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PaperclipPerfector  13hr ago (text post)   592 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for August 14, 2026

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I came across the link to a Facebook page for Vanished Florida. I see a lot of hotels in Miami even back to 1910-1920. How did hotels work in 1920?

My understanding of the transportation system in 1920 is a northerner going to Miami the trip would take days. I don’t think you could drive a car from NYC to Miami in 1920. So maybe railroad or boat? I’m guessing a 2-day trip that was fairly expensive?

A modern hotel is essentially transients that stay on average probably 2-3 days. Would a hotel in 1920 in a place like Miami be much longer stays? For the obvious reason that you’re not traveling to a place that takes 4-5 days travel time round trip to stay for a day or two.

If my assumptions are correct it would be interesting staying in a fancy hotel in a vacation destination where everyone is staying month. There would be value in meeting other guests.

Here’s the link. https://www.facebook.com/share/1UKPu8znC9/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Definitely longer stays. You can see it in a lot of period fiction. Some of that comes down to social class but it applied to labor too.

Prior to rail access, you had coaching inns for travel and boarding houses for longer stays. I think this shaded a little more smoothly from “staying” to “renting.” You had flophouses (where nobody would stay for long if they could help it) all the way up through factory town lodgings or urban apartments. The big hotels take off once railways concentrate a lot more traffic in one spot.

I’m pretty sure individuals used to offer rooms more, too. Some of the quirks of Remains of the Day come from the butler protagonist staying at various private homes which operate more like a bed and breakfast. This is as he’s making a multi-day trip across…England.

You had flophouses (where nobody would stay for long if they could help it) all the way up through factory town lodgings or urban apartments.

Yes, I’m sympathetic to people who say the rent is too damn high, but the period when young people could easily rent an apartment in the big city by themselves without inherited money was very brief historically speaking - it probably lasted less than thirty years (maybe 1955 to 1985?). A century ago, your current equivalent of a modern day 25 year old corporate striver (a young clerk at a bank or insurance company, say, or a trainee typist or secretary) would have stayed in a boarding house in a small room or sharing a small room for a large percentage of their income.

SROs are a casualty of zoning and other housing regulations.

would have stayed in a boarding house in a small room or sharing a small room

It's a shame there aren't many options like that anymore. The last SRO in the city nearest me closed down in the 1970s. I couldn't even tell you about boarding houses, though I'm pretty sure it was even earlier. These days it feels like your options go from house, to apartment, to homeless shelter, to underpass, without any real stops in between.

I’m pretty sure individuals used to offer rooms more, too. Some of the quirks of Remains of the Day come from the butler protagonist staying at various private homes which operate more like a bed and breakfast. This is as he’s making a multi-day trip across…England.

So... AirBnBs?

Yes, but with a particularly gormless, class-driven sort of trust.

It occurred to me the other day that there might well be people who don't know what "BnB" in the name "Airbnb" means.

It’s a dumb term since I’ve never heard of an AirBnB providing breakfast, if it did it would just be a small hotel (or, indeed, a bnb).

My sister went to one out in the New Mexico desert that did.

Unusual, yes, but the exceptions can be amazing. We stayed in an AirBnB in a small town in the middle of Missouri (pop. >5000), where the couple rented out three bedrooms of their enormous farmhouse, and everyone was expected to a shared sit-down breakfast of bacon, sausages, fried potatoes, and fresh-baked bread.

That's just a regular BnB.

I think initially the model was something like couchsurfing but for money. So you literally were supposed to stay at someone's house while it's being occupied as a temporary roommate, in which case sharing the breakfast is only polite. Of course, once it took off it basically turned into less-regulated apartments for (short-term) rent. And now it's just differently-regulated apartments for rent.

The BnB made more sense when people were renting out rooms in their apartment. I know someone renting out rooms in his place in LaTam and well he does provide espresso and usually a weekly barbecue. His dad died and inherited some money so he’s building a new house, but his existing residence his dream is to raise his prices and offer more. The issue is Airbnb people filter out shared spaces and I think it’s hard to raise prices to even equivalent of a standard 1br with kitchen. Not really sure how you would market it but he wants to go more towards I guess the bed and breakfast model.

I once stayed in an Airbnb where the host provided coffee and freshly baked scones every morning, probably the nicest Airbnb I've ever stayed in. But in general, you're right.

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