Elevator Transportation Has Its Ups and Downs

Someone once asked the legendary writer James Thurber why so many writers seemed to stay at the Algonquin Hotel in New York.

“They didn’t come here as writers,” he deadpanned. “They became writers while waiting for the elevator.”

Few things anger travelers more than having to wait--and wait--for an airplane, a taxi and, yes, even for an elevator. The hotel elevator is one of those things travelers ignore . . . unless it’s slow.

Some of the worst cases are at large convention hotels, where elevators apparently were designed and built for the number of rooms but not for the number of people in the hotel.

Other bad elevators can be found at older hotels that have been expanded without the addition of much-needed elevators.

Some hotel elevators are bad because hotel owners have simply waited too long to upgrade and renovate the systems.

One for the Owner

In one instance, guests at the Aladdin Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas were inconvenienced because the casino owner decided that one of the elevators was to be off-limits to guests and would only be used occasionally--to take the owner to his suite.

Many times, waits are caused when elevators are taken out of passenger service and used for other hotel departments: the bell staff (to move luggage), catering (to move meals) and, in many hotels, certain elevators are blocked off in the mornings and used by room service to deliver breakfast.

At the new 1,241-room Hyatt Regency Waikoloa on the Big Island of Hawaii, the hotel is part of the massive 31,000-acre Waikoloa Beach Resort. Guests stay in any one of three towers. No one has to wait more than 30 seconds for one of the high-tech elevators to arrive. The elevators then speed the guests to the ground floor of their tower.

But then you have to be patient. To get from each tower to the main lobby, you can choose between a 15-minute walk or a 5-minute wait for a 10-minute ride in a motorized tram. Yet in most cases, guests don’t want a lengthy sightseeing tour.

At one hotel, the laws of gravity are severely tested, to the dismay of many guests. The elevators at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in New Orleans often disprove the theory that what goes up must come down. The glass elevators are still such a novelty that excited children delight in pushing all the buttons so they can prolong their ride--and your wait.

Yet when it comes to most hotel elevators in Asia, no one seems to wait.

At the Regent in Hong Kong, the six high-speed Hitachi elevators are constantly moving. And the hotel has added a thoughtful touch. When a guest pushes the button to summon an elevator, a light switch and tone announce the arrival of the specific elevator 15 seconds in advance. This is particularly helpful for any guest carrying his or her own bags.

It’s hard to find a bad hotel elevator in Japan. The Ginza Seiyo Hotel in Tokyo has about the best elevators I’ve ever seen or ridden.

Sometimes a hotel will recognize its elevator shortcomings, only to discover serious maintenance problems after installing an expensive, sophisticated computerized system.

A case in point: the Peace Hotel in Shanghai, China, once had ancient, manually operated elevators. They were slow, and often broke down. But the staff fixed them quickly, sometimes with spare parts which they machine-tooled themselves.

Then, a few years ago, the hotel decided to begin an ambitious renovation program. An expensive Japanese elevator system was installed, but never properly calibrated. Some of the new elevators were even slower than the old, and frequently broke down. Even worse, try getting an elevator repairman knowledegable about the system on short notice in Shanghai.

The Drake Hotel in New York is known for good service, friendly staff . . . and notoriously slow elevators. “There is no denying it,” said General Manager Jacques Hamburger. “They are slow. Too slow.”

When the hotel is crowded, or in the mornings when many guests are either checking out or hurrying off to business meetings, the wait for the 60-year-old Drake elevators can be horrendous.

But the hotel is doing something about it. “A hotel prides itself on service,” said Hamburger, “and the hotel elevator is just as much a part of that service as anything else. You might be staying in the best room in town, but if you have to wait 7 to 10 minutes to get there, the room suddenly diminishes in quality.”

Faster and More

Engineers and special elevator designers will soon rip out all of the Drake’s old elevators. They will be refurbished with new shafts and cabs, two elevators will be added and the system will get faster. Now they move at 300 feet per minute. When the $4.2-million job is finished, all the elevators will travel at nearly 500 feet per minute.

Old elevators can’t always be helped. In fact, they often add to the charm of the establishment. Some older European hotels, for example, still have antique iron cage elevators that ascend and descend slowly. But when you see one of these ornate machines, you almost immediately get in the mood for a nostalgic, deliberate trip.

At some hotels, elevators have become conversation pieces--especially outside glass-enclosed elevators, like the $500,000 cliffside Pali Kai elevator at the Westin Kauai. It is an engineering marvel built into the hillside to transport guests from the hotel to the beach.

Or the Summit elevators at the Westin Hotel, Renaissance Center, Detroit. The elevators zoom up a glass tube, soaring 760 feet in just 1 minute and 10 seconds. At the top, and on a clear day, visibility is about 30 miles.

And there still are a few hotels left in America that pride themselves on preserving an endangered species: the hotel elevator operators.

A small cadre of veteran elevator operators runs the original Kaestner and Hecht cabs at the Drake Hotel in Chicago. The Pierre and the Mayfair Regent are two New York hotels that still employ elevator operators.

“It’s a tradition we fight to maintain,” said George Schwab, general manager of the Pierre. “We have many repeat guests who look forward to seeing their favorite elevator operators. It’s like coming home. And an elevator operator gives our guests an extra measure of security, especially at night. They are our additional eyes and ears.”

As part of the renovation of the new Mark Hotel in New York, formerly the Madison Avenue Hotel, General Manager Raymond Bickson attacked the elevators first. They were old. They were slow. New elevators were built, new motors and cables installed and a new electrical system put in place. Then Bickson hired elevator operators. He even gave them the title of “lift attendants.”

When the Mayfair Regent recently spent more than $1 million to renovate its elevators, cables and motors, General Manager Dario Mariotti insisted that the hotel retain the original elevator cabs and shells, as well as the white-gloved elevator operators.

“It would have been cheaper to make the elevators automatic,” Mariotti said, “but it would have detracted from our service. In fact, we didn’t even add floor buttons inside the cabs, because I didn’t want to be tempted to replace the operators. Certain traditions are worth keeping.

“Think of it this way: At least the guests still have someone friendly to talk to on the way up, or the way down. In New York, that’s very important.”