1907
The Caterer Hotel-keepers' Gazette, 15 February
It appears that the costly furs of the Princess Louise of Belgium (the divorced wife of Prince Philip of Saxe-Coburg) are to be sold by public auction in payment of a debt. Last April, the Princess arrived at a Riviera hotel, where she remained until the end of May, the bill amounting to the large sum of £11,965 6s. 11d. The Princess, who could not settle, left behind as security her magnificent furs. Tired of waiting for the amount, the Wagon-Lits Company, which owns the hotel, has announced that, the legal delay having expired, the furs are to be sold.
1925
The Caterer and Hotel-keepers' Gazette, 15 June
"I have run and owned a club and hotel for some years," writes Mr F Ames in The Morning Post. "The problem of English labour in regard to still-room work and waiting is so acute I shall have to close my hotel unless foreign service is available. "From patriotic motives, I vowed I would employ none but Englishmen. "For hall porters and cleaners they are available, and work. "The waiters are useless, they are too proud to learn their work, reject all discipline, and a dog with a knife and fork would do better at carving. "I have come across a gang of Communists who fly the red flag when off duty. They are very polite, very Irish, but come in to spout and disorganise every other member of the staff, and do no work. "My best men are men (I employ 16) who have honestly sought for work and who have been unfortunate. My head waiter, who is half Italian, has been with me two years, and cannot cope with the 'Bolshie spirit'."
1997
Caterer & Hotelkeeper, 2 January
Hospitality staff and their employers strongly support a statutory minimum wage, a survey by research organisation Marketpower and Caterer & Hotelkeeper shows. But the study, conducted among hundreds of employers and staff across the spectrum of the industry, reveals a huge gap over what the level of a minimum wage should be. Some 84% of staff said they thought a minimum wage should be introduced, and 65% of their bosses agreed. But while the average figure proposed by staff was £4.29, that backed by employers was £3.60.
Reader's Letter 1960
The Caterer and Hotel Keeper, 6 August
To your list of hotel managers who have expressed their disgust at the living conditions they endure in many appointments, you may care to add one whose problem is finding a position with employers prepared to accept "encumbrances". I have been trying to overcome this obstacle for a long time by two methods of approach. The first is to state in my letter of application that I have two small children. This will ensure that at least 75 per cent of my letters will not even get a reply. The second is to keep the existence of my children to myself. After all, I am an experienced hotelier and it is I who seek the post - not the children. If this is true, I will get an interview which will appear to be favourable to both parties. Having "sold" myself, I mention that I have a family. Close observation of my interviewer's face will at once show an involuntary twitch at the corners of the mouth. He will at once thank me for coming and mutter something about "other applicants to see, etc". Knowing of no other business which demands so much of a person's time and privacy, it is alarming to find that he must now be a celibate as well.
Daddy (name and address supplied)