either hot or cold . Those banquet cabinets can be stocked before a banquet for certain types of manes. In other instances, where steak and roast beef are oil the banquet menu, there must be areas in which the chef can broil the steaks or large ovens where a number of roasts can be prepared at the same time . A large banquet area in a hotel will require a separate banquet kitchen with its own cooking facilities as well as its own dishwashing area . Here the architect must review the food service requirements and, working with the kitchen engineer, determine the location of the banquet cooking and service area . Very often the banquet facilities are not on the same floor as the dining rooms, in which case there would have to be an elevator connecting the main kitchen with the banquet area . Let us have one last look around . To begin with, because of what is taking place lie tire kitchen, the floor should be of some material which can be easily cleaned. In the past, the better kitchens used ceramic tile . There are many new types of floor preparations which can be applied directly over the concrete slab and which lend themselves to easy cleaning as well as offering a firm foothold to prevent slipping on wet spots . The walls, in most kitchens, were usually ceramic tile . Here again, the new plastic materials are by some standards even better than tile, with its cement joints and the possibility of spalling tile . By all means, every effort should be made to hold down the noise level in the kitchen, and this is best accomplished by using a perforated metal ceiling with acoustic botts above or a ceramic-treated acoustical material . Hoods over all cooking areas are a must, and the architect should check with the building code to see that the hoods conform with the standards not only of the code but also of the National Fire Underwriters to prevent the spread of fires which often occur when a dish flames up while cooking. One last observation: it is an excellent idea to have toilets and washrooms for kitchen help, so that it isn't necessary for them to return to their locker rooms, which may be at some distance . It is always advisable to keep the kitchen help within the kitchen during their stint of duty . Doors to dining rooms, and there may be several dining rooms serviced by the one kitchen, should be strategically placed and baffled so that the diners do not hove a view of what goes on in the kitchen, and, what is more important, do not hear what is going on . Most hotels have coffee shops, although the trend in many hotels today is to work out an arrangement in which a coffee shop and a restaurant

are combined . This is especially true of the smaller hotels and of some of the chain hotels . For purposes of discussion, let us consider that the coffee shop is a separate entity . The ideal plan would be to place the coffee shop backed up to the kitchen, so that certain finished dishes and prepared foods can be delivered to the coffee shop work area directly from the main kitchen under complete control an it posses from prep areas to kitchen to coffee shop . In the coffee shop much of the food preparation will be done at the counters . In this area there usually will be found sandwich and salad areas as well as fryers and broilers and griddles . Also in the coffee shop will be the cold area for ice creams, desserts, etc. In the larger coffee shops, most of the cooking may be done in the kitchen and passed through to the counter for pickup by waiters and waitresses . In a coffee shop there will, of course, be counters and stools, but there will also be tables and chairs . At the counter we will usually find a pickup area where the wait . ers can pick up the food prepared for them without disturbing the diners who are sitting at counters . Dirty dishes will be sent back to the dishwashing area through a pass-through, or they will be carried to the dishwashing area in the main kitchen . Coffee shop diners expect quick service and, toward this end, the menus are carefully prepared for easy handling by short-order chefs and sandwich and salad men who work within the coffee shop and not in the main kitchen . Wherever specialty dishes of the day are offered, such as ragouts or soups, they are prepared in the main kitchen and placed in hot bains-moris, ready to be picked up for quick service. There is another phase in the food area which may or may not be considered in a hotel, namely : food service or dining for the hotel help . Larger hotels will provide an employees' cafeteria. This space is usually planned to be close to the help's locker rooms and yet contiguous to the main kitchen. If such a plan can be worked out, the food prepared for the employees' cafeteria comes from the main kitchen, end it is served as It would be in any normal cafeteria. Employees go through a self-service line, picking up hot and cold foods as well as drinks as they go along . They are checked by the checker or cashier and carry their trays to the tables . Attention should also be paid to the fact that the dirty dishes which come out of the employees' cafeteria must be returned to the dishwashing area and here again, if al all possible, a pass-through should be arranged whereby the dirty dishes can be passed directly to the main dishwashing area in the kitchen. While still in the food department, let us look in on the beverage service area . This may be a bar room or a cocktail lounge . In any case, there will be a bar with stools (if local codes permit) and an area for cocktail tables and chairs . A cocktail lounge must be serviced just as the kitchen is serviced . To the bar must be brought not only liquor and bottled goods but also the usual crunchies that one finds in a bar, such as potato chips, peanuts, pretzels, etc. The bartender will also need from the commissary area oranges, lemons, limes, tomato juice, etc. Cocktail lounges will also serve cocktail canapes and, very often, sandwiches . Arrangements must be made in the plan for the delivery of all of these items to the bar without too much possibility of losing something on the way. Ideally, the delivery should be made directly to the back bar through pass-throughs from the kitchen, so that we find once again another unit backed up to the ideal kitchen. This will not always be possible . There is a great deal more to be known about full food and beverage service in a hotel, but a general knowledge on the part of the architect will suffice. He must depend upon the kitchen engineer for advice, plans, and details, just as

he must depend upon his electrical engineer, his mechanical engineer, and structural engineers to feed him the information that he will need to complete his plans for a hotel. It must be borne in mind that most hotels consider food service as a necessary evil . The percent. age of profit on a food operation is always very small. Profit on beverages is much higher, and so beverage service is quite desirable as an adjunct to a food operation. A well-planned food and beverage setup, where control and efficiency are the guiding principles, will increase the rather meager profits on this hotel function . It is in this area that the architect, working with the hotel operator and his staff of experts-which includes chefs, managers, etc., as well as the kitchen engineer-can bring to bear his talents in creating an entity which will function at top efficiency .

Mechanical Spaces
Another area that should be considered in designing the back-of-the-house spaces will be the boiler or mechanical room . In this area will be found the various pieces of equipment for heating and cooling as well as all the tanks and pumps to keep all the mechanical systems in operation. Each mechanical room will be of a size and shape that will satisfy the requirements for all the creature comforts that a modern hotel has to offer. In this area will also be found all central switch gear that controls electric current for every purpose in the hotel complex. This domain belongs to the house engineer and, naturally, there should be provision for an engineer's office, with a mechanical repair shop close by . There are a number of other shops that probably will be located in this area of the hotel. These would include a carpentry shop, an upholstery shop, and definitely an area for a locksmith. Somewhere in the area, where they are easily accessible, will be storage rooms in which will be kept a multitude of spare parts to service the hotel. Some of this storage space will be used for mechanical equipment replacements, and other storage areas will contain spare parts for the furniture, carpet replacements, wallpaper replacements, cleaning materials, and cleaning equipment that will be used by the house porters. There will be another area which, technically, belongs to the back of the house . This area will

the hotel. It must be borne in mind that a hotel, like Janus, wears two faces. The guest or the paying customer sees only the front of the house, and this must be all that he desires-a wish fulfillment, an ego builder, a status symbol, and above all else a pleasant and satisfying place in which he will spend a night, a week, or a month. The back of the house, which has already been discussed, is where all that makes this happen takes place. These are the areas of burnishing, butchering, baking ; of boilers, motors, compressors, and ovens. The guest never sees all this, but these unseen spaces will precisely determine his degree of contentment. These are the areas that will ultimately dictate whether the hotel will run at a profit or a loss . The front of the house comprises every area that the guest will see; lobbies, dining spaces, rest rooms, passenger elevators, corridors, hotel rooms, etc. These spaces must be handled and planned with one thought in mind : the convenience and continued approbation of the guests . Let us now accompany our arriving guest from the time his car or taxi pulls up to the main entrance . As the guest enters the main entrance (and there should be only one main entrance), he should be overcome with a feeling of serenity, welcome, end definitely a complete absence of confusion . The registration desk and the elevators should and must be immediately apparent . The registration area consists of a front desk, behind which is a registration clerk, behind whom is the key and mail rack, and behind that the various administration spaces . At this point let us consider the registration process itself . (See Fig. 4.)

Guest Registration
A hotel registration desk must be located so that it is immediately visible as one enters the hotel lobby. The size of the desk will be determined by the size of the hotel. There is no special rule to be followed except that a hotel of let us say, 2,000 rooms might have anywhere

875
be occupied by personnel that very often come in contact with the guests, and the strategic location of these back-of-the-house facilities will be controlled entirely by what happens in the front of the house. Included in these areas you will find accounting and bookkeeping offices (which back up the front cashiers); reservations offices (which back up to the front registration desk) ; and offices for management, which will include a reception area, a manager's office, and an assistant manager's office . In this part of the hotel complex one would usually find the head of the food and beverage department, who may double as the banquet manager. There will be a mail sorting room, which might well be placed behind the registration desk, since guests' mail is delivered at this point. More will be said about all these spaces when front-of-the-house operation is discussed further. Before leaving this area, we should note the fact that there will probably be a secretarial pool to handle all the spaces that have been enumerated above. We will be referring to all the above spaces as the administrative area .

FRONT OF THE HOUSE

We have now established the activity which controls the plan of a hotel as far as the back of the house is concerned. We will now examine what happens in the so-called "front of the house"-that area which concerns itself with the guest as distinct from that area which concerns itself with the smooth functioning of

from four to six registration clerks, while a hotel of 100 to 200 rooms will have one or at roost two spaces at which guests may register . There are certain requirements for the clerk behind the desk as far as equipment is concerned . The simplest arrangement will call for a suitable file containing advance reservation cards requesting space, so that the clerk can quickly check what room has been reserved for what particular guest. Another mandatory piece of equipment is a slip or card file which, at a glance, indicates which rooms are occupied and which rooms are open . Occupied room spaces will have a card with the name of the guest and probably the date when the guest intends to leave . As soon as the guest checks in, a card is slipped into the space for the room, indicating that the room is now occupied . This, the simplest form of registration, is applicable

to the smaller hotels . Larger hotels have far more sophisticated equipment, much of it electronically controlled, which serves to indicate time of arrival of guests who have made reservations, time of departure of guests who are already checked into the hotel, and systems whereby the registration clerk can also be informed whether the room has been vacated and whether the room has already been made up by the maid on the floor and is ready to receive a new guest . The architect should acquaint himself with the requirements of the front desk and also be aware of certain companies who manufacture the filing systems and the electronic equipment which is used for reservation and guest control . Advance Reservations The hotel industry depends primarily on advance reservations to keep its rooms filled .

The traveling public is aware of this fact, and most travelers will book their reservations in advance. Chain hotels and chain motels have developed complicated and efficient electronic systems for advance reservation bookings which are made from any point within the chain. The systems employed are very much like the systems now being used by airlines for bookings and reservations . Terminal points in the larger hotels have automatic electric equipment which types out the name, date of arrival, anticipated length of stay, and type of accom876 modations requested. Whether the system be the involved electronic system or whether it be a reservation made by telephone or wire, a reservation clerk within a reservation office in the hotel will take care of all these requests for rooms . Since questions do arise at the time when the guest is checking in, the location of

the reservation office must obviously be as close to the front desk as the plan will permit . This will enable a reservation clerk to go back to the reservation department to check on a questionable reservation or to adjust any problems which may arise at the time that the new guests are checking in . Mail and Keys There are two other services that the front or registration desk must perform. The first and obvious one is to serve as the place where the room keys are kept . Some of the larger hotels have room-key clerks whose functions consist only of receiving keys from guests as they leave the hotel and giving the incoming guests, either upon registration or during their stay, the keys to their rooms. If the registration clerk handles the keys . then obviously the key rack is directly behind the desk, easily accessible to the registration clerk. If the hotel is large enough to require a separate area and separate personnel for handling of keys, this function will usually be alongside the actual registration desk . Since it is comparatively simple for someone to ask for a key who is not entitled to it and who may be using that key to enter and rob an absent guest, it behooves the architect to realize that some control is necessary in the handing out of keys to make sure that keys are given only to the registered guests for that particular room . Mail is also handled in most hotels at the registration desk . which dictates that keys and mail slots are designed as one unit and placed directly behind the registration desk . Where a hotel is large enough to require special key clerks, the same clerks will probably handle all incoming mail for the guests . If at all possible, mail sorting and handling should be done in an area where tire guest does not see this operation take place. Ideally it would be behind the mail and key rack . A welldesigned unit will be worked out so that a mail clerk can place the mail into the individual mail slots from behind, rather than working in the front and interfering with the activity of the registration clerk. Cashier The average hotel usually has the cashier's counter located adjacent to the registration desk . There is no hard and fast rule concerning this close interrelationship . The larger hotels may place cashiers in the so-called "front desk" area but somewhat remote from the actual registration desk . There are times in large hotels, especially those catering to conventions, where one convention is checking out while another is checking in . This will make for traffic congestion and some confusion . Such a situation can be avoided by planning the registration and cashier facilities so that lines forming in front of the registration desk do not conflict with lines forming at the cashier's counter. The cashier in the smaller hotels will handle most of the bookkeeping. This is done by means of today's quick and efficient electric bookkeeping machines . Very often the night cashier will handle a good deal of the bookkeeping, relieving the daytime staff of this chore. Larger hotels will have a complete bookkeeping department . This will require more than just the actual cashiers, who remain at their stations, while the bookkeeping department handles all entries and bookkeeping for the guests . It is obvious that this bookkeeping department should be close to if not backed up to tire front desk cashiers, so that any questions of charges can be quickly checked and adjusted by the cashier, who will contact the bookkeeping department for clarification or corrections in the guests' bills. Conveniences will usually be found in the cashier's area for guests who bring valuables with them, whether it be cash, jewelry, or

important papers . Guests are requested by hotel management to leave such valuables in the hotel's safe deposit boxes or vault . It is desirable to have the guest transfer his valuables to a cashier out of sight of the public occupying the main lobby. Therefore, a small closed room is normally provided . The guest enters this room and gives the valuables to the cashier through a pass-through window. This pass-through window should have a view of the vault or the safe so that the guest can watch his valuables being deposited properly . Where safe deposit boxes are furnished by the hotel, the cashier will hand ar key to the guest. The same procedure will be followed when the guest wishes to withdraw his valuables from the safekeeping of the hotel . This convenience is especially useful in large resort or converttion hotels where women guests will be wearing jewelry on special occasions . A closed room makes it possible for the guest to deliver and receive the jewelry without being observed, a precaution that is most necessary in today's theft-prone society . A hotel cashier must also handle the cash from restaurants and coffee shop . The cashiers in these facilities will be bringing their cash receipts to the central cashier. In a small hotel, this can be done directly without any concern about the transfer of the funds from the restaurant and coffee shop to the cashier. In large hotels, where there are a number of restaurants and other facilities which entail cash payment, special arrangements should be made for the handling of this cash and, in some instances, safety deposit boxes or vaults are provided so that the money can be stored when it is brought to the cashier space at off hours and held untilnormal cashier operations begin in the morning, at which time receipts from the night before are taken out and properly credited . This system is very much like a night depository in a bank . More and more hotels are installing pneumatic tube systems for the transfer of guests' checks directly to the cashier. These checks will be coming from various dining rooms and cocktail lounges as well as from the coffee shop and from the room-service area . These checks for food, beverages, etc., which have been signed by the guests, should be transferred as quickly as possible to the cash . ier. This is especially important when a guest is checking out a short time after having signed a check for food or beverages or such items as laundry and valet. Charges for telephone cells will have to be forwarded to the cashier also . Many hotels are using an electric counting device visible to the cashier which indicates the number of calls made by the guest while occupying his room . These indicators function automatically but must be supplemented whenever long-distance cells are made by guests . Such supplemental information is fed to the cashier by the telephone department .

facilities, will also have an office for the convention manager and his assistants . Obviously, es the complexity of thi office and administrative area grows, a more careful and detailed study is, perforce, made to arrange e smoothly functioning suite of administrative offices together with secretarial pools, bookkeepers, teletype machines, a mailroom for incoming mail and for voluminous outgoing mail, etc. The accompanying illustrations show how these areas have been handled in various hotels . It must be borne in mind that this front of the house works closely with the back of the house. Many of the people in the administrative area will deal with guests as well as hotel customers seeking to arrange for luncheons, banquets, and conventions . Accessibility to the public, therefore, is of the utmost importance .

Restaurant Facilities
Every hotel, whether it has 50 rooms or 2,000, must consider the feeding of guests . Small hotels may get by with a pleasant coffee shop restaurant . This type of unit is becoming more popular in the smaller hotel where feeding facilities are kept to a minimum. Such a facility would be the type where quick coffee shop service could be offered a guest, either at a counter or at a table, and where, within the same apace, more leisurely dining could be provided . The difference between the two is achieved primarily through decor end atmosphere rather than any physical or structural arrangement. In such a facility, it is possi. ble to take care of e large breakfast business using the entire facility . There are occasions when a visual separation between coffee shop and restaurant is made movable, so it can be taken away during the breakfast-hour rush . For luncheon, the division is reestablished, making it possible to serve quick meals for those in a hurry in the coffee shop area and more leisurely luncheons in the restaurant portion. In the evening, it is possible to get a more permanent type of separation between coffee shop end restaurant by pushing the coffee shop separator around the counter area, thus allowing for maximum table and seating arrangements in the so-called restaurant area when the coffee shop is doing a minimum business. Under normal situations there will be a cocktail lounge or beverage bar even in the smallest dining facility . The larger hotel will have a pleasant coffee shop for quick service and for simpler meals, whereas a restaurant, with its appropriate decor for more leisurely dining, will offer a more varied menu with probably higher cost per meal than in the coffee shop . The cocktail lounge will usually be found close to the dining room so that hotel guests can pause for a cocktail before lunch or dinner, or while waiting, before going to the dining root", to meet friends or other guests . Where convention facilities are offered within a hotel, it is wise to have a bar placed close to the convention facilities . Conventioneers seem to have a propensity for a cocktail before or after meetings . This impulse-type of beverage buying is boosted tremendously if beverage facilities are placed in the normal path of traffic. Large convention and banquet facilities usually provide a fixed or portable bar arrangement in the preassembly or foyer areas to take care of pauses between meetings and semi . nars and to fill those pauses with a facility that will provide a "pause that refreshes." There is no special requirement for the design of hotel restaurants, bars, cocktail lounges, and coffee shops which are in any way different from the standard requirements for any such facility . Attention is called to the fact that people staying at hotels have a tendency to seek out highly touted specialty restaurants within an area rather than eating their meals in the hotel. This is especially true

Administrative Area
The administration of a hotel operation depends entirely upon its size . A small hotel will most likely have an office for a manager, who may have his secretary working in the same room with him. The door to his office faces the public lobby, and an additional door is provided so that he can go from his office to the front desk . This is the simplest operation and is found only in the smaller hotels . A larger, medium-sized hotel will have a manager and an assistant manager and, as a rule, there will be e reception office where one or two typistreceptionists will be acting as a buffer between the public and the manager. As a hotel project grows larger, the administrative area grows more complex. Aside from the manager and the assistant manager, there may be an office for a food and beverage manager and a banquet manager. A larger hotel, with sizable convention

for evening dining . Toward that end, hotels more and more are turning to specialty res. taurants whose specialty is not only food but also decor, so that they can compete favorably with individual restaurants in the general area of the hotel. The same hotel kitchen can prepare almost any type of special food including Chinese, Polynesian, seafood, or gourmet dishes . The important thing to remember in laying out these spaces is that the decor must be developed to entice the hotel guests to eat in the hotel rather than outside in other specialty restaurants. Continuing in this vein of specialized feeding, some hotels are installing rooftop restaurants where a view of the city or the general area is available and in which fairly limited menus are offered-mostly open-hearth kitchen service which includes steaks, chops, and cuts of roast beef . Such a menu requires e very small kitchen and obviates the need for creating large, expensive facilities on a roof for specialty cooking . Wherever a rooftop restaurant is created, the architect must beer in mind that there will be increased traffic in the elevators taking diners from both in and outside the hotel to this specialized rooftop facility . And don't forget that, because of public assembly requirements, the stairs must be sized larger . Supper clubs or nightclubs will also be found in the larger hotels . When faced with this type of dining and entertainment feature, the plans must include not only a stage of sorts, together with the attendant stage lighting, but also dressing rooms for performers and a room for the orchestra . It is highly desirable to keep such an adjunct es close to the main kitchen as possible . In the planning of large hotels that encompass all the dining facilities already mentioned, it may not be possible to operate out of one central kitchen. In this case there may be several kitchens, preferably on a horizontal core, so that there is the possibility of vertical distribution of food from the preparation areas which would probably be on the lower level.

in the planning of elevators is that of their location on the guest-room floors . It is advisable to place them centrally so that the distance walked by a guest in any direction is reduced to a minimum. It would obviously be wrong to place the elevators at the end of a long corridor. It would be far better to have these elevators placed so that they are about midway between the two ends of the guestroom corridor . The number, size, and speed of the required elevators is best determined by the elevator companies themselves . It would not be wise for the architect to make a determination as to these factors. Elevator companies can givethe answers when facts and figures are given to them, and it is they who will inform the architect what the number and size as well as the speed of the elevators should be . Most elevator companies are computerizing this information and can furnish it to the architect within a matter of hours. The designer should bear in mind that the elevator is part of the hotel atmosphere and, just es it is important to create the proper ambience in the lobbies, it is important to create and to carry out this

Commercial HOTELS
pleasant feeling in the elevators, since they are the transitional points from lobby to guestroom floor . Under no circumstances should guest elevators be used for service . Service elevators are separate and apart . Many hotel designs indicate the service elevators within the same general area as the passenger elevators, but this need not necessarily be so . Each bank of elevators should be strategically located to best service the front of the house (guests) or the back of the house . Before leaving the subject of lobby design, attention is called to the location of the bell captain's station . The bell captain's station should be located so there is a commanding view of the hotel entrance, the registration desk, the cashier, and the elevators . If the hotel is to render the proper kind of service, it is up to the bell captain to see that the arriving or departing guest is properly taken care of . He must see to it that there is a bellman or a bellboy available for the luggage going into the hotel and the luggage going out of the hotel . Incidentally, this is also a form of safeguard to see that guests departing the hotel stop at the cashier and take care of their bills before leaving . The bell captain should have at his disposal e storage space for small parcels which may be left for absent guests and which he will eventually deliver when the guests return to the hotel . Somewhere in the lobby there should be a rather large storage spare for luggage which may be left by guests after checking out but prior to departing . In very active hotels with a high occupancy, there is a mandatory check-out time . Very often the guest is not going to leave the hotel until several hours after the check-out time . Under those circumstances, the guest will leave his luggage with the bell captain after checking out, but he will remain in the hotel until it is time for him to depart via his car or to the railroad terminal or airport .

Lobbies
Every hotel, regardless of its size, must have a public lobby. The size of the lobby is largely determined by the number of guest rooms as well as by the type of hotel that is on the architect's drawing boards . It goes without saying that the larger the hotel, the larger the lobby . The lobby will also have to be larger in a resort or convention hotel. A resort hotel will require a large lobby because guests will congregate there in the evening . A hotel catering to conventions needs a large lobby because here again there is a constant gathering of conventioneers before they go off to lectures, seminars, meetings, luncheons, and dinners. There is no rule of thumb to determine the size of a lobby. One must proceed by making a careful study of similar types of hotels and arrive at decisions after discussions with hotel operators and managers . A hotel lobby sets the mood for a hotel. This apace, more than any other, will create the first and usually the most lasting impression . Furnishings, color, finishing materials, lighting, and decor must create the proper ambience regardless of whether the hotel is large or small, in a city or a resort, moderately priced or expensive. The interior designer plays a most vital part in planning and designing hotel lobbies .

Guest-Floor Corridors
We will now accompany our guest from the elevator to the guest's room . As the elevator doors open, the guest should find himself in an eras which can be designated as an elevator foyer . This may be a large open space or a space slightly wider then the corridor itself . Whatever its size, it should, by its width, denote the fact that it is the elevator foyer. It is wise to remember that no guest-room doors should be placed opposite the elevators . Guests coming or going late at night, coming out or getting into the elevators, may talk loudly or may be too noisy, in which case they would be disturbing guests whose doors open off this area . The foyer should be further demarked from the guest-room corridor by its decor and lighting . It is always a thoughtful touch to have certain appurtenances which indicate consideration for the guest in the total overall planning . One of these appurtenances would be a small bench or some type of seat for guests who may want to wait in the foyer for the elevator or who may be waiting to meet someone else on the floor . It is also a thoughtful

Elevators
Except for one- and two-story motels, every hotel and motel will use elevators to take guests from the point at which they have checked in up to the floor where the guest's room is located . Elevators should be located so that they are immediately visible, either from the entrance of the hotel or from the check-in or registration area . Another consideration

gesture to have a full-length mirror in this area ; men as well as women guests appreciate the chance to have a look at themselves before descending to the main lobby floor . There should obviously be a good-sized ash receiver for cigarettes, cigars, and other trash nuisances that the guest may want to get rid of before getting into the elevator . The guest-floor corridors are transitional spaces between the public space, which has already been discussed, and the guest room, which will be discussed further below . The first problem the architect faces is a question of dimension--width and length . Let us consider the advisable length of a corridor first . Good practice indicates that a corridor should, if at all possible, not be over 100 ft in length . It sometimes occurs that, because of the size of the hotel or its configuration, corridors may be longer . There are a number of hotels where corridors stretch out for over 200 ft . The architect would be well advised to introduce an interruption of some sort in his corridor planning to keep the guest from feeling as if his approach to his room were an endless path . The interruption may be by means of a change in dimension or, if the plan permits, a change in direction . The long look of a corridor may be relieved by means of appropriate lighting and decor . Where a corridor turns at right angles or at any angle, it would be well to arrange for a secondary foyer effect to give the guest a second breath, so to speak, before continuing along the corridor to his room . There is very little choice in the width of a corridor . Normally, 6 ft is considered an adequate width, although some hotels have made do with only 5 ft . This could well suffice if the corridor was a rather short one . Another expedient, which may be used either in a narrow corridor (under 6 ft) or a standard-width corridor, would be the device of recessing the bedroom or guest-room doors . Setting doors back from the corridor wall 1 ft or even as much as 2 ft gives an apparent width to the corridor and, what is more important, it gives each room entrance its own sense of privacy and individuality . It is normal to pair guest-room doors and therefore the recess or door alcove would normally be the width of two doors or a minimum of 6 ft and a depth ranging anywhere from 6 in . to 2 ft . An expedient that always helps acorridorto appear shorter is that of creating a change in the colors of the recesses, which under ideal conditions would be opposite each other on either side of the corridor . If this is possible in the plan, and it usually works out that way, a break in the carpet color or design in this area as well as a change in the color scheme for each entrance-door alcove creates a pleasant feeling of pause or interlude along a long corridor . Lighting will also play an important part in making corridors seem more interesting and less stretched out . Illuminating the alcove areas is always a pleasant device . In the first place, it makes the numbers of the doors immediately visible, and in the second place, it gives the guest a sense of comfort to know that no one could be lurking in the door alcove where deep shadows might hide him . Lighting always creates an ambiance of hospitality, and lights would be best placed in these door alcoves . This is not a hard and fast rule . In many instances, the interior designer or the architect may decide that lighting along the blank wall between the guest-room doors would serve his purpose better . All this, of course, is a matter of individual taste as well as of the wishes of the hotel operator . Another small but important factor is the design of the guest-room door itself . A flush panel door is the least expensive but also the least desirable type of door for a guest room . If only a flush door is used, strong color might be helpful, or the use of natural wood finishes would be pleasant . If at all possible, some form of decor on the door will create a sense of inviting hospitality for the arriving guest . Another thing to be borne in mind is that the guest must be able to recognize his room number, and such a room number might well be an attractive decorative adjunct in this area . Somehotels have used room numbers placed to the side of the door rather than on the door itself . Here again, the ingenuity of the designer comes into play . It is not the intention of this dissertation to discuss color, but wall covering and wall colors in corridors are most important . It must be borne in mind that along these corridors pass endless numbers of pieces of luggage carried by the guest or the bellboy . Luggage may also be transported by means of trolleys . In any case, the lower portion of the well will be subjected to brutal abuse by being

banged with luggage or trolleys . The lower portion of the wall, therefore, might well be designed as a dado made of a bruise- and shock-resistant material or merely marked off with a contrasting color or wall covering . Thus the lower walls in the corridor can be repainted or repapered when they have been sufficiently scuffed while the upper walls may remain as they are . This can result in considerable savings to the hotel operator . Guest Rooms Everything that has been said about hotels thus far may be considered peripheral to the prime product that a hotel has to offer, namely, the guest rooms. This is the final product that is to be sold . In connection with this thought, it is well to remember (although this may not have any influence on the planning or the architecture of a hotel) that, unlike an item on a merchant's shelf, a guest room that is not sold one night means a complete loss . It would be as if a grocer were forced to throw out each day's unsold supply of boxed cereal and to lay in a fresh supply every morning . That is a precise analogy to the situation of the hotel man and his guest rooms . The room that is not sold and the revenue that is lost can never be recovered (Fig . 5) . Now let us have a look at the guest room itself . The first consideration is that of size . The accompanying illustrations of guest rooms in hotels designed by the authors show as wide a variety of dimensions as an architect may encounter . For the moment, let us eliminate the space taken by a bathroom and a closet and consider the actual room itself . The length and width are determined by the amount of furniture that is to go into the room and by the degree of luxury that the hotel operator wishes to achieve . Let us consider the latter first . It is an obvious truism that the luxury of space is an expensive one when considered in the light of construction costs . Space, however, does convey a feeling of luxury and, where an operator is aiming for the high-priced market, it would be well to create rooms that are sized not for the actual furniture requirements but for the sheer luxury of spaciousness . And now to the first premise-namely, what furniture should go in and what size room should accommodate the furnishings . In order to understand furniture requirements, it is important to have a knowledge of the various types of rooms that a hotel or motel offers guests . The most common room in the hotel field today is the twin-bedded room . Then we have the possibility of a single occupancy room, and, lastly, studio rooms or suites . The twin-bedded room, the most common in hotels generally, will vary in length depending on the type of bed that the operator wishes to install . The smallest unit will have a pair of twin beds . The first question that arises in considering twin beds is whether there will be a night table between the beds or whether the two beds will be placed side by side . Rooms containing twin beds, with a night table between them, are preferred by most hotel operators because there are many double occupan881

extra width of a queen-sized bed, and it is possible for families traveling together to have an adult and a child sleep in the same bed. Where king-sized beds are employed (and this will be found most often in motels), two adults may occupy one bed, so that a two-bed room may take a family of four people . In connection with beds, it is wise to remember that the headboard, which seems like an anachronism in home furnishing, is a most important feature in hotels . Guests like to read in bed, and because of the widespread use of hair preparations, the headboard portion of the bed is subjected to heavy wear and soiling. Whether s headboard is provided or whether some other device such as a flat cushion against the wall or any other ingenious arrangement that the interior designer may come up with is used, headboards are definitely a part of hotel equipment. Beds, as a rule, come on glides or coasters in one form or another so that they can be moved when the maid comes in to make up the beds . Movement of beds is most important, so that maids and porters can clean under them . Nothing is more disturbing to a guest than to look under a bed and see an accumulation of carpet fluff and discarded cigarette butts. Nowthat we have discussed beds, we know that we must have at least 7 ft 6 in . from the wall to the front edge of our newer anticipated 7-ft beds . If at all possible, there should be a 3-ft aisle and, if no furniture is placed opposite the bed (a very unlikely arrangement), then the width of the room would be a minimumof 10 fl 6 in . Where furniture will be placed on the wall opposite the bed, such furniture will most likely consist of a dresser or cupboard with drawers . Such a piece of furniture requires a minimum of 18 in . in width and most likely an optimum width of 24 in . It must be remembered that drawers have to be opened, and the guest will need room to stand in front of the dresser to open the drawer without being forced to sit down on the bed while doing so . Therefore, a 3-ft aisle again comes into play . If we consider the 7 ft 6 in . required for the bed, 3 ft for the aisle, and 2 ft for the dresser, we have an optimum room dimension of 12 ft 6 in . between walls. This is a minimum dimension, and if the plan and the budget permit, another 6 in . would be a most welcome spatial device . Let us now consider the length of the room . This dimension will vary depending upon the types of beds used-queen, king, or standard twin-but this is only part of our consideration. It is necessary in each room to provide not only sleeping facilities but also sitting facilities .

Commercial HOTELS
ties that do not necessarily involve married couples. For instance, the occupants might be two women, two men, or one adult and one child, and in these instances it is always desirable to provide separate beds . As an example, two men traveling together would much prefer to have their beds separated than to sleep side by side . Economy in space and length of room can be achieved by placing beds side by side, but although such an arrangement is often used, it is not the best one. The next consideration is the size of the beds themselves . There are single beds which are 3 ft 6 in . wide, a full-sized bed which is 4 ft 6 in ., a queen-sized bed which is 5 ft wide, end a king-sized bed which is 6 ft wide . Presently, all beds are still being made in a 6-ft 6-in . length dimension. Since the average American is growing taller and taller, it would be wise to consider 7-ft beds as a standard, since it will not be long before such beds will be introduced into most hotels . One reason for the queen-sized bed is the comfort of the guests . Many guests would appreciate the

88 2
The most common arrangement found in most hotels consists of two comfortable armchairs with a cocktail table between them . A comfortable chair will require a depth of least 30 in . and another 30 in . of leg space in front of it, which means that we need at least 5 ft from the wall before we encounter the first piece of furniture, which will probably be a bed. The furniture placement will usually call for the chairs to be placed against the window wall . The reason is obvious. A view out of the window is e pleasant experience for someone using the guest room as a sitting room . In connection with the so-called cocktail table, this may give way to a low table which may be used for dining, card playing, or writing . Many so-called "cocktail tables' are, in effect, pedestal standing lamps which combine two pieces of furniture in one: the cocktail table and the standing lamp . Such an expedient is a space saver, since the light is exactly where it is wanted and there is no need for another movable lamp . In talking of lighting, we must bear in mind that we want not only a lamp or a ceiling fixture over the sitting area but also adequate reading lights for the beds . The most often used arrangement is a twin-headed lamp sitting on the night table between the two beds . Far from enough study

has been done in this type of lighting, which would make it possible to give adequate and direct light for one guest who is reading in bed while the other guest can sleep without being disturbed by the light of his roommate . Lights may be placed over the headboards, but this means that two outlets may be required and certainly two luminaires instead of one. Another area that will need good lighting is the area which we will call the writing and makeup area . This is usually some sort of table arrangement where a guest may sit and write or where a female guest can sit down and apply her makeup It has become rather standard to combine the dresser with its drawers with another piece of furniture which is called the dressing-writing table. This type of case goods is most often used, but it is by far the least desirable for a well-appointed room . Another piece of fixed furniture that is desirable is a luggage stand. Many hotels overlook this useful piece of furniture and supply folding luggage stands . These will serve adequately but, since the guest will usually leave his piece of of luggage in the room, it is far more desirable to have a pleasant piece of furniture than a folding luggage rack . Before leaving the furnishing of the standard room, it should be noted that there should be at least one more chair in the room . This could be a straight-backed chair or a stool placed in front of the writing-makeup table. This will provide for three sitting pieces . If at all possible, a fourth chair should be considered. It is far pleasanter to have four people sitting on chairs than to have three people supplied with chairs while the fourth visitor or guest has to sit on one of the beds . Between a pair of twin beds, the ubiquitous nightstand with its small storage space below is standard . A clever interior designer can improvise and create far better furnishing arrangements than the standard nightstands- arrangements which will give the room additional storage space. The cocktail table which has been previously mentioned may well give way to a dining table, which will serve the purpose far better because it can be used for setting down a drink or a book or a package and also for serving a meal (rather than depending upon the room-service trolley) . In connection with the room-service trolley, the designer should bear in mind that if a dining table is not provided, there must be sufficient space in the room to set up a room-service table. This is wheeled in by the waiter, and it must then be possible to arrange at least two and sometimes more chairs around it for the guests who wish to dine in their rooms . The luggage stand has already been mentioned, but at hotels where the guests may be staying for as long as a week or more (this obviously will be the case in resort hotels), the designer should bear in mind that they will come with more than one piece of luggage. Some travelers carry four and six pieces, and where to put them in the standard room becomes a serious problem. Lighting in the room, which has been partial. ly covered, will depend upon the interior designer . The necessary luminaires have already been discussed, but these may be supplemented with additional light to create a pleasanter ambience in the room . The control of these lights must be carefully considered . The simplest type of control will call for a switch at the door which will turn on one or two or even all the lights in the room . Most hotels and their designers give entirely too little thought to the switching arrangement for the control of lights . This leads to confusion on the part of the guest, who has to explore the room and decide which lights are controlled at their source . A great source of annoyance is the arrangement in which all the lights are controlled by one switch at the door and then each luminaire has its own ON and OFF switch . It presents an annoying and puzzling problem to the guest coming

into the room or the guest who wants to turn out the lights when going to sleep. This problem has been solved in many hotels by placing one light switch at the door to turn on one of the lights and then providing a battery of light switches at the bed which control the other lighting in the room . If this is not carefully thought out, a fuming guest will often comment that one has to be a lighting engineer in order to understand how to work the intricate switching arrangement. This is especially true if two-way switches are used, one at the door and one at the bed ; then you may be sure that the guests will become quite thoroughly confused . Such switching arrangements are prevalent in European hotels, but there the problem is overcome by using graphic symbols on each switch to make it possible for the traveler to figure out the intricacies of the light controls . Mere we can give no advice other than to consider the problem carefully as if it were a problem in logistics. Thus far we have been speaking only of guest rooms with normal twin- or single-bed arrangements. Another popular arrangement in hotels is that of the so-called "studio room ." Dual sleep pieces have been developed which are comfortable sofas during the day and perfectly comfortable beds at night. In this context we are not speaking of the folding sofa beds . These should be used only as a last resort in hotel furnishings . They can never achieve the comfort of the standard bed. The dual sleep pieces we are talking about come in various ingenious arrangements, but they are primarily beds which have some back-up arrangement so that they become normal sofas when used for sitting. When they are moved out, rolled to a side, or adjusted in some other way to clear the backrest, they become full-width, fulllength beds . The accompanying illustrations show some of the ways in which these dual sleep pieces may be used . The purpose of a studio arrangement is to enable the guest to use his room as a true sitting room . Many travelers use their rooms during the day to conduct business or to visit with friends. Obviously it is much pleasanter to sit in s room which looks like a living room than to ignore

Commercial HOTELS
the beds, which may or may not have been made up when the guest receives company. Another reason for having these studio rooms is that they may double as sitting rooms for suites by having one room, which is a normal bedroom or guest room, adjoin another room which is furnished as a studio room . Thus the hotel can provide a two-room suite (obviously, connecting doors must be provided between these two accommodations) . Before leaving the question of adjoining rooms, the architect should determine with the hotel operator how many rooms will have adjoining doors. Too often the planner decides that all rooms should have interconnecting doors. These doors are a source of annoyance because, unless the finest type of sound barriers are used on them, these doors become a nuisance in that sound will travel more easily through doors than through walls. This is true in spite of the fact that a good installation will call for one door in each room, so that actually every connecting opening has two doors. Wherever the budget permits, a high-rated door is desirable, and if at all possible, a gasketing device should be employed to cut the sound transference from one room to another. With regard to sound transference, the mechanical plans must indicate that base outlets and telephone outlets may not back up to each other. This is one of the most troublesome ways of transmitting sound from one room to the other. It is economical to back up electrical and telephone outlets, but it is a bad policy in hotels . Outlets should be staggered to avoid sound transmission .

The architect should definitely consider the decibel rating of his wall construction to try and cut sound transmission from one room to another. This usually adds to the cost of the hotel, but it is highly desirable. As one guest once said, he is tired of answering his phone when it is his neighbor's that is ringing ; and as another guest once complained, every time his neighbor flushes the toilet, he runs for the hills. Sound transmission is a nuisance in hotels and it should be carefully considered by the architect. Every hotel should have arrangements for suites of a permanent nature as opposed to a combination of a studio room with a typical guest room . Suites will be furnished like fine sitting rooms. They are used not only by the affluent traveler because he can afford it but also by travelers who do a good deal of entertaining, especially business travelers who entertain clients and customers on their arrival in any given city . If a hotel offers convention facilities, it will require an inordinate number of suites . Conventions will mean that there will be a good deal of entertaining going on, and companies whose representatives are guests in the hotel will want good-sized suites for fairly large cocktail parties and other forms of entertainment. These large suites, incidentally, may double at times as seminar or conference rooms. In this context the hotel may be asked to move most of the furniture out of the suite living room and bring in seminar chairs for meetings . If such will be the case, the planner should provide for a storage room on each floor capable of holding alternate types of furniture to suit the requirements of guests using large suite-sitting rooms. These suites are also often used by two couples or by a large family, in which case the sitting room of the suite may be used for sleeping at night. In this case, dual sleep pieces will be required, but they will usually be the type that is referred to as a "davenport," or the type of sofa which opens out to become a comfortable double bed (never as comfortable as a true bed) . These suites should have a good-sized dining table with a sufficient number of chairs, provision for an adequate desk (since some business may be carried on in that room), a sufficient number of comfortable lounge chairs, and an accessory table. The decor of the room will depend upon the interior designer and the hotel operator, who usually knows what he would like in these suites . It is a good practice to arrange the sitting room of a suite so that it connects with at least two bedrooms and, if at all possible, three and sometimes even four bedrooms . This will require some intricate planning . Suites will usually be found in the corner of a building, which makes it possible for the planner to join up several bedrooms . There are times when suites are not used, and the hotel should be able to rent each of the rooms in the suite separately . This means that each room will have its own separate key. A foyer which connects the bedrooms and the sitting area makes this separate keying of rooms possible . A single door or a pair of doors leading to the foyer of the suite will be on one key, but by opening these doors temporarily (the plans should be devised so that the doors can be swung back and out of the way), the foyer becomes part of the corridors and each room, including the sitting room, would have its own key. This makes for maximum flexibility, so that the sitting room can be rented on an individual basis. A complete bathroom should be planned for each of the sitting rooms of a suite to make it possible to rent the rooms out singly . Even if the room is not rented singly, a bathroom or lavatory facility certainly is needed in each living room or sitting room of a suite. Plumbing connections might well be arranged so that a bar can also be introduced in the sitting room . Since this

room will be used for entertaining (either business or private), a bar with water connection becomes a pleasant adjunct. There is a growing tendency in hotels and motels to create greater flexibility in meeting and seminar rooms that would be available to conventions. These rooms are so designed that they can be used as bedrooms when not required for meetings or other purposes when a convention is in the hotel. Under this concept usually two rooms are divided by a foldaway partition, so that the two rooms can be thrown into one if a larger room is required. On other occasions, the one guest room may be used for very small met tings without being opened up to the adjoining guest room . In view of the fact that these rooms are designated for meetings, whether singly or in pairs, their furnishings are different from those of the standard guest room . At the outset it must be determined that this will probably be used as a single room rather than a double room . The bed itself is placed in the wall . It is the type that swings up and is hidden in the wall . There are a number of manufacturers today who are making these hideaway beds, which are quite satisfactory for hotel use. It is possible, if so desired, to have two hideaway beds, in which case the room becomes a double room . The rest of the furniture is carefully considered so that it can be moved out of the way to open up the room for meetings or, at best, is sized so that it will not interfere with meetings in these rooms . Obviously, these rooms will be placed on the lowest floors so they can be close to the public spaces for the convenience of those who are going to use them for meetings or seminars in connection with a larger convention or meeting taking place in the hotel.

Guest Bathrooms
We are now ready to review the bathroom requirements in a hotel. The minimum bathroom will have a combination tub-shower, a lavatory, and a water closet . Since the traveling public is very conscious of bathroom accommodations, the architect should give a good deal of thought to this feature in the hotel. The accompanying plans of the writer's projects show various arrangements of bathroom accommodations . An innovation devised by the writer's firm was the introduction of two lavatories in the bathroom facilities . These two lavatories may be right in the bathroom itself, they may be pulled out into a dressing area, or one lavatory may be placed in the bathroom and another outside the bathroom . This last arrangement is most desirable, so that if two people occupy a room, regardless of whether it is a husband and wife, two men, or two women traveling together, they have the use of the bathroom facilities without interfering with each other. It immediately becomes obvious that if, for instance, the husband is shaving, the wife can be taking a bath or shower-and other possibilities are immediately self-evident . European hotels invariably have not only the tub, water closet, and lavatory but also a bidet. This is a particularly European custom, and we are finding that in many hotels in America the bidet is being introduced . Obviously, this additional feature is found only in the most luxurious hotels . Taking the water closet as the first of the fixtures in the bathroom, there is one word of caution. A noisy flushing toilet is a disturbing noise element not only to the occupants of the room but also to the occupants of the adjoining rooms. Flushometers are not desirable because they are noisy. There are noiseless flushometers, but they are quite expensive. The average hotel uses a silent tank-type of toilet as the most expedient type of water closet for hotels . A wall-hung unit makes cleaning of hotel bathrooms easier for the maid, but again, its economics will determine whether this fairly expensive type of installation is warranted. The tub in a guest room is

normally a 5-ft tub. A good hotel installation will go for the additional expense and the additional dimension by installing 5-ft 6-in . tuba . The European hotels invariably have at least a 5-ft 6-in . tub, and there are many luxury hotels with 6-ft tubs . The normal shower head becomes standard in all hotels, although there is a growing tendency to using the so-called "telephone shower head ." This is a handoperated shower head which is more common in Europe than it is in America . Manufacturers of bathroom equipment have devised a handheld shower head which operates as well as the normal wall shower head, and by using two movable shower-head supports, one at the normal hand level and one at the higher level where a fixed shower head normally would occur, the guest has the option of allowing the handtype shower head to remain in a standard position or to remove it and use it as he pleases. This type of shower head, incidentally, is also convenient for women guests washing their hair . Recently, most bathroom fixture companies have been turning their attention to some form of fiber glass or plastic tub and shower arrangements that can be delivered either in one piece or in several sections . This eliminates the necessity for the use of tile or other impervious wall material in this area . These onepiece installations are still in the early stages of development, but eventually hotels will be turning to them for economy in construction and for simplicity in installation . The standard one-piece lavatory is fast disappearing from hotels . Instead, a lavatory is becoming a shelf arrangement into which the bowl is sunk . Usually, a marble slab with a cutout to receive the lavatory bowl is used . There are many

whether he is washing or shaving et the lavatory . A well-run hotel should keep an ample supply of bath towels and face towels in each guest room, and sufficient space for these should be allowed together with the necessary hardware arrangements . Hooks are often omitted, but these are necessary for e guest's pajamas or bathrobe . Of course, the ubiquitous bottle opener should not be forgotten. We still have bottles with bottle caps, although in the near future this will probably be an interesting anachronism. Another nicety which might be provided is some form of clothesline. With today's wash-and-wear apparel, many guests, especially women, like to do their washing at night and hang their garments in the bathroom . Since this has become a way of life for the traveler, an architect will be well advised to seek out one of the many tricky self-concealing wash lines on the market today. Finally, the treatment of the walls and floors of a bathroom becomes the province of the interior designer . The use of tile, for one reason or another, is being reduced to a minimum. It will be found around the bath enclosure (where the new one-piece units are not used) and usually on the floors because they are so required by sanitary building codes. There are many new materials on the market, and such old materials as thin-slab marble may be used . Where code permits, some hotels are actually using washable synthetic carpets in bathrooms for floors . The walls are definitely no longer tiled, but some form of scrubbable wall covering material is prevalent in most hotels today. It need hardly be said but it should be noted that good lighting is an essential in a bathroom where men will be shaving and where women will be applying makeup . This, together with ample mirror services, is an indisputable must, A number of hotels are installing a wall-hung

sufficient space to comfortably hold men's and women's clothes, a shelf for packages, hats, etc., and a shoe ledge or rack for placing shoes. A walk-in closet must, of course, have a good source of light. A reach-in closet should also have light outside the closet so that the guest can see what is inside .

Guest-Floor Service Space

Every guest-room floor will have a service area . A service area serves several functions. Primarily, it is a place where linen is stored and where the maids' carts are kept . We must bear in mind that each maid will handle anywhere from 12 to 15 rooms and that each maid will need a cart. The number of rooms on the floor will, therefore, determine the number of maids and, in turn, the number of carts. Aside from the space for the maids' carts, there must be a porter's closet for cleaning supplies, vacuum cleaners, pails, etc . A closed storage area should be provided for the storage of linens . In addition to the maids', porters', and linen supplies, sufficient space should be left for the storage of room-service carts. These carts will be brought to this area by the waiters after the guests have finished their meals. They may have to remain on the floor for some time waiting for the service elevator or elevators. Obviously, the service elevators will open out to this service area, so that all this activity takes place out of the sight and hearing of the hotel guests . Some hotel operators still insist on providing toilet facilities for the help in this area . Most hotels, however, go on the assumption that the maids end porters will, in the absence of the guest, be using the toilet facilities of the guest rooms while they are working in them .

Banqueting Facilities
Most hotels and motels include meeting and banquet facilities . The smaller hotels may provide only a number of meeting rooms which may also be used for luncheons and dinners. Larger hotels will have a more diversified arrangement for meetings, luncheons, dinners, and banquets . The largest hotels are usually designed with a full banqueting and convention facility . The extent of these facilities will be determined by the hotel operator who, in turn, will convey his requirements to the architect. It is wise for the architect to have a thorough knowledge of what the feeding and space requirements for these facilities are. The normal meeting room requirements are rather simple . The rooms will vary in size to accommodate anywhere from 10 to as many as 100 people . In most instances, wherever it is feasible, the meeting rooms will be arranged in a straight line, so that the walls separating one room from the other can be made movable. Movable, separating walls make it possible to achieve a greet flexibility in the size of the rooms to accommodate meetings of various sizes. Thus, if two meeting rooms which normally might seat 25 people are thrown open to one, we would have a meeting room to take 50 people ; and if another wall is opened, we would be able to seat 75 people, and so on . The numbers used are not necessarily those that will be found in hotels, they are merely used for convenience, es an example. In larger rooms, which normally qualify for conventions or large banquets, it is also possible to subdivide the space by the use of movable walls to create smaller rooms when a large room is not required . A large space which might seat 1,000 people when all folding wells have been moved back can be cut up into anywhere from four to six spaces, allowing for meeting rooms that can accommodate 150 to 250 people . In many instances both arrangements will be found in a hotel, so that there are lines of meeting rooms of a smaller nature, all subdivisible, and a really large space that is also subdivisible . Thus far we have spoken of these spaces as meeting rooms . Most of these spaces will also be used to serve meals. These meals may consist

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mirror which is an enlarging mirror on one side and a normal mirror on the other, a very nice touch for both men and women guests . Much has been said about the bathroom, but Americans are a bathroom-conscious people . A hotel designer should realize that pleasing the guest is his prune purpose and that the bathroom can be a great guest pleaser.

Commercial HOTELS
companies manufacturing synthetic marble that make the bowl and the ledge in one piece. This is highly desirable in hotels, but care should be exercised to make sure that the synthetic material can withstand cigarette burns, alcohol stains, and the general abuse that these areas get . Older hotels used to have ice-water connections in the lavatory . This is now a thing of the past because most hotels provide ice makers in corridors as a nice touch for the guests, who can fetch their own ice cubes for cold water or for cold drinks . Another consideration in a bathroom is the so-called "medicine cabinet." Since guests really do not carry medicines any more, it is advisable to eliminate this facility entirely . If a medicine cabinet is used, very often a guest will place shaving materials, lotions, etc., in the cabinet and upon leaving the hotel forget to look in it, therefore leaving behind his or her toiletries . It is preferable to have a ledge on which toiletries may be placed, where they are conveniently reached, and where, obviously, they will not be left when the guest checks out. There are a number of appurtenances that will be placed in the washing area, such as a tumbler holder or toothbrush holder, but here again the tendency is to leave out these pieces of hardware, although a receptacle for toilet tissues is desirable and should be included . If a ledge is used, the toilet tissue holder can be placed within the recess of the ledge, es can be the tumbler holders and the toothbrush holders. Obviously, an electrical convenience outlet must be placed in this area for electric shavers, electric toothbrushes, and other electrical gadgets that today's traveler takes with him. A slot receptacle for used razor blades should not be forgotten. Towel bars must be strategically placed so that the guest can reach for a towel regardless of whether he is stepping out of the tub or

Guest Room Closets

We now come to the final requirement in the guest room, namely, the closet . The size of a closet will be determined by the type of hotel. Obviously, such an accommodation in a motel is of little use . Most motels expect guests to stay only overnight, and therefore they need very little accommodation for hanging clothes. Many motels, in fact, have no closets at all but provide a neat hanging space to make sure that the motel guest who likes to check out early in the morning does not forget any clothes in the closet, which might be closed when he is leaving . Having the open hanging arrangements obviates this possibility . The longer the guest-room stay that is anticipated, then the larger the closet . The larger walk-in closet should certainly be considered where guests will be staying for any length of time . This is especially true in resort hotels, where the guest will be arriving with many pieces of luggage and the closet should be large enough to accommodate the emptied luggage during the guest's stay . It should be possible to store the luggage out of sight in the closet without diminishing the available hanging space, the shoe-rack space, or shelf space for hats and other apparel and paraphernalia . Whether the closet is a flat reach-in type or a walk-in type, the door should be such that, when thecloset is opened, there are no hidden recesses where clothing may be forgotten because it cannot be readily seen by the departing guest. Another thought to be borne in mind is that closet doors can become e nuisance when opened, end their strategic location to avoid banging into open doors is definitely the province of a hotel planner. A good closet will have a hang rod with

of small luncheons or dinners for 10 or 12 people and go on up to accommodate as many as 1,000 people seated at tables for dining . Of course, in the really large convention halls, it will not be unusual to seat 3,000 or more people in one large convention banquet hell . Realizing that food must be brought to all these rooms, their juxtaposition to serving kitchens is highly important in arranging the plan . For the most part, food should be brought directly from banquet kitchens to the banquet spaces . In subdividing these spaces, the subdivision must be so planned that each space is contiguous to the kitchen and has its own doors to enable waiters to come and go between the banquet spaces and the banquet kitchen . In some instances, this is not completely possible, and it is an accepted practice, where smell meeting rooms cannot be placed contiguous to the actual banquet kitchen, to arrange to serve through the same corridors that will be used by people coming and going as diners in these smaller spaces. If the architect, working with his client, the hotel operator, has come to the conclusion that the subdivision of these spaces by means of movable walls is what will be included inthe plans, it behooves the architect to make a careful study of the various types of movable walls available for use in such hotel facilities . There are many manufacturers who make these walls. The architect should be careful in arranging these walls so as not to interfere with the overall concept of opening up clear spaces by moving walls. The acoustical value of the walls must be carefully studied. Nothing is more disturbing than to have two meetings in adjacent rooms where the sound transmission is of such a high level that what happens in one space can be clearly heard in the other. Sound isolation is of the greatest importance, and this applies not only to the decibel rating of the panels themselves but also the arrangement of the joints between the sections or panels of the movable wall . The architect must also be aware of what happens above the panel as it comes up to the ceiling track and what happens to the panel as it glides along the floor. Sound isolation should be carefully studied in all these spaces, which will allow, if not properly controlled, sound to be transmitted. There are practically no walls which can guarantee absolute sound isolation when the sound reaches a high enough decibel rating . In such instances, it has been found expedient to use two sets of walls with an air space between them, which will ensure almost total sound isolation. These movable walls or panels can be operated by hand or by motor. Sweet's catalog carries all the pertinent information from every manufacturer, and an architect is well advised to carefully study not only the operation and construction of these mov-able
wall panels but also the sound isolating devices that the manufacturer specifies . In fairly large meeting, banquet, and convention facilities, space must be provided which is normally called "preconvention assembly space .' Actually, this is a sort of foyer or gathering place for people before they go to the various meeting rooms or where they may congregate before going in to a banquet . Since most of the people who are standing are those who will eventually be seated, the proportions of the preconvention foyer space will be determined by the number of people who will be eventually seated . As a rule of thumb, a person standing in fairly close quarters will take up approximately 5 sq ft . A person seated at a table will take up anywhere from 10 to 15 sq ft . A person seated for a seminar or a meeting will require 8 or 9 sq ft . It thus becomes apparent that the ideal preconvention, prebanquet, or assembly space should be at least onethird of the area of tire actual dining and meeting spaces . This one-third is arrived at empirically by comparing the amount of space required sitting or standing and by allowing for a diversity factor, knowing that not all the people who will eventually be seated will be standing, since some of them will be. latecomers

and will arrive after many of the people have already gone in to be seated for their meetings or their meals . Even tire one-third proportion may not be possible, and it has been found proper to use as little as 25 percent of the spare for this preassembly foyer . It

has been previously noted in this discussion of hotel and motel design that it is good policy to have a bar within this preconvention, premeeting space . Such bars do an excellent business . A fixed bar would be a very nice feature, but in many very large hotels it is normal practice to have movable bars set up . Very often

is available when required, but many guests arriving by car prefer to handle their own luggage . The option should be with the guest rather than with the management of the hotel . In the highway motel the lounge and registration area as well as administration offices may be within the. buildings housing the guest rooms, or they may be completely separate as an entity which is reached from the motel rooms by means of covered or enclosed passages . Housekeeping and maintenance spaces may be placed within the management and registration area, attached to the motel wings, or housed in a separate small building to handle laundry, housekeeping supplies, locker rooms

there may be two or three bars to accommodate large groups of people .

MOTELS
Much of what has already been discussed will apply to motels . The term motel is rather loosely used . There are many so-called motels within cities which are, in fact, multilevel hotels providing more than the average parking found in a hotel . Where such a project occurs, it would normally be called a motor hotel . Parking may be provided in an adjacent garage, in several levels below grade, or in several levels above grade with guests rooms starting on an upper floor above the garage levels . If property values permit, there may be an open parking area or a two- or three-story open parking garage . Whatever arrangement is eventually used, these structures should properly be called motor hotels rather than motels . Aside from the parking, everything that will be found in these motor hotels will be the same. a s what has been discussed under hotels . A true motel is one which is normally found on a main highway, at an important intersection of several highways, or, finally, at a highway which enters a city and therefore is close to the city and yet not a part of it . The obvious reason is that land values within cities are too high to permit the spread that a true motel will require . Motels usually provide open parking and as a rule are only one, two, three, or at most four stories high . Usually most of the rooms will be entered from an open corridor, although this is not a hard and fast rule . There may be a combination of open corridors and closed corridors . The parking, by preference, should be placed as close as possible to theactual room that the guest will be occupying . The great advantage that motels have is the ability of guests to park close to their rooms and to carry their luggage back and forth without the, assistance of a bellboy . Bellboy service

for help, and maintenance shops and storage for taking care of the grounds, the swirruning pool, etc . The restaurant which will be a part of the normal motel complex may be attached to the management and registration area or, again, may be in a separate building or in a building attached to the motel wings rather than to the building housing management and registration . In many motels the food operation is a lease arrangement and is run by chains of food and beverage companies that make a specialty of operating restaurants for individual motels or for motel chains . Quality Court Motels are used in this context as an example . (See Figs . 6 and 7 .) Our office has prepared prototypes for this company for motels ranging in size from 51 rooms, 76 rooms, 103 reoms, on up to 150 rooms . In the case of this particular organization, where the motels are usually individually owned and operated under a franchise, the food operation is a lease operation, but in every respect each of the motels contain the some basic element : namely, the registration and administrative building and a restaurant varying in size depending upon the size of the motel . A standard feature of every motel is an adequate swimming pool and pool deck (an amenity which is invariably found in all highway motels), ample parking to take care of all the guest rooms, and sufficient parking for restaurant guests who may not be staying at the motel . Motel guest rooms differ somewhat from hotel rooms . Motels cater to two distinct clienteles . One type is the traveling businessman using a car for transportation . He usually travels alone . All he wants is a small room for his overnight stay . The other guest accommodation is for a traveling family . Here a large room is wanted . It will have two king-size beds

to accommodate the parents and two children . A careful study of the location will yield the clue that will determine the mix of small and large rooms. Drawer space is not a necessity ; several shelves and luggage stands are of prime importance . Closets may be and usually are omitted . Most motels are designed for single overnight stays . The use of an additional

lavatory is suggested . This amenity permits a family to complete its toilet rapidly for the usual early morning start . (See Figs . 8 and 9 .) A space should be provided for vending machines that dispense hot and cold drinks, candy, snacks, and magazines . An ice maker is a must, as well as insulated ice buckets

each room . Self-service of traveler comforts and needs by means of vending machines is an extra boon for the road-weary traveler who is anxious to get his night's rest .

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