(2 of 3)
That is also the approach being taken by the Hunt family of Texas, whose elegant 145-room mansion on Turtle Creek will open in Dallas next February; its restaurant will be managed by veterans of Manhattan's famed "21" Club. In Los Angeles the 117-suite L'Ermitage, completed in 1976 at a cost of $12 million, is drawing trade away from the Beverly Hilton and other giants, with amenities that include a Jacuzzi whirlpool filled with mineral water and free transportation around town by Rolls-Royce.
Even the large hotel chains are checking into the small-hotel business. Hyatt Hotels' 225-room Park Hyatt will open on Chicago's "Magnificent Mile" next fall, replete with a tea salon and, in place of the conventional convention hall, a velvet-paneled library. Marriott has franchised the 228-room Galvez in Galveston, Texas, a once splendid Spanish-style hotel that was bought in 1978 by Houston Heart Surgeon Denton Cooley and a partner for $1.75 million. After a $10 million restoration, the Galvez is poised to reclaim its title as "Queen of the Gulf."
The cosseting, cuisine and decor at these hotels do not come at Holiday Inn prices. A single room or the most modest double starts around $70 to $100 a night, depending on the hotel; suites can go as high as $400 or, in the case of L'Ermitage, $675. But the premium hotels' rates, which seemed Himalayan before inflation began to loop up in the past few years, are no longer out of line with what the better chains charge: an average of about $75 a night for a single at the Hiltons in New York City and Los Angeles.
When it comes to service and style, the mass (as opposed to class) hotels barely provide what Ralph Waldo Emerson thought was the minimum for a worthy inn: ". . . a little fire, a little food, and an immense quiet." Many of the small hotels, on the other hand, feature decors that may include a Velasquez in the lobby (San Diego's Westgate) or enough brass to occupy a full-time polisher (Washington's Fairfax), plus fine restaurants, valets who will return a pressed suit in 30 minutes and arrangements with local tradesmen to provide books and other items at any hour. The Pontchartrain will shop for a guest who has forgotten to pack the essential black tie. The Westgate can provide a stenographer for dictation at midnight. The Carlyle will soon offer worldwide direct-dial phones for international hommes des affaires.