Life, 1920-11-04 · page 49 of 60
Life — November 4, 1920 — page 49: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not satire or political commentary**—it's a straightforward hotel advertisement from Life magazine (page 837). The small cartoon showing a bellhop appears purely decorative. The ad promotes the Hotel Pennsylvania (across from Pennsylvania Terminal in New York) through a personal message, likely from the hotel's manager or owner. The pitch reframes the customer relationship: you're not merely a "guest" but essentially a "host" using the hotel as your temporary home. Employees should serve *your* wishes, not just management directives. The appeal targets affluent travelers of the era seeking luxury accommodations with modern conveniences (2,200 rooms and baths—then the world's largest hotel). The mention of associated Statler Hotels in other cities highlights a hotel chain offering coordinated reservations. This represents early 20th-century hospitality marketing emphasizing personalized service and comfort as competitive advantages.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE HOTEL PENNSYLVANIA Opposite Pennsylvania Qermii nal A New ork You Are Not Merely Our “Guest’ I've often felt that the word “guest” failed to express the real way we look at you who visit us at Hotel Pennsylvania. When you visit a friend you feel under obligation to accept what ever hospitality he'can offer, however humble it may be. You know you are his“guest”; you would never violate the spirit of hospitality by a critical attitude. - You are under no such obligation here. your home. Hotel Pennsylvania is Yourare more than a guest. You are in a sense a host, The hotel’s conveniences are your conveniences, its servants your servants, its hospitality your hospitality which you offer to your friends at luncheon, dinner, dance, afternoon musicale, or whatever else may be the place or occasion. Asin your home you want the numan element to contribute to your guests’ comforts, so in Hotel Pennsylvania we try to make em ployees feel that it is you whom they serve—not the management. We want them to meet your wishes. If in any instance they fail to do this, as of course they some- times do, being human, you will do us a service by taking up the matter with me personally. It’s just that sort of co-operation which has helped me do the things that cause experienced travelers to say the Pennsylvania is as near“like home” as a hotel can be, considering theinfinite variety of personal tastes in its big and ever-changing family. Eto, Herel Pennsylvania, with its 2200 rooms, 2200 baths is the largest hotel. in the world — built and fot ting travelers who want the best there is ‘Assodated with it are the four Hotes Statler in Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit and St. Louis; and each of these five hotels makes reservations for all the others. All have private baths, cir- culating iewater and other unusual conveniences in every room. An entire block of ground in Buffalo has just been purchased, for a new Hotel Statler. comicbooks.com