Operating This 40-Room Inn Calls for Long Hours - But...

Mr. and Mrs. Walter G. Harmison, Owners and Operators of Park View Inn, Berkeley Springs, W. Va., Have Found That Their Efforts Have Paid Them Handsomely - Both in Friendships and in Worldly Goods.

THIS is a Horatio Alger type story of the local boy, who after leaving the home town, comes back, marries his boyhood sweetheart, then thru hard work and perseverance rises to fame and fortune. For they are the roles that Mr. and Mrs. Walter Harmison fit perfectly.

Their story of almost 30 years of united labor that has brought them material and spiritual benefits to an exceptional degree, makes them shining examples for the young people of today who may be just entering the hotel business.

Many will say that what the Harmisons have done was because conditions were different in those days; you can't do that now because of this or that-but here and there will be the exception, they will see their opportunity and then work like the dickens to make sure that they have taken full advantage of conditions as they find them.

  
Little did the Harmisons think 29 years ago, when he was a manager and she helped out in the dining room and kitchen of the old Dunn Hotel in Berkeley Springs, W. Va., that the day would come when they would be
complete owners of the town's best hotel and that along with the hotel they would also have a delightful home centering a 10-acre estate, also a 160-acre farm in a neighboring county, and in a position where they owed nobody and paid their bills every week.

That is what the hotel and restaurant business has handed the Harmisons. "Handed," did we say? The word is wrong, for every dollar they have made in these years has been worked for. If there is any young couple looking for a short easy way to wealth and security let them stop reading right here, because, like Churchill's "blood and tears," the Harmison's formula for success seems to be, "work hard and long."

  
The Harmisons have been in the hotel business all their lives-their early experiences serving them well. In 1929, when they leased a large home opposite the State Bath Park, they converted the house into a hotel and dining room, and operated it on a year-to-year basis for three years, when the church which owned it took it over for a rectory. Across the street and adjacent to the State Park was a large vacant tract of land upon which a 500-room resort hotel once stood-it burnt in 1898. When informed that their lease would likely be cancelled, the Harmisons bought the old hotel site and made plans to build the central portion of their present Inn. They had some money-not near enough, many said-lots of courage, the reputation of being good hosts, and, above all, an unblemished record of paying their bills. The banks were non-committal about a loan, and it looked as though the new Inn would die a-borning. Then the merchants and supply men of the town said: "Go ahead, just give us your note"; a guest heard about their predicament and arranged for a loan, and soon the first section of the Inn took form.

It was a gala day, May 15, 1933, when they opened the new Park View inn. At long last they felt that Berkeley Springs had hotel accommodations to match the scenic beauty and health-giving qualities of the springs and baths that had made the town famous since George Washington's time.

  

A word about the State Park and the springs which gave the town its first name, "Bath." Immediately in back of the Park View Inn is Warm Spring Mountain. At its base, about 200 feet from the Inn, there are several springs which have a combined flow of 2,000 gallons of water per minute, coming from sandy openings, at a constant year around temperature of 74.3°. The medicinal qualities of these waters have drawn people from far and near since early Colonial days.

The first unit of the Park View Inn, 34x60 ft., four stories high, contained 16 rooms, eight with bath-much too small to accommodate those who would come for the baths, and the tourists and vacationists. On the fourth floor there were two large rooms with bath for employees. In 1937, two wings were added, each measuring 34x80 ft, two stories high, raising the number of
guest rooms to 40, of which 25 have baths. Wall construction is such as to permit addition of another floor when building conditions are favorable. The new wings also made possible the doubling of space for the dining room, lounges and lobby.

  
In 1936 there were no material or labor shortages to hamper construction of the new addition. Could it be paid for? -was the big problem the Harmisons had to face. There are hundreds of small hotel operators who today feel the need for increased accommodations. With the many obstacles now in the way of building, very few enlarging programs will go ahead until the restrictions are removed. Then it will be important to know what can be expected of the new plant.

Fortunately the Harmisons are figure-minded, and all thru the years they have kept accurate and complete records of their business. We asked them for comparative figures over a 10-year period on four major accounts: Receipts, Payroll, Food Disbursements and Taxes. They furnished them to us on an index basis- 1936, the base year, being figured as 1.00. On another page is a chart showing how gross income took a 47% jump in 1937, then climbed steadily until in 1946 it appears the gross receipts will be in excess of four and onehalf times as great as they were in 1936. While receipts were climbing, so also were the costs of doing business, especially payroll, which is now five and one-half times larger than it was in 1936.

  

Taxes also show a tremendous upward trend, 1945 figure being 6.75, with 1946 probably going over 7.00. To the Harmisons, the struggle to have something left over, when all the bills were paid, seemed to increase in greater proportion than the business. But whatever it took to pay off the construction and furnishing bills, they had, because by 1940 they were clear of debt and on their way.

This was the time when they thought they could sit back and relax a bit. Two nephews were being trained in all phases of hotel work-soon they could carry more responsibility. Then the war-the Army took one, the Navy the other. The Harmisons were right back where they started-all the work of running and managing their house squarely in their laps.

"Guess we were just born to work," said Mr. Harmison, so the Missus kept on with the front office and upstairs work, and he carried on in the kitchen and food department.

  
Early in 1946, one nephew, Wm. L. Harmison, returned from the Army, and resumed his hotel work. While in service, knowing that if and when he returned he would be in the hotel business, he applied for cooks' and bakers' school, and became a cook. Now that he is back he has an excellent background and the opportunity to really master the many intricacies of the preparation and sale of foods.

As we followed Mr. Harmison thru a part of his day's work (we just couldn't get up at 4 a. m. to start with him), we could see what he meant when he said, "It takes a heap of working to keep everything going." He does his own meat cutting, dresses fresh poultry, starts fires in the morning, bakes cakes and pastries, gets roasts started, then does the carving at meal time. With the
first sitting served, on goes a clean jacket and he helps clear the dining room tables of soiled dishes. Meal time over, into his Jeep, and away he goes over a mountain or two to pick up fresh vegetables, fruit or poultry. The Park View Inn does a big transient food business in addition to feeding their American Plan guests. Keeping the larder filled would be a full-time job for many people, but as Mr Harmison puts it, "When you grow up with a job it never seems to get too big."

  

Mr. Harmison has three low-temperature storage boxes, total capacity 70 cubic feet, that are kept flled with frozen foods of all kinds. This reserve stock has been a life-saver on many occasions as he is some distance away from the major markets.

The kitchen is spacious and has windows on two sides. There are two ranges, one using bottled gas, the other coal. When equipment is available, they plan to re-equip with the latest type. Said Mr. Harmison, "Every workman is entitled to good tools-when it is available, we will get the best." We noticed that practically all of the refrigerator compressors were Frigidaire. All cooking is done by women under supervision of Mr. Harmison, who, quite often, steps in to help with the heavy roasts. Whenever they are available, sirloin steaks are featured on the Saturday night dinner. Because of unfavorable price conditions, service on this night is limited to guests of the Inn. They take pride in this featured steak dinner, so Mr. Harmison dons his chef's cap and apron and personally attends to the broiling of each steak.

* * *

  

Park View Inn is operated on the American Plan - principally because the Harmisons feel that their guests want it that way, and as everything they own has come from their guests, they continue to give them what they want. With the extraordinary success that has crowned their efforts, who can say that they are wrong?

Dining room service is by waitresses who are unusually adept at their work. Girls are started in the kitchen as salad girls or helpers, then advanced to waitresses. In breaking in a new girl, only one guest is assigned to her at a time. When she completes service to the first guest, she is given another. As she grows more efficient, she takes on more work until she is on an equal footing with the other workers. The dining room seats 80; there is no crowding. Maple tables and chairs carry out the Colonial atmosphere. Paper doilies are used-no table cloths. Grouped around the fireplace, that centers the dining room, are a number of old cooking utensils, some of them a hundred or more years old.

There is an abundance of lounge and lobby space - all attractively furnished, with many antique pieces scattered around accentuating the Colonial atmosphere. The H. M. Rack and Card system is used for registration and to start the guest's account. Miss Mildred Daniel, Mrs. Harmison's front office assistant, acts as clerk, and does much of the accounting work. Accounts are kept in a thoro, but simple manner that enables the Harmisons to know how they stand from month to month, and to make comparisons with past years.

The Park View Inn (brick and hollow tile construction) shows no sign of war-time neglect. Inside and out, all painted surfaces glisten, and have that fresh appearance that well cared for surfaces always have. They have been able to carry thru their yearly program, which calls for painting the exterior one year, all the interior the next. Long awaited stair carpet replacements were being made during our stay at the Inn.

There are 40 bedrooms in the Inn, 25 of which have private bath. The others, semi-private, or convenient to baths. Bedroom furniture is maple, and small rugs are used instead of wall-to-wall carpeting. All windows are curtained with dainty, white ruffled curtains, kept immaculate by a regular schedule of launderings that never lets them really get soiled. Laundry is sent to
Hagerstown, 35 miles away, and service is rendered twice a week. This necessitates a rather large inventory, but it has always been the Harmison's policy to have plenty of supplies, a practice that is now paying dividends when
linens are hard to get.

The Inn is heated by a two-pipe vapor steam system, the boiler equipped with a Winkler stoker installed last fall. When the new boiler was put into service there was some trouble in heating certain parts of the house. A check on the distribution system disclosed main line and radiator traps in a terrible condition, bellows corroded, filled with dirt, leaks, etc. When all the faulty traps were replaced their troubles vanished. Dining room, kitchen and housekeeping help is obtained locally, and Mr. Harmison generally winds up his long day by driving many of them home in his Jeep.

It takes many pairs of hands to keep the Park View Inn in condition to entertain guests properly. It was our observation that the busiest hands of all were those of Mr. and Mrs. Harmison. The Inn is theirs, they reared it from nothing, have seen it grow up, and now happily and unstintingly give their time and energy to the end that all who come can honestly feel that there they will find an ideal, "Home away from home."

Reprinted from The Hotel Monthly: January, 1947.

 

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