Hotels: By the Hour

Other hotelmen greeted the news with amusement. "Oh, that sounds naughty," said an official of San Francisco's Mark Hopkins when he heard that the New York Hilton, Manhattan's biggest hotel, was going to rent out its rooms on an hourly basis.

As far as the Hilton is concerned, the only thing sinful is that no respectable midtown hotel has done it sooner. Airport motels and hotels have long offered day rates (usually half-price between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.) to travelers who want to rest between flights. The Hilton's "Day-Hour Plan" ($12 for the first three hours, $3 an hour thereafter), which went into effect last week, is a logical next step. It is intended to make life easier and less expensive for today's jet-borne businessman, who often zips in and out of two or three cities in a single day. Now, in New York at least, he can rent a place to hold private business meetings or relax between engagements without paying the full 24-hour tariff. The Hilton's Day-Hour Plan should also prove a boon to suburban wives who need somewhere to put themselves back together after a day of shopping before meeting their husbands for an evening on the town.

For the hotel, the plan is an obvious way of increasing the occupancy rate, especially during the slack summer season. If the New York experiment is successful (more than 25 people had taken advantage of the hourly rates by noon of the first day), Hilton intends to put it into effect in other U.S. hotels.