Ice Down the Hall: A Peculiarly American Demand

Step off an elevator in almost any American hotel, and you will likely find it: a humming ice machine, free for the taking.

Step off an elevator at a hotel in London or Paris, and you may find a confused front desk wondering why anyone would need so much ice.

The free hotel ice machine is very much an American invention. According to Slate and Reader’s Digest, the credit often goes to Kemmons Wilson, founder of Holiday Inn. When he opened the first Holiday Inn in Memphis in 1952, Wilson was tired of hotels charging guests extra for ice. So he made ice free at his hotels and placed machines where guests could easily use them.

Other hotel chains followed, and the custom stuck.

But the deeper reason may be even simpler: Americans love ice.

Mark Twain wrote about it in 1890. Charles Dickens, visiting America, was reportedly startled by the amount of ice in American drinks. According to CNN, ice historian Amy Brady has described Americans as unusually devoted to ice compared with much of the rest of the world.

In many European countries, ice is viewed as unnecessary, uncomfortable, or even bad for digestion. Drinks are often served cool or at room temperature. Ask for ice, and you may receive only a cube or two.

So American travelers can take comfort. The ice machine down the hall is more than a hotel perk. It is one of those small, strange comforts of home.