At Home Abroad

No sooner did we arrive at the hotel [in Paris] after a very rough Channel crossing than I found again what a very small place the world is. There in the dining room were Dr. & Mrs. Jessup from Mt. Vernon Street, and Jane Silby and her aunt from Commonwealth Avenue, and the Murrows from Brookline . . .

When Novelist J. P. Marquand's late George Apley traveled abroad for the first time, he was agreeably surprised to find that parts of Europe were just like New England, only not so nice. And he met so many Bostonians in his Paris hotel that it was just like being at home again. Last week, Conrad Hilton, the world's No. 1 hotelman, made sure that other Americans would henceforth be able to share George Apley's pleasure. He set out to build a chain of foreign hotels just like those in the U.S., so that American tourists would feel completely at home abroad and meet the same people they meet in New York, Hollywood or Kansas City.

As a starter, Connie Hilton last week planted the flag of his empire firmly atop Monte Mario, one of the seven hills of ancient Rome. There, financed by the Italian government with an assist from ECA, a new $6,000,000 hotel with 400 rooms will be built. When it is finished in the spring of 1953, Hilton will put between $300,000 and $400,000 in as working capital, and operate it under a 20-year lease. He will turn over 70% of the profits to the Italian owners, keep a tidy 30% for himself. In similar deals, Hilton intends to build hotels in London, Istanbul, Athens, Mexico City and Havana.

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