THE COACH AND CARAVANSERAI.
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The Close Relationship Between Hotel Keepers and Coach Owners.
THERE IS a close relationship between the coach owner and the hotel keeper, and in several parts of the country the dual robe is filled by soine concerns. In some cases the hotel keeper considers it a Wise plan to have at hand either a number of light cars or small coaches for the convenience of visiting guests, and at places which are by cornman consent considered " beauty spots" the hotel equipment would be regarded as incomplete were not some arrangement made for placing road transport vehicles at the behest of visitors. There is nothing like travelling, especially road travelling, for putting an edge on the appetite, and there is nothing like residence at such hotels as are to be found set in the midst of the lovely scenery of North Wales or the Lake District, for stimulating an enthusiasm for sight-seeing eXcursioni,sts. Even on the one-day tour the ordinary coach owner is compelled to pay some regard for the natural wants. of his passengers and nowadays he generally has the good sense to make his skipping-places for the lunch and tea intervals at places where adequate facilities exist for the serving of meals.
On extended tours the -coach owner maps out his programme well in advance, and has a string of hotels throughout the country which might he Made pointS of call. On the eve of the departure of his vehicle from the home town he sends a preliminary letter to the managers of all the hotels where he proposes to unload the passengers for the night, asking for accommodation, and confirms the request by telegram on the day before the arrival of the coach, In the arrangement of .these longdistance tours, much work is involved, and the uncertainty of being able to obtain accommodation for " one-nighters " snakes it inevitable far the coach proprietor to have a good strong list of firstclass hotels in order to be assured of eventually being able to meet the needs of his booked party. Many owners make a point of personally visiting every hotel on their,-list before despatching a party. Sufficient has been said to show the close working relationship •between the coach owner and the hotel keeper. The existence of betels under the direct control of the motor owner is the inevitable result, Two well-known South-west Lancashire and Cheshire firms have interests in this direction, involving the management and control of five hotels—four hi North Wales and one in the Lake District. Tourist Hotels, Ltd., who work in conjunction with the Lancashire United Tramways, Ltd., of Atherton and Manchester, and with Avery and Roberts, Ltd., at Liverpool, have premises at Llangollen, Beddgelert and Llanfair fechan. At the • last two places small coached are available, and these are used mainly by passengers who book for the week-end or four day tours. -Llangollen is visitej daily by the coaches of the associated companies journeying from Manchester and Liverpool, and meals are served in a, fine, spacious dining hall,•adjeining the hotel, which is capable of accommodating several hundreds of people. A few hundred feet away on the same road is Messrs. C, F. Rymer's hotel,. "The Woodlands," which is a popular rendezvous for the day tripper and a jumping-off place for the mountains. Both the hotels are located in fine, spacious grounds_ At `` The Woodlands" Messrs. Rymer make provision for holiday caniperS, and provide facilities for the journey to and from Liverpool and, ViTallesey •by coach, boarding from the hotel, and for the loaning of bell tents. By means of the institution of a Motor Coach Club passengers are enabled to pay weekly sums for holidays or day tours in season on a prepaid instalment System. • The Lancashire United Tramways, Ltd., and Messrs. Rymer quote to the public on the basis of (I) journey only, and (2) journey and meals (and,when necessary, board).. Almost invariably these journeys are undertaken by small coaches. Messrs. Rymer use Vulcan coaches on pneumatic tyres, and the Lancashire United Tramways, Ltd., Fiats on Macintosh-N.A.P. cushion tyres, which have proved exceedingly serviceable. Mr. C. F. Rymer, in an interview with a representative of. Phe Commercial Motor, hinted at the introduction el a novel feature in connection with their long-distance tours to the North this summer. The new plan deSigned to render jt. -possible ior tourists to book day excursions by coach and rail to Grasmere, leaving Liverpool in the morning, to arrive at Grasmere in time for lunch at " The Woodlands." 'A long afternoon will be at the disposal of passengers, who can depend upon being brought back to Liverpool by a reasonable hour at night. The total journey is about 300 miles.
Hotel Buses on the Continent.
MANY AND VARIED are the hotel buses in use on the Continent. No first-class hotel in any resort frequented by tourists would consider its establishment properly equipped if it had not a highly decorated vehicle by which it could advertise to the world at large that guests were being conveyed to the hotel. Even if the distance to be traversed is only 100 yards the hotel must have its bus. At Aix-les.Bains,, where a number of the best hotels stand several hundred feet above the lower level of the town, every important hotel has not one but two motorbuses, one being invariably stationed in the town itself near the baths. Llere also there is a system of supplying season tickets to visitors, who, for a matter of about 25 francs per week, can be conveyed from the hotel to arty part of the town or vice versa, as many times as they like' during the seven days. All these buses are nritor driven and mostly of fairly high power. In Switzerland one -sees extraordinary contrasts, hotel buses varying from a kind of enclosed governess cart drawn by one horse to _electric or motor driven vehicles of the latest type, mostly of German manufacture.
The hotel buses of Lucerne, for instance, are almost wholly electric, although one hotel has a large American car fitted up as .a passenger vehicle, and acme use petrol motor vehicles.
At Interlaken, on the other hand, 90 per cent, of the vehicles are horsed, with one or two electric and petrol types. Here, however, hotel proprietors are going in for Garman electric motorbuses, and practically all will be so equipped next year. There are no steep hills in Interlaken and speeds are very restricted, as in all parts ot Switzerland, consequently the small powered electric vehicle merits the requirements. At the same time, the cost of recharging is 80 cents (7d.) per night, each vehicle being charged in the night and used during the day.
Heavy Coach Traffic at Worcester.
During the past fortnight, daily coach • craffic through the city of Worcester has been almost as heavy as during summer
holiday periods. The week-ends have been almosE like holiday time, for the amount of motor traffic passing through or coming into the city. There are well over a hundred buses leave the city daily. This, together with all the incoming traffic, makes a busy town of Worcester.