What is the meaning of the word hotel

This article is about lodging establishments. For shared-room lodging, see Hostel. For hotels designed for motorists, see Motel. For other uses, see Hotel (disambiguation).

«Hotel room» redirects here. For the 1993 HBO television series, see Hotel Room.

A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a refrigerator, and other kitchen facilities, upholstered chairs, a flat-screen television, and en-suite bathrooms. Small, lower-priced hotels may offer only the most basic guest services and facilities. Larger, higher-priced hotels may provide additional guest facilities such as a swimming pool, a business center with computers, printers, and other office equipment, childcare, conference and event facilities, tennis or basketball courts, gymnasium, restaurants, day spa, and social function services. Hotel rooms are usually numbered (or named in some smaller hotels and B&Bs) to allow guests to identify their room. Some boutique, high-end hotels have custom decorated rooms. Some hotels offer meals as part of a room and board arrangement. In Japan, capsule hotels provide a tiny room suitable only for sleeping and shared bathroom facilities.

The precursor to the modern hotel was the inn of medieval Europe. For a period of about 200 years from the mid-17th century, coaching inns served as a place for lodging for coach travelers. Inns began to cater to wealthier clients in the mid-18th century. One of the first hotels in a modern sense was opened in Exeter in 1768. Hotels proliferated throughout Western Europe and North America in the early 19th century, and luxury hotels began to spring up in the later part of the 19th century, paricularly in the United States.

Hotel operations vary in size, function, complexity, and cost. Most hotels and major hospitality companies have set industry standards to classify hotel types. An upscale full-service hotel facility offers luxury amenities, full-service accommodations, an on-site restaurant, and the highest level of personalized service, such as a concierge, room service, and clothes-ironing staff. Full-service hotels often contain upscale full-service facilities with many full-service accommodations, an on-site full-service restaurant, and a variety of on-site amenities. Boutique hotels are smaller independent, non-branded hotels that often contain upscale facilities. Small to medium-sized hotel establishments offer a limited amount of on-site amenities. Economy hotels are small to medium-sized hotel establishments that offer basic accommodations with little to no services. Extended stay hotels are small to medium-sized hotels that offer longer-term full-service accommodations compared to a traditional hotel.

Timeshare and destination clubs are a form of property ownership involving ownership of an individual unit of accommodation for seasonal usage. A motel is a small-sized low-rise lodging with direct access to individual rooms from the car parking area. Boutique hotels are typically hotels with a unique environment or intimate setting. A number of hotels and motels have entered the public consciousness through popular culture. Some hotels are built specifically as destinations in themselves, for example casinos and holiday resorts.

Most hotel establishments are run by a general manager who serves as the head executive (often referred to as the «hotel manager»), department heads who oversee various departments within a hotel (e.g., food service), middle managers, administrative staff, and line-level supervisors. The organizational chart and volume of job positions and hierarchy varies by hotel size, function and class, and is often determined by hotel ownership and managing companies.

Etymology

The word hotel is derived from the French hôtel (coming from the same origin as hospital), which referred to a French version of a building seeing frequent visitors, and providing care, rather than a place offering accommodation. In contemporary French usage, hôtel now has the same meaning as the English term, and hôtel particulier is used for the old meaning, as well as «hôtel» in some place names such as Hôtel-Dieu (in Paris), which has been a hospital since the Middle Ages. The French spelling, with the circumflex, was also used in English, but is now rare. The circumflex replaces the ‘s’ found in the earlier hostel spelling, which over time took on a new, but closely related meaning. Grammatically, hotels usually take the definite article – hence «The Astoria Hotel» or simply «The Astoria».

History

Facilities offering hospitality to travellers featured in early civilizations. In Greco-Roman culture and in ancient Persia, hospitals for recuperation and rest were built at thermal baths. Guinness World Records officially recognised Japan’s Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan, founded in 705, as the oldest hotel in the world.^[1] During the Middle Ages, various religious orders at monasteries and abbeys would offer accommodation for travellers on the road.

The precursor to the modern hotel was the inn of medieval Europe, possibly dating back to the rule of Ancient Rome. These would provide for the needs of travellers, including food^[2] and lodging, stabling and fodder for the traveller’s horses and fresh horses for mail coaches. Famous London examples of inns include the George and the Tabard. A typical layout of an inn featured an inner court with bedrooms on the two sides, with the kitchen and parlour at the front and the stables at the back.^[3]

For a period of about 200 years from the mid-17th century, coaching inns served as a place for lodging for coach travellers (in other words, a roadhouse). Coaching inns stabled teams of horses for stagecoaches and mail coaches and replaced tired teams with fresh teams. Traditionally they were seven miles apart, but this depended very much on the terrain.

Some English towns had as many as ten such inns and rivalry between them became intense, not only for the income from the stagecoach operators but for the revenue from the food and drink supplied to the wealthy passengers. By the end of the century, coaching inns were being run more professionally, with a regular timetable being followed and fixed menus for food.^[4]

Inns began to cater to richer clients in the mid-18th century, and consequently grew in grandeur and in the level of service provided. Sudhir Andrews traces «the birth of an organised hotel industry» to Europe’s chalets and small hotels which catered primarily to aristocrats.^[5]
One of the first hotels in a modern sense, the Royal Clarence, opened in Exeter in 1768, although the idea only really caught on in the early-19th century. In 1812 Mivart’s Hotel opened its doors in London, later changing its name to Claridge’s.^[6]

Hotels proliferated throughout Western Europe and North America in the 19th century. Luxury hotels, including the 1829 Tremont House in Boston, the 1836 Astor House in New York City,^[7] the 1889 Savoy Hotel in London, and the Ritz chain of hotels in London and Paris in the late 1890s, catered to an ever more-wealthy clientele.

Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is part of a United States law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, religion, or national origin in places of public accommodation.^[8] Hotels are included as types of public accommodation in the Act.^[9]

International scale

Hotels cater to travelers from many countries and languages, since no one country dominates the travel industry.

Country	Hotel rooms in 2011–12[10][11]	Average rooms per hotel[11]	Overnight tourists traveling from each country, annual[10][11]
United States	4,900,000	93	58,000,000
China	1,500,000	132	83,000,000
Japan	1,370,000	27	18,000,000
Italy	1,100,000	32	29,000,000
Germany	950,000	27	72,000,000
Spain	900,000	47	12,000,000
Mexico	660,000	37	16,000,000
United Kingdom	650,000	17	57,000,000
France	620,000	36	26,000,000
Thailand	530,000	NA	6,000,000
Indonesia	410,000	25	7,000,000
Greece	400,000	41	5,000,000
Brazil	400,000	40	8,000,000
Turkey	330,000	117	16,000,000
Austria	290,000	22	11,000,000
Russia	260,000	33	44,000,000
Global total	21,000,000	41	876,000,000

Types

Hotel operations vary in size, function, and cost. Most hotels and major hospitality companies that operate hotels have set widely accepted industry standards to classify hotel types. General categories include the following:

International luxury

International luxury hotels offer high-quality amenities, full-service accommodations, on-site full-service restaurants, and the highest level of personalized and professional service in major or capital cities. International luxury hotels are classified with at least a Five Diamond rating or Five Star hotel rating depending on the country and local classification standards. Example brands include: Grand Hyatt, Conrad, InterContinental, Sofitel, Mandarin Oriental, Four Seasons, The Peninsula, Rosewood, JW Marriott and The Ritz-Carlton.

Lifestyle luxury resorts

Lifestyle luxury resorts are branded hotels that appeal to a guest with lifestyle or personal image in specific locations. They are typically full-service and classified as luxury. A key characteristic of lifestyle resorts is focus on providing a unique guest experience as opposed to simply providing lodging. Lifestyle luxury resorts are classified with a Five Star hotel rating depending on the country and local classification standards. Example brands include: Waldorf Astoria, St. Regis, Shangri-La, Oberoi, Belmond, Jumeirah, Aman, Taj Hotels, Hoshino, Raffles, Fairmont, Banyan Tree, Regent and Park Hyatt.

Upscale full-service

Upscale full-service hotels often provide a wide array of guest services and on-site facilities. Commonly found amenities may include: on-site food and beverage (room service and restaurants), meeting and conference services and facilities, fitness center, and business center. Upscale full-service hotels range in quality from upscale to luxury. This classification is based upon the quality of facilities and amenities offered by the hotel.^[12] Examples include: W Hotels, Sheraton, Langham, Kempinski,
Kimpton Hotels, Hilton, Lotte, Renaissance, Marriott and Hyatt Regency brands.

Boutique

Boutique hotels are smaller independent non-branded hotels that often contain mid-scale to upscale facilities of varying size in unique or intimate settings with full-service accommodations. These hotels are generally 100 rooms or fewer.^[13]

Focused or select service

Small to medium-sized hotel establishments that offer a limited number of on-site amenities that only cater and market to a specific demographic of travelers, such as the single business traveler. Most focused or select service hotels may still offer full-service accommodations but may lack leisure amenities such as an on-site restaurant or a swimming pool. Examples include Hyatt Place, Holiday Inn, Courtyard by Marriott and Hilton Garden Inn.

Economy and limited service

Small to medium-sized hotel establishments that offer a very limited number of on-site amenities and often only offer basic accommodations with little to no services, these facilities normally only cater and market to a specific demographic of travelers, such as the budget-minded traveler seeking a «no frills» accommodation. Limited service hotels often lack an on-site restaurant but in return may offer a limited complimentary food and beverage amenity such as on-site continental breakfast service. Examples include Ibis Budget, Hampton Inn, Aloft, Holiday Inn Express, Fairfield Inn, and Four Points by Sheraton.

Extended stay

Extended stay hotels are small to medium-sized hotels that offer longer-term full-service accommodations compared to a traditional hotel. Extended stay hotels may offer non-traditional pricing methods such as a weekly rate that caters towards travelers in need of short-term accommodations for an extended period of time. Similar to limited and select service hotels, on-site amenities are normally limited and most extended stay hotels lack an on-site restaurant. Examples include Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Home2 Suites by Hilton, Residence Inn by Marriott, Element, and Extended Stay America.

Timeshare and destination clubs

Timeshare and destination clubs are a form of property ownership also referred to as a vacation ownership involving the purchase and ownership of an individual unit of accommodation for seasonal usage during a specified period of time. Timeshare resorts often offer amenities similar that of a full-service hotel with on-site restaurants, swimming pools, recreation grounds, and other leisure-oriented amenities. Destination clubs on the other hand may offer more exclusive private accommodations such as private houses in a neighborhood-style setting. Examples of timeshare brands include Hilton Grand Vacations, Marriott Vacation Club International, Westgate Resorts, Disney Vacation Club, and Holiday Inn Club Vacations.

Motel

A motel, an abbreviation for «motor hotel», is a small-sized low-rise lodging establishment similar to a limited service, lower-cost hotel, but typically with direct access to individual rooms from the car park. Motels were built to serve road travellers, including travellers on road trip vacations and workers who drive for their job (travelling salespeople, truck drivers, etc.). Common during the 1950s and 1960s, motels were often located adjacent to a major highway, where they were built on inexpensive land at the edge of towns or along stretches of freeway.

New motel construction is rare in the 2000s as hotel chains have been building economy-priced, limited-service franchised properties at freeway exits which compete for largely the same clientele, largely saturating the market by the 1990s. Motels are still useful in less populated areas for driving travelers, but the more populated an area becomes, the more hotels move in to meet the demand for accommodation. While many motels are unbranded and independent, many of the other motels which remain in operation joined national franchise chains, often rebranding themselves as hotels, inns or lodges. Some examples of chains with motels include EconoLodge, Motel 6, Super 8, and Travelodge.

Motels in some parts of the world are more often regarded as places for romantic assignations where rooms are often rented by the hour. This is fairly common in parts of Latin America.

Microstay

Hotels may offer rooms for microstays,^[14] a type of booking for less than 24 hours where the customer chooses the check in time and the length of the stay. This allows the hotel increased revenue by reselling the same room several times a day.^[15] They first gained popularity in Europe but are now common in major global tourist centers.^[16]

Management

Hotel management is a globally accepted professional career field and academic field of study. Degree programs such as hospitality management studies, a business degree, and/or certification programs formally prepare hotel managers for industry practice.

Most hotel establishments consist of a general manager who serves as the head executive (often referred to as the «hotel manager»), department heads who oversee various departments within a hotel, middle managers, administrative staff, and line-level supervisors. The organizational chart and volume of job positions and hierarchy varies by hotel size, function, and is often determined by hotel ownership and managing companies.

Unique and specialty hotels

Historic inns and boutique hotels

Boutique hotels are typically hotels with a unique environment or intimate setting.
Some hotels have gained their renown through tradition, by hosting significant events or persons, such as Schloss Cecilienhof in Potsdam, Germany, which derives its fame from the Potsdam Conference of the World War II allies Winston Churchill, Harry Truman and Joseph Stalin in 1945.^[17] The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower in Mumbai is one of India’s most famous and historic hotels because of its association with the Indian independence movement. Some establishments have given name to a particular meal or beverage, as is the case with the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, United States where the Waldorf Salad was first created or the Hotel Sacher in Vienna, Austria, home of the Sachertorte. Others have achieved fame by association with dishes or cocktails created on their premises, such as the Hotel de Paris where the crêpe Suzette was invented or the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, where the Singapore Sling cocktail was devised.^[18]

A number of hotels have entered the public consciousness through popular culture, such as the Ritz Hotel in London, through its association with Irving Berlin’s song, «Puttin’ on the Ritz». The Algonquin Hotel in New York City is famed as the meeting place of the literary group, the Algonquin Round Table, and Hotel Chelsea, also in New York City, has been the subject of a number of songs and the scene of the stabbing of Nancy Spungen (allegedly by her boyfriend Sid Vicious).

Resort hotels

Some hotels are built specifically as a destination in itself to create a captive trade, example at casinos, amusement parks and holiday resorts. Though hotels have always been built in popular destinations, the defining characteristic of a resort hotel is that it exists purely to serve another attraction, the two having the same owners.

On the Las Vegas Strip there is a tradition of one-upmanship with luxurious and extravagant hotels in a concentrated area. This trend now has extended to other resorts worldwide, but the concentration in Las Vegas is still the world’s highest: nineteen of the world’s twenty-five largest hotels by room count are on the Strip, with a total of over 67,000 rooms.^[19]

Bunker hotels

The Null Stern Hotel in Teufen, Appenzellerland, Switzerland, and the Concrete Mushrooms in Albania^[20] are former nuclear bunkers transformed into hotels.

Cave hotels

The Cuevas Pedro Antonio de Alarcón (named after the author) in Guadix, Spain, as well as several hotels in Cappadocia, Turkey, are notable for being built into natural cave formations, some with rooms underground. The Desert Cave Hotel in Coober Pedy, South Australia, is built into the remains of an opal mine.

Cliff hotels

Located on the coast but high above sea level, these hotels offer unobstructed panoramic views and a great sense of privacy without the feeling of total isolation. Some examples from around the globe are the Riosol Hotel in Gran Canaria, Caruso Belvedere Hotel in Amalfi Coast (Italy), Aman Resorts Amankila in Bali, Birkenhead House in Hermanus (South Africa), The Caves in Jamaica and Caesar Augustus in Capri.^[21]

Capsule hotels

Capsule hotels are a type of economical hotel first introduced in Japan, where people sleep in stacks of rectangular containers. In the sleeping capsules, beside the bed, the customer can watch TV, put the valuable items in the mini safes, and the customers also can use the wireless internet.^[22]

Day room hotels

Some hotels fill daytime occupancy with day rooms, for example, Rodeway Inn and Suites near Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.^[23] Day rooms are booked in a block of hours typically between 8 am and 5 pm,^[24] before the typical night shift. These are similar to transit hotels in that they appeal to travelers, however, unlike transit hotels, they do not eliminate the need to go through Customs.

Garden hotels

Garden hotels, famous for their gardens before they became hotels, include Gravetye Manor, the home of garden designer William Robinson, and Cliveden, designed by Charles Barry with a rose garden by Geoffrey Jellicoe.

Ice, snow and igloo hotels

The Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden, was the first ice hotel in the world; first built in 1990, it is built each winter and melts every spring. The Hotel de Glace in Duschenay, Canada, opened in 2001 and it is North America’s only ice hotel. It is redesigned and rebuilt in its entirety every year.
Ice hotels can also be included within larger ice complexes; for example, the Mammut Snow Hotel in Finland is located within the walls of the Kemi snow castle; and the Lainio Snow Hotel is part of a snow village near Ylläs, Finland. There is an arctic snowhotel in Rovaniemi in Lapland, Finland, along with glass igloos.^[25] The first glass igloos were built in 1999 in Finland, they became the Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort with 65 buildings, 53 small ones for two people and 12 large ones for four people. Glass igloos, with their roof made of thermal glass, allow guests to admire auroras comfortably from their beds.^[26]

Love hotels

A love hotel (also ‘love motel’, especially in Taiwan) is a type of short-stay hotel found around the world, operated primarily for the purpose of allowing guests privacy for sexual activities, typically for one to three hours, but with overnight as an option. Styles of premises vary from extremely low-end to extravagantly appointed. In Japan, love hotels have a history of over 400 years.^[27]

Portable modular hotels

In 2021 a New York-based company introduced new modular and movable hotel rooms which allow landowners and hospitality groups to create and easily scale hotel accommodations. The portable units can be built in three to five months and can be stacked to create multi-floor units.^[28]

Referral hotel

A referral hotel is a hotel chain that offers branding to independently operated hotels; the chain itself is founded by or owned by the member hotels as a group. Many former referral chains have been converted to franchises; the largest surviving member-owned chain is Best Western.

Railway hotels

The first recorded purpose-built railway hotel was the Great Western Hotel, which opened adjacent to Reading railway station in 1844, shortly after the Great Western Railway opened its line from London. The building still exists, and although it has been used for other purposes over the years, it is now again a hotel and a member of the Malmaison hotel chain.^[29][30][31]

Frequently, expanding railway companies built grand hotels at their termini, such as the Midland Hotel, Manchester next to the former Manchester Central Station, and in London the ones above St Pancras railway station and Charing Cross railway station. London also has the Chiltern Court Hotel above Baker Street tube station, there are also Canada’s grand railway hotels. They are or were mostly, but not exclusively, used by those traveling by rail.

Straw bale hotels

The Maya Guesthouse in Nax Mont-Noble in the Swiss Alps, is the first hotel in Europe built entirely with straw bales. Due to the insulation values of the walls it needs no conventional heating or air conditioning system, although the Maya Guesthouse is built at an altitude of 1,300 metres (4,300 ft) in the Alps.^[32]

Transit hotels

Transit hotels are short stay hotels typically used at international airports where passengers can stay while waiting to change airplanes. The hotels are typically on the airside and do not require a visa for a stay or re-admission through security checkpoints.

Treehouse hotels

Some hotels are built with living trees as structural elements, for example the Treehotel near Piteå, Sweden, the Costa Rica Tree House near the Jairo Mora Sandoval Gandoca-Manzanillo Mixed Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica; the Treetops Hotel in Aberdare National Park, Kenya; the Ariau Towers near Manaus, Brazil, on the Rio Negro in the Amazon; and Bayram’s Tree Houses in Olympos, Turkey.

Underwater hotels

Some hotels have accommodation underwater, such as Utter Inn in Lake Mälaren, Sweden. Hydropolis, project in Dubai, would have had suites on the bottom of the Persian Gulf, and Jules’ Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, Florida, requires scuba diving to access its rooms.

Overwater hotels

A resort island is an island or an archipelago that contains resorts, hotels, overwater bungalows, restaurants, tourist attractions and its amenities. Maldives has the most overwater bungalows resorts.

Yurt hotels

Yurts are circular, self-supporting structures with long rafters coalescing toward a central dome. During the day, the dome allows sunlight to illuminate the entire yurt interior, while moonlight and starlight shine through the dome at night.^[33]

Other specialty hotels

• The Burj al-Arab hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, built on an artificial island, is structured in the shape of a boat’s sail.
• The Library Hotel in New York City, is unique in that each of its ten floors is assigned one category from the Dewey Decimal System.
• The Jailhotel Löwengraben in Lucerne, Switzerland is a converted prison now used as a hotel.
• The Luxor, a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States is unusual due to its pyramidal structure.
• The Liberty Hotel in Boston used to be the Charles Street Jail.
• Hotel Kakslauttanen in Finland, a collection of glass igloos in Lapland that allow you to watch the Northern Lights^[34]
• Built in Scotland and completed in 1936, The former ocean liner RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, United States uses its first-class staterooms as a hotel, after retiring in 1967 from Transatlantic service.
• The Wigwam Motels used patented novelty architecture in which each motel room was a free-standing concrete wigwam or teepee.

• Various Caboose Motel or Red Caboose Inn properties are built from decommissioned rail cars.
• Throughout the world there are several hotels built from converted airliners.

Records

Largest

In 2006, Guinness World Records listed the First World Hotel in Genting Highlands, Malaysia, as the world’s largest hotel with a total of 6,118 rooms (and which has now expanded to 7,351 rooms).^[35] The Izmailovo Hotel in Moscow has the most beds, with 7,500, followed by The Venetian and The Palazzo complex in Las Vegas (7,117 rooms) and MGM Grand Las Vegas complex (6,852 rooms).^{[36][self-published source?]}

Oldest

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the oldest hotel in operation is the Nisiyama Onsen Keiunkan in Yamanashi, Japan. The hotel, first opened in AD 707, has been operated by the same family for forty-six generations. The title was held until 2011 by the Hoshi Ryokan, in the Awazu Onsen area of Komatsu, Japan, which opened in the year 718, as the history of the Nisiyama Onsen Keiunkan was virtually unknown.^[37]

Highest

The Rosewood Guangzhou located on the top floors of the 108-story Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre in Tianhe District, Guangzhou, China. Soaring to 530-meters at its highest point, earns the singular status as the world’s highest hotel.^[38][39]

Most expensive purchase

In October 2014, the Anbang Insurance Group, based in China, purchased the Waldorf Astoria New York in Manhattan for US$1.95 billion, making it the world’s most expensive hotel ever sold.^[40]

Long term residence

A number of public figures have notably chosen to take up semi-permanent or permanent residence in hotels.

• Fashion designer Coco Chanel lived in the Hôtel Ritz, Paris, on and off for more than 30 years.
• Inventor Nikola Tesla lived the last ten years of his life at the New Yorker Hotel until he died in his room in 1943.
• Larry Fine (of The Three Stooges) and his family lived in hotels, due to his extravagant spending habits and his wife’s dislike for housekeeping. They first lived in the President Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where his daughter Phyllis was raised, then the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood. Not until the late 1940s did Fine buy a home in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles.
• The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and its affiliated Waldorf Towers has been the home of many famous persons over the years including former President Herbert Hoover who lived there from the end of his presidency in 1933 until his death in 1964. General Douglas MacArthur lived his last 14 years in the penthouse of the Waldorf Towers. Composer Cole Porter spent the last 25 years of his life in an apartment at the Waldorf Towers.
• Billionaire Howard Hughes lived in hotels during the last ten years of his life (1966–76), primarily in Las Vegas, as well as Acapulco, Beverly Hills, Boston, Freeport, London, Managua, Nassau, Vancouver, and others.
• Vladimir Nabokov and his wife Vera lived in the Montreux Palace Hotel in Montreux, Switzerland, from 1961 until his death in 1977.
• Actor Richard Harris lived at the Savoy Hotel while in London. Hotel archivist Susan Scott recounts an anecdote that, when he was being taken out of the building on a stretcher shortly before his death in 2002, he raised his hand and told the diners «it was the food.»^[41]
• Egyptian actor Ahmed Zaki lived his last 15 years in Ramses Hilton Hotel – Cairo.^{[citation needed]}
• British entrepreneur Jack Lyons lived in the Hotel Mirador Kempinski in Switzerland for several years until his death in 2008.^{[citation needed]}
• American actress Elaine Stritch lived in the Savoy Hotel in London for over a decade.^[42]
• Uruguayan-Argentinian tango composer Horacio Ferrer lived almost 40 years, from 1976 until his death in 2014, in an apartment inside the Alvear Palace Hotel, in Buenos Aires, one of the most exclusive hotels in the city.^[43]

See also

• Lists of hotels
• List of chained-brand hotels
• List of defunct hotel chains
• Casino hotel
• List of casino hotels
• Niche tourism markets
• Resort

Industry and careers

Human habitation types

References

Further reading

External links

The origin of the word hotel, comes from the French «hôtel», several sources affirm that the term began to be used at the end of the 11th century to describe a «abode», already in the 19th century it was used to designate any place or establishment for guests and travelers; This word in turn comes from the Latin “hospitalis domus” which means “hospital to welcome guests”. However, a hotel can be described or defined as the establishment or settlement in which guests or travelers are lodged or welcomed, who pay for their accommodation, food and other series of services provided by said establishments.

These structures are created with the aim and objective of providing the greatest comfort to its guests, who for different reasons must pose outside their usual environment or residence for a specified time. Hotels offer a series of basic services, which include a bed, a bathroom and a closet; Although there are other establishments that offer greater services apart from the basic ones, these services commonly include television, a refrigerator, and chairs in the room. Even some hotels provide other types of facilities that can be of common use for all guests, such as a swimming pool, a gym, a restaurant, etc.

Hotels usually have or are classified in a series of categories according to the services, positions and comforts they provide to the guest; The most common way to classify them is by means of stars, for example, a five-star hotel is one that offers the highest level of comfort, quite the opposite to one-star hotels, they only provide a basic service. It should be noted that they can also be classified by letters, classes, diamonds and «World Tourism», depending on the country, place or region in which they are located.

For an entire year early in his consulting career, Mr. Stewart stashed his ­belongings with his family and moved from hotel to ­hotel on assignment. ❋ Unknown (2009)

As his once splendid hotel was now occupied as a _hotel garni_, he hired a small chamber in the attic; it was but, as he said, changing his bedroom up two pair of stairs — he was still in his own house. ❋ Washington Irving (1821)

Underground at New York’s Greenwich Hotel, lantern lights reflect off the overhead beams of a 250-year-old wood-and-bamboo farmhouse, reconstructed by Japanese craftsmen to surround the pool and lounge area off the Shibui Spa, whose name the hotel translates as «a subtle and unobtrusive approach.» ❋ Unknown (2008)

Sitting nearly adjacent to the Staples Center, the hotel is a standout within the new LA LIVE entertainment and residential muti-plex and is hard to miss from the intersection of the I-110 and I-10 freeways. ❋ Unknown (2010)

The breathing space lasted barely a breath: now another soulless behemoth of a hotel is being assembled, consuming the space, chewing out the sky. ❋ Unknown (2009)

Because this hotel is a human institution to serve people, we hope that God will grant you peace and rest while you are under our roof. ❋ Michael Conniff (2010)

«I think a hotel is an amazingly complimentary use.» ❋ Joseph De Avila (2010)

Each of the “rooms” of the hotel is an individual cake! ❋ Unknown (2009)

Note that your hotel is apparently close to the El Paso airport. ❋ Unknown (2008)

I hear the hotel is already booked, and they certainly did the numbers. ❋ Lou Anders (2008)

We have arrived in California in one piece, and the promised wireless at the hotel is actual wireless at the hotel. ❋ Markgritter (2008)

The door leading into the hotel is already open and I walk through it into a low, wide lobby. ❋ Unknown (2008)

It turns out the rest of the hotel is also worth a look. ❋ Unknown (2008)

Right around the corner of Rodeo Drive and Wilshire Boulevard, this hotel is a beacon that attracts the biggest of names in Los Angeles, and rightfully so this night as well, for the TSA fundraiser would surely benefit for the list of guests it had invited. ❋ Unknown (2007)

But if this hotel is any evidence of Latvia’s entrepreneurial spirit, these “ghost bases” may just become the country’s most popular tourist destination. ❋ Unknown (2006)

«I gave [my ex] [crabs] and the [HOTEL] everyone» ❋ Reger (2003)

[girl] you [wanna] [come to] my hotel? ❋ Hartcore (2004)

1. Wife — [Dear], is there any way i can [be fucked] everyday?
Husband — [Ya sure], why dont you join my hotel? ❋ Perzialo (2007)

[Ima] [get down] to the hotel to talk to [my hoes]. ❋ WyndX (2003)

❋ Dubyah (2003)

Question: «[Dutchy], where you get that hotel?»
Answer: «[The Marriott].»
Reply: «[Noice]!» ❋ Cheddy (2004)

The [Albion] [Hotel] ❋ Brother Number One (2004)

[Joe]: [I’m looking] for a hotel tonight.
Bob: Try the red-light [district]. ❋ Joey702 (2008)

i took [that hoe] to the hotel and she [told] every [body] ❋ 22222 (2007)

¿Hotel? [Trivago]. ❋ Uddef (2017)

The word hotel is derived from the French hôtel, which refers to a French version of the townhouse. The term hotel was used for the first time by the fifth Duke of Devonshire to name a lodging property in London sometime in AD 1760. Historically, in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and several other countries, a townhouse was the residence of a peer or an aristocrat in the capital of major cities. The word hotel could have also derived from the hostel, which means ‘ a place to stay for travelers‘.

A hotel is defined by the British Law as a ‘place where bonafide travelers can receive food or shelter, provided he/she is in a position to pay for it and is in a fit condition to be received‘. Hence, a hotel must provide food (and beverage) and lodging to a traveler on payment, but the hotel has the right to refuse if the traveler is not presentable (either drunk, or disorderly, or unkempt) or is not in a position to pay for the services.

Alternatively, a hotel may be defined as ‘an establishment whose primary business is to provide lodging facilities to a genuine traveler along with food, beverage, and sometimes recreational facilities too on the chargeable basis‘.  Though there are other establishments such as hospitals, college hostels, prisons, and sanatoriums, which offer accommodation, they do not qualify as hotels, since they do not cater to the specific needs of the traveler.

A hotel is an establishment that provides paid accommodation, generally for a short duration of stay. Hotels often provide a number of additional guest services, such as restaurants, bars, swimming pools, healthcare, retail shops; business facilities like conference halls, banquet halls, boardrooms; and space for private parties like birthdays, marriages, kitty parties, etc.

Most of the modern hotels nowadays provide the basic facilities in a room- a bed, a cupboard, a small table, weather control (air conditioner or heater), and a bathroom- along with other feature like a telephone with STD/ISD facilities, a television set with cable channel, broadband internet connectivity.

There might also be a mini-bar containing snacks and drinks (the consumption of the same is added to the guest’s bill), and tea and coffee making unit having an electric kettle, cups, spoons, and sachets containing instant coffee, tea bags, sugar, and creamer.

History of Hotels

The invention of currency and wheels sometime in the 5th century BC are regarded as the two main factors that led to the emergence of inn-keeping and hospitality as a commercial activity. While Europe can safely be regarded as the cradle of the organized hotel business, it is in the American continent that one sees the evolution of the modern hotel industry over the past century.

From the rudimentary ancient inns to the present day state-of-art establishment that provides everything under the sun of the modern traveler, the hotel industry has come a long way. The origin and growth of the hotel industry can be broadly studied under the following periods:

• Ancient Era
• Grand Tour
• Modern Era

Ancient Era

The earliest recorded evidence of the hospitality facilities in Europe dates back to 500 BC. An ancient city, such as Corinth in Greece, had a substantial number of establishments that offered food and drink as well as beds to the traveler. The inns of the biblical era were of the primitive type, offering a cot or bench in the corner of a room and, at times, even a stable. Travelers used to stay in a large hall. Privacy and personal sanitation were non-existent.

In the 3rd century AD, numerous lodging premises mushroomed along with the extensive network of brick-paved roads throughout Europe and minor Asin (part of Asia adjoining Europe). The lodging hotels were known as mansions during that time.

These conditions prevailed for several hundred years, until the Industrial Revolution in England led to the development of railways and steamship, making traveling more efficient, comfortable, and faster. The Industrial Revolution also brought about a shift in the focus of travel that becomes more business-oriented than educational or social.

The lead-in organized hotel-keeping, as we see it today, was taken by the emerging nations of Europe, especially Switzerland. The early establishment was mainly patronized by the aristocracy and took shape in chalets (small cottages) and small hotels that provided a variety of services. Between 1750 and 1825, inns in Britain gained the reputation of being the finest hospitality establishments.

Grand Tour

The second half of the eighteenth century, prior to the French Revolution (1780-990, is referred as the ‘golden era of travel‘ as the popularity of the ‘Grand Tour‘ gave a big push to the hotel industry. In those days, a Grand Tour of the European continent constituted as an indispensable element of the education of scions of wealthy families in Britain.

As this tour often lasted several years, it was a good business opportunity for the people in prominent cities of France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Ireland to establish lodging, transportation, and recreation facilities. Far-sighted entrepreneurs, who smelt money in the exercise, developed the skills of the hospitality and pioneered the modern hotel industry.

Prominent among the hotels that emerged during the period were Dolder Grand in Zurich, Imperia in Vienna, the Jahreszeiten in Hamburg, and Des Bergues in Geneva. In 1841, a simple cabinet marker, Thomas Cook organized a rail tour from Leicester to Loughborough and immortalized himself as the world’s first tour operator.

Modern Era

The improvisation in the mode of transport made journeys safer, easier, and faster, enable economical as well as frequent mass movement. The introduction of Funiculars (the ropeway) made high altitude mountains accessible, leading to the growth of many hotels in Alpine rages. Burgenstock and Giessbach are among the hotels in Switzerland that owe, their existence to the development of the ropeways.

The two world wars, especially the second (1939-45) took their toll on the hospitality industry. The massive destruction caused by the war and the resulting economic depression proved to be a major setback to the travel business. The 1950s witnessed a slow and steady growth of travel on the European continent.

The development of aircraft and commercial passenger flight across the Atlantic stimulated that across the globe, and in the process accelerated the growth of the hotel industry.

But it is the American entrepreneurs who credited with literally changing the face of the hospitality industry with their innovation and aggressive marketing. Prior to the establishment of City Hotel lodging facilities in the American continent was patterned on the European style taverns or inns.

The City Hall, however, triggered a race among American hoteliers, resulting in the construction of the large hotels. The decade of the great depression in the 1930s witnessed the liquidity of most of the hotels in America. The hotel industry streamlined with the slow and steady growth during the 1940s. The increase in automobile travel in the 1950s led to the rise of ‘motor hotels’ or motels, a new category in the hotel industry.

The motel which offered free parking facilities served as rest houses for the people traveling between two cities or tourist destination. The following decades saw the growth of motels on a large scale, and also the introduction of budget hotels that offered basic facilities at half of the rates. Gradually, with the passage of time, they evolved into countrywide and international chains.

Hotel Organisation Structure

To carry out its vision, mission, objectives, and goals, every hotel requires a formal structure known as the organization structure. The structure defines the company’s distribution of responsibilities and authority among its management staff and employees.

It establishes the manner and extent of roles, power, and responsibilities, and determines how information flows between different level of organization. This structure depends entirely on the organization’s objective and strategies chosen to achieve them.

The most common way to represent the organization structure is through an organization chat. Each hotel is different and has unique features, so the organization charts of hotels vary from each other. The organization structure depends upon the size and function of a hotel.

Some hotel may lease their outlet to another company or may employ another agency to operate restaurant or housekeeping services. In such cases, those portions will not be a part of the organization chart of the hotel. A sample organization chart of a commercial hotel is following as:

Core Areas/Departments of Hotel

The organization of a hotel today is very complex and comprises various departments. The number of departments varies from one establishment to another. All departments may have their own managers, reporting to the general manager and the assistant general manager.

Hotels departments fall under the category of either Revenue earning departments or Support departments.

Revenue earning departments are operational departments that sell services or products to the guest, thus, directly generating revenue for the hotel. These departments include front office, food and beverage, and hotel operated shops.

Support departments are the ones that help to generate revenue indirectly by playing a supporting role in the hotel’s revenue earning departments. These include human resources, maintenance, purchase, housekeeping, and so on.

The various departments in a hotel are discussed below in brief:

Room Division Department

In a large hotel, the housekeeping, front office, and maintenance departments come under room division. These departments together are responsible for maintaining and selling the room in a hotel. In most hotels, these are the departments that directly or indirectly generate more revenue than other departments. This is because the sale of room constitutes a minimum of 50 percent revenue of a hotel.

A hotel’s largest margin of profit comes from the room because a room, once made, can be sold over and over again. The room division is headed by the room division manager to whom the front office manager, executive housekeeper, and very often the chief engineer report.

Housekeeping Department

The housekeeping department is responsible for the cleanliness and upkeep of the front of the house areas as well as the back of the house areas so that they appear as fresh and aesthetically appealing as on the first day when hotel property opened for business. This department is headed by the executive housekeeper or, in chain hotels, the director of housekeeping.

Front Office Department

Headed by the front office manager, the front office department is the operational department that is responsible for welcoming and registering the guests, allotting the rooms and helping the guests check out. Uniformed services like concierge and bell desk and EPBAX operators are the part of the front office department.

Maintenance Department

The maintenance department also called the engineering and maintenance department, is headed by the chief engineer or the chief maintenance officer. The department is responsible for all kinds of maintenance, repair, and engineering work on equipment, machine, fixtures, and fittings.

Food and Beverage Department

The food and beverage (F&B) department include restaurants, bars, coffee shops, banquets, room service, kitchen, and bakery. The department is headed by the F&B director. While the restaurants, bars, coffee shops, banquets, and the room may be grouped specifically under the F&B service department, headed by the F&B manager, the kitchen and bakery fall under the F&B production department, headed by the executive chef.

Human Resource Department

The human resource (HR) department or the personnel department, as it used to be called earlier – is headed by the human resource manager. Recruitments, orientation, training, employee welfare and compensation, labor laws, and safety norms for the hotels come under the purview of the HR department.

The training department is an ancillary department of the HR department. This is headed by the training manager, who takes on the specific task of orientation and training of new employees as well as existing ones.

Sales and Marketing Department

The sales and marketing department is headed by the sales and marketing manager. A large hotel may have three or more employees in this department, whereas a small hotel can do with just one employee.

The function of this department is five-fold – sales, personal relations, advertising, getting MICE (meeting, incentive, conference, and exhibition) business, and market research. All these functions lead to the common goal of selling the product of the hotel – i.e. rooms and the services of the hotel by ‘creating’ customers.

Purchase Department

The purchasing department is led by the purchase manager, who, in some properties, may report to the financial controller. The procurement of all departmental inventories is the responsibility of the purchasing department. In most hotels, the central stores are the part of purchase department.

Financial Control Department

It is also called the control department, the financial control department is headed by the financial controller, who is responsible for ratifying all the inventory items of the operational departments. Inventory control procedures are the responsibility of the department.

The financial controller, along with the general manager, is responsible for finalizing the budgets prepared by the heads of other departments. The hotel’s accounts are also maintained by the controls department. Accounting activities include making payments against invoices, billing, collecting payments, generating statements, handling bank transactions, processing employee payroll data, and preparing the hotel’s financial statements.

Security Department

It is headed by the chief security officers, the security department is responsible for safeguarding the assets, guests, and employees of the hotel. Their functions include conducting fire drills, monitoring surveillance equipment, and patrolling the property.

Types and Classification of Hotels

Hotels provide accommodation, along with services like food and beverages, and facilities like recreation, conference, and training arrangements, and organization of official or private parties. Each hotel has a unique feature associated with it.

The features may be its location; the number of guests room; special services such as concierge, travel assistance, and valet parking; facilities such as specialty restaurants, bars, business meeting venues, swimming pools, and so on.

The diversity in services and facilities provided by each hotel makes it quite difficult to have any single basis of classification of hotels, and if we classify them in different criteria there will be some hotels that will fall into more than one group. The criteria in which hotels are classified are following as:

Standard Classification of Hotels

The star classification system is among the most widely accepted rating of hotels worldwide. Rating of hotels in different countries is done by the government or quasi-government sources, independent rating agencies, or sometimes the hotel operators themselves.

The brief description of the various star categories are following as:

One-star Hotels

These properties are generally small and independently owned, with a family atmosphere. There may be a limited range of facilities the meals may be fairly simple. For example, lunch may not be served or some bedrooms may not have an en-suite bath or shower.

However, maintenance, cleanliness, and comfort would be of an acceptable standard.

Two-star Hotels

In this class, hotels will typically be small to medium-sized and offer more expensive facilities than one-star hotels. Guests can expect comfortable, well equipped overnight accommodation, usually with an en-suite bath and shower.

Reception and other staff will aim for a more professional presentation that at the one-star level and will offer a wider range of straightforward services, including food and beverages.

Three-star Hotels

At this level, hotels are usually of a size to support higher staffing levels as well as significantly higher quality and range of facilities than at the lower star classifications. Reception and other public areas will be more spacious, and the restaurant will normally also cater to non-residents.

All bedrooms will have an en-suite bath and shower and will offer a good standard of comfort and equipment, such as a direct dial telephone and toiletries in the bathrooms. Besides room services, some provision for business travelers can be expected.

Four-star Hotels

Expectations of this level include a degree of luxury as well as quality in the furnishing, décor, and equipment in every area of the hotel. Bedrooms will also usually offer more space than at the lower star levels. They will be well designed with coordinated furnishing and décor.

The en-suite bathrooms will have both a bath an shower. There will be a high staff to guest ratio, with provisions of porter services, twenty-four-hour room service, and laundry and dry cleaning services. The restaurants will demonstrate a serious approach to its cuisine.

Five-star Hotels

Five-star hotels offer spacious and luxurious accommodation throughout the hotel, matching the best international standards. The interior design should impress with its quality and attention to detail, comfort, and elegance. The furnishing should be immaculate.

The services should be formal, well supervised, and flawless in its attention to the guest’s need, without being intrusive. The restaurant will demonstrate a high level of technical skill. The staff will be knowledgeable, helpful, and well versed in all aspects of customer care, combining efficiency with courtesy.

Heritage Hotels

A recent addition to the hotel industry, heritage hotels are properties set in small forts, palaces, or havelis, the mansions of erstwhile royal and aristocratic families. They have added a new dimension to cultural tourism.

In a heritage hotel, a visitor is offered rooms that have their own history, is served traditional cuisine toned down to the requirements of international palates, is entertained by folk artists, can participate in activities that allow a glimpse into the heritage of the region and can bask in an atmosphere that lives and breathes of the past.

Heritage hotels can further be divided into three types:

1. Heritage
2. Heritage Classis
3. Heritage Grand

Classification of Hotels On the Basis of Size

The number of guest rooms in a hotel is a criterion to classify hotels. Hotels can be grouped into the following categories on the basis of the number of rooms or the size of the hotel:

Small Hotel

In India, hotels with twenty-five or less are classified as small hotels. However, in the developed countries of Europe and America, hotels with less than 100 rooms are considered small. These hotels provide clean and comfortable accommodation but may not provide upmarket facilities, such as swimming pool, restaurant, bar etc.

Medium Hotel

Hotels with twenty-six to a hundred rooms are called medium hotels. However, in developed nations, hotels with up to 300 rooms are termed medium-sized.

Large Hotel

In India, hotels with 101 to 300 guest rooms are regarded as large hotels. Whereas, hotels with 400 to 600 rooms are termed as large hotels in the developed world.

Very Large Hotel

Hotels, with more than 300 guest rooms are known as very large hotels in our country. In developed nations, hotels with 600 to 1,000 rooms may be considered very large.

Classification of Hotels on the Basis of Location

The location of the hotel is one of the major criteria for the traveler to select and patronize a hotel. Hotels may be located in the city center, suburban areas, natural locations such as hill stations and sea beaches, near the port of entry into a country, etc. They may be classified into the following categories on the basis of their location:

Downtown Hotel

A downtown hotel is located in the center of the city within a short distance from the business center, shopping areas, theatre, public offices, etc. The center of the city may not necessarily be the geographical center, but it refers to an area that is considered to be the commercial hub of the city.

The room rates in these hotels may be higher than similar hotels in the other areas, so as to cover the huge investment made on land. They are generally preferred by the business clients as they find it convenient to stay close to the place of their business activities.

Sub-Urban Hotel

As the land cost in the city center is higher and space is limited, some entrepreneurs build their hotel near the outskirts of the city. Providing similar facilities to the downtown hotels, these hotels are set in suburban areas and have the advantage of quieter surroundings. Such hotels are ideal for people who prefer to stay away from the hustle and bustle of a city.

The duration of the stay of guests in these hotels may be longer than the at a hotel located in the city. The room rates in such hotels are moderate and may attract the budget travelers.

Resort Hotel

Hotels that are located at a tourist destination such as hill stations, sea beaches, and countryside are referred to as resort hotels. These hotels have a very calm and natural ambiance. They are mostly away from cities and are located in the pollution-free environment. The room rates in these hotels may range from moderate to high, depending on the additional services offered.

These hotels combine stay facilities with leisure activities such as golf, summer and winter support, etc. Some of these hotels are projected as a dream destination to guests who wish to enjoy the beauty of nature and have a memorable holiday. The occupancy in the resorts is normally higher during the vacation time and weekend when guests want to take a break from their weekly routine.

Airport Hotel

Airport hotel is situated in the vicinity and other ports of entry. Offering all the services of the commercial hotel, these hotels are generally patronized by the passengers who need a stopover en-route journey.

Motel

The word ‘motel‘ is formed by the merging of two words ‘motor‘ and ‘hotel‘. They are located primarily in the highways and provide modest lodgings to highway travelers. The development of extensive road networks in the early twentieth century led to an increase in the people traveling in their own vehicles.

The phenomenon was quite common in the American European continents. The traveler who was traveling in their own vehicles needed a neat and clean accommodation for the night, so, the motel concept came into existence.

Floatel

As the name suggests, floatels are types of lodging properties that float on the water. This category consists of all lodging properties that are built on the top of rafts or semi-submersible platforms and includes cruise liners and houseboats.

Some of them provide luxurious accommodation, along with food and beverage facilities to guests.

Classification of Hotels on the Basis of Clients

The hotel caters to the need of its guests. Every individual or a group of people who patronize a hotel has a different set of requirements. While some would prefer luxurious accommodation, others would like to stay in a simple and cheap room. Some would require facilities such as meeting rooms, business centers, and conference halls if their travel is business-oriented.

Being a capital-intensive industry, the diversities in guest requirements discourage hotels from catering to all types of travelers. As a result, hotels choose to carve out a niche for themselves by catering to the needs of specific guest segments. The hotel can be classified into the following categories on the basis of its clients :

Business or Commercial Hotel

Designed to cater to the business traveler, commercial hotels are generally situated in the city center. These hotels provide high standard rooms and amenities, along with high-speed internet connectivity,  business centers, and conference halls. They also provide in-house secretarial services, as well as facilities such as letter drafting, typing, fax, and photocopy of documents for the convenience of their guests.

The guest amenities at the commercial hotel may include complimentary newspapers, morning coffee, cable television, and access to channeled music and movies.

The duration of the guest’s stay is generally very short at these hotels. The occupancy level is higher during the weekdays and slightly lower during weekends. These hotels are also known as downtown hotels.

Transient Hotel

Transient hotels cater to the need of people who are on the move and need a stopover en route their journey. Located in the close proximity of ports of entry, such as seaport, airport, and major railway stations, these hotels are normally patronized by the transient traveler.

They have round the clock operational room service and coffee shop and offer all the facilities of a commercial hotel. Transient hotels are usually five-star, and their target market includes business clientele, airline passengers with overnight travel layovers or canceled flights, and airline personnel.

The occupancy rate is usually very high, sometimes more than 100 percent, as rooms can be sold more than once on a given day.

Suite Hotel

Suite Hotels provide the highest level of personalized services to guests. The guest rooms generally comprise a living area, a compact kitchenette, complete with refrigerator and a microwave, a bedroom attached with bathroom, and sometimes even a dance floor.

The facilities are highly customized and may include in-room safety locker facilities. These hotels are patronized by affluent people and tourists who are fond of luxury.

Residential Hotel

As the name suggests, residential hotels provide accommodation for a longer duration. These hotels are generally patronized by people who are on a temporary official deputation to a city where they do not have their own residential accommodation. Guest stay for a minimum period of one month and up to two years.

The services offered by these hotels are modest. The room’s configuration usually similar to that of suite hotels. Guest rooms generally include a sitting room, bathroom, and small kitchenette. They are akin to the small individual apartment.

These hotels are fully operational restaurants or a dining room for the resident guests and may provide services such as daily housekeeping, telephone, front desk, and uniformed services. The guest may choose to contract some or all the services provided by the apartment hotel. The hotel signs a lease with guest and the rent is paid either monthly or quarterly.

Bed and Breakfast Hotel

A European concept, bed, and breakfast (B&B) hotels are lodging establishments, generally operated in large family residences. These range from houses with few rooms converted into overnight facilities to small commercial building with twenty to thirty guest rooms. The owner usually lives on the premises and is responsible for serving breakfast to guests.

Guests are accommodated in bedrooms and breakfast is served in the room or sometime in the dining room. The bathrooms may be attached to the guest rooms or maybe on a sharing basis. As the tariff is generally lower than a full-service hotel at these properties, they are suitable for budget travelers.

Casino Hotel

Casino hotels provide gambling facilities, such as Luxor Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. These hotels attract the clients by promoting gambling, arranging extravagant floor shows, and some may provide charter flight services to its clients. They have state-of-the-art gambling facilities, along with the especially restaurant, bars, round the clock room service, well appointed and furnished rooms for its guests.

Nowadays, these hotels are also attracting the MICE (meeting, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) segment. The casinos of Las Vegas, USA are among the most famous casinos in the world.

Conference Centers

The word conference means ‘ a meeting, sometimes lasting for several days, in which people with a common interest participate in discussions or listen to lectures to obtained information‘. Thus, a conference center is a hotel which caters to the needs of a conference delegation.

These hotels provide rooms to delegates of conferences; a conference hall with the desired seating configuration for the meetings; food and beverage requirement during and after the conference; and other requirements, such as a flip chart, whiteboard with markers, overhead projector, television, VCR/VCD/DVD player, slide projector, LCD projector with screen, computer, and public address system.

These are large hotels, having more than 400 guest rooms. The services provided are the highest standard. Normally, conferences are charged as packages, which include accommodation and meeting facilities.

Convention Hotels

The convention is defined as ‘a  formal assembly or meeting of members, representatives, or delegates of a group for general agreement on or acceptance of certain practices or attitudes‘. This type of meeting involves a large number of participants.  The hotel catering to the needs of this segment is known as convention hotels.

These hotels may have more than 2,000 rooms to accommodate a large number of delegates. They are equipped with state-of-art convention centers with all the required facilities, such as seating configuration, audiovisual equipment, and public address systems to meet the demands of a convention.

Classification of Hotels on the Basis of Duration of Guest Stay

On the basis of the duration of the guest stay, hotels may be classified into the following categories:

Commercial Hotel

The duration of guest stay in these hotels is short, ranging from a few days to a week.

Transient Hotel

Mostly occupied by travelers as stopovers en route their journey, the duration of stay at transient hotels are very short, a day or even less.

Semi-residential Hotel

These hotels are generally patronized by people who are staying at a location while in transit to another place. The duration of stay may range from a few weeks to some months. They incorporated the feature of both transient and residential hotels.

Residential/Apartment Hotel

As the name suggests, residential hotels provide accommodation for long duration and are patronized by the people who stay for a long time. The duration of stay may range from a few months to a few years.

Extended Stay Hotel

In today’s age of downsizing, outsourcing and mobility business executive are often away from their hometowns for extended periods of time and require more than a hotel room.

These hotels are for those guests who wish to stay for long period (from few days to weeks), and cater to their long-term needs with special services, amenities, and facilities, such as full-fledged kitchens with dishes and kitchenware, separate area to wash clothes, housekeeping services, grocery services, and recreational facilities. The room rates of these hotels are determined by the length of stay.

Classification of Hotels on the Basis of Level of Services

On the basis of services offered by a hotel, they may be classified into the following categories:

Upmarket/World Class Luxuries Hotels

Targeting the affluent segment of society, hotels in the upmarket category offer world-class products with personalized services to the higher standard. The emphasis is on excellence and class. These hotels provide upscale restaurants and lounges, exquisite décor, concierge service, opulent rooms, and abundant amenities.

The design and interior decoration of the hotel itself reflects the standards maintained by the hotel. The guest rooms are large with exquisite decoration and furnishings.

Mid-Market/Mid-range Services Hotels

These hotels offer modest services without the frills and personalized attention of luxury hotels, and appeal to the largest segment of travelers. They may offer services such as room service, round-the-clock coffee shop, airport and railway station pick-up and drop facilities; multi-cuisine restaurant with bar.

A typical hotel offering mid-range service would be medium-sized, having roughly 150 to 300 rooms. The room rent is much lower than the upmarket hotels. These hotels are patronized by business traveler, individual traveler, and groups.

Budget/Economy Hotels

Budget hotels focus on meeting the most basic needs of guests by providing clean, comfortable, and inexpensive rooms. These are also known as economy or limited services hotels, they appeal primarily to budget-minded traveler groups.

The clientele of budget hotels may also include families with children, bus tour groups, traveling business people, vacationers, retired persons, and groups. These hotels have clean and comfortable guest rooms, a coffee shop, a multi-cuisine restaurant, in-room telephone, and channeled music and movies.

Classification on the Basis of Ownership

On the basis of ownership of a hotel, they may be classified into the following categories:

Proprietary Ownership

Proprietary ownership is the direct ownership of one or more properties by a person or company. Small lodging properties by the person or company. Small lodging properties that are owned and operated by a couple or family are common of proprietary ownership.

Franchise

Let us understand the following terminologies related to the franchise before we talk about it :

Franchise  It is authorization given by a company to another company individual to sell its unique products/services and use its trademark according to the guidelines given by the former, for a specified time, and at a specified place.

Franchisor  The franchisor is the company that owns the trademark, product, a business format that is being franchised.

Franchisee The franchisee is the company or the individual to whom franchise confers the right to do business under its name as per the term and condition agreed upon.

Franchising A continuing relationship in which the franchisor provides a licensed privilege to do business, plus assistance in organizing, training, merchandising, and management in return for a consideration from the franchise.

In the hospitality industry, we often come across many big chains that are operating on a franchise basis. In this kind of contract, which is mutually beneficial to both parties, the franchisor allows the franchisee to use the company’s ideal methods, trademarks, as well as the brand logo to do business.

Management Contract

Managing a hotel requires professional expertise. A new entrepreneur with little or no experience in the business may safely choose to become the franchisee of any well-established hotel chain.

There could still be a problem in operating the business because the franchisor provides a well-established image, a tested and successful operating system, training programme, marketing, advertising, and reservation system, but does not provide the cadre of an experienced manager and the employees necessary to run the business on a day to day basis.

To bridge the gap, management contract companies came into existence. These companies have the required expertise to manage hotels. They operate on the basis of management fee and the sometimes on a percentage of gross revenue.

Time-share Hotels

Time-share hotels, also referred to as vacation-interval hotels, are a new concept in the hospitality industry. As the name suggests, it entails purchasing a tourist accommodation at a popular destination for a particular time slot in a year.

The buyer can then occupy the property for the appointed time or rent the unit to other vacationers if they cannot avail the facilities. They have to make a one-time payment for the time slot and a yearly fee to cover the maintenance costs and related expenses and take a share in the profit from the income generated if they are not utilizing their time slot.

Condominium Hotels

Condominium hotels are similar to timeshare hotels, expect that condominium hotels have a single owner instead of multiple owners sharing a hotel. In a condominium hotel, the owner informs the management company when they would occupy the unit.

The management company is free to rent the unit for the remainder of the year, and this revenue goes to the owner. The owner generally pays a monthly or annual maintenance fee to the management company that takes care of the premises, including landscaping, cleaning of common areas, water, and power supply etc.

Alternative of Hotels  Accommodation

Alternative accommodation can be simply defined as ‘all those types of accommodation that are available outside the formal or organized accommodation sector’. These establishments provide bed and breakfast and some basic services required by the guest at a reasonable price.

An alternative accommodation, thus,  providing sleeping space and modest food for its users. There are certain properties that cater to the needs of a large group.

The lodging houses constructed for the welfares of common travelers, such as sarais, dharmshalas, dak bungalows, circuits, houses, inspection bungalows, lodges, youth hostels, yatri niwas, and forest lodges are the example of alternative accommodation.

Sarai/Dharmshala

These lodging properties are mostly found at popular pilgrimage places. They are generally constructed by welfare trusts, social organizations, or even the state, and provide basic security and sleeping facilities for a nominal fee.

Dak Bungalow/Circuit House

These accommodation are situated in remote areas and at scenic locales. All these properties have an ageless charm and an old world style of hospitality as well as special cuisine, which forms a part of the attraction, apart from the low traffic. Often these are the only lodging properties in remote areas.

Lodge/Boarding House

Lodges are modest hotels situated away from the center of the city or located at a remote destination. These are self-sufficient establishments that offer standard facilities, such as clean and comfortable rooms, food and beverage (F&B) services.

Boarding houses are establishments that usually provide accommodation and meal at a specified period of time, such as weekends, or for a specified time of stay.

Youth Hostel

The youth, from rural as well as urban areas, travel for various reasons, such as education, adventure, and recreation. Youth hostels were established to cater to the youth on the move, who couldn’t afford steep hotel rents.

A youth hostel generally provides low-cost dormitory accommodation with common bathing and cafeteria facilities. They may also provide kitchens for self-catering.

Yatri Niwas

A yatri niwas provides low cost, self-service accommodation to domestic tourists in cities. The emphasis is on modest comfort and affordability. These are generally frequented by people during brief stopovers while traveling between places, or by families with modest budgets.

These properties are located at historical, cultural, and natural sites.

Camping Grounds/Tourist Camps

Camping grounds are normally located within cities in open space. They provide parking spaces along with the water, electricity, and toilets. Camps must follow certain regulation regarding the quality of services and cost and are set up by municipalities.

Railway/Airport Retiring Rooms

A retiring room is for the convenience of the transit travelers. These are situated at a major railway station and domestic and international airports. They provide resting rooms are available at reasonable rates and are often air-conditioned. Booking for the same is made through the station superintendent or the airport manager.

They are equipped with clean sanitation facilities and may include F&B  facilities at a cost.

Paying Guest Accommodation

A paying guest (PG) accommodation is a non-institutional accommodation offered by individual households at various destinations. Besides tourist haven like Goa, this kind of accommodation is becoming popular in large metropolitan cities among outstation students and the employed youth migrants from other towns.

Guests normally pay for accommodation, while the rules for F&B services may differ from host to host.

Hotel Traffic Plans

The various traffic patterns followed by hotels have come to be identified with the area where such patterns originated. Hotels charge their guest according to European, Continental, American, Bed and Breakfast meal plans, etc. We shall briefly discuss these plans. These are followed as:

European Plan

The tariff consists of room rate only. All other expenses would be paid by the guest as per the actual use of consumption.

Continental Plan

The room tariff includes continental breakfast, along with the room rent. Continental breakfast includes a choice of fresh or canned juices; bread like the croissant, toast, brioche, etc. with butter or preserves like jam, jellies, and marmalade; beverage like tea or coffee, with or without milk.

American Plan

It is also known as en-pension or full board. The tariff includes all meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) along with the room rent. The menu for the food and beverage is fixed.

Modified American Plan

It is also known as demi-pension or half board. The tariff consists of breakfast and one major meal (lunch or dinner) along with the room rent.

Bed & Breakfast (B&B) or Bermuda Plan

The room traffic includes American breakfast along with room rent. American breakfast includes most or all of the following: two eggs (fried or poached), sliced bacon or sausage, sliced bread or toast with jam/jelly/butter, pancakes with syrup, cornflakes or other cereal, coffee/tea, and orange/grapefruit juice.

Types of  Hotel Guest Rooms

A hotel sells a combination of accommodation, food, drinks, and other services and facilities to its guests. The main accommodation product is the room, which is among the principal source for the hotel. Other facilities and benefits such as ambiance, décor, in-room amenities, and security, are the add-on that plays a significant role in the pricing of the services.

In order to suit the profile and pocket of various guests, hotels offer different types of rooms that cater to the specific need of guests. The rooms may be categorized on the basis of the room size, layout, view, interior decoration, and services offered. The various types of rooms offered by a hotel are as follows:

Single Room

A single room has one single bed for single occupancy. An additional bed (called extra bed) may be added to this room on the request of a guest and charged accordingly. The size of the bed is normal 3 feet by 6 feet. However, the concept of single rooms is vanishing nowadays. Mostly, hotels have twin or double rooms and charge for the single room, if occupied by one person.

Twin Room

A twin room has two single beds for double occupancy. An extra bed may be added to this room on the request of the guest and charged accordingly. The bed size is normally 3 feet by 6 feet. These rooms are suitable for sharing accommodation among a group or delegates meeting.

Double Room

A double room has one double bed for double occupancy. An extra bed may be added to this room on the request of a guest and charged accordingly. The size of the double bed is generally 4.5 feet by 6 feet.

Triple Room

A triple room has three separate single beds and can be occupied by three guests. This type of room is suitable for groups and delegates of meetings and conferences.

Quad Room

A quad room has four separate single beds and can accommodate four persons together in the same room.

Hollywood Twin Room

A Hollywood twin room has two single beds with a common headboard. This type of room is generally occupied by two guests.

Double-Double Room

A double-double room has two double beds and normally preferred by a family or group as it can accommodate four persons together.

King Room

A king room has a king-size bed. The size of the bed is 6 feet by 6 feet. An extra bed may be added to this room on the request of a guest and charged accordingly.

Queen Room

A queen room has a queen-size bed. The size of the bed is 5 feet by 6 feet. An extra bed may be added to this room on the request of a guest and charged accordingly.

Interconnecting Room

Interconnected rooms have a common wall and a door that connects the two rooms. This allows guests to access any of the two rooms without passing through a public area. This type of room is ideal for families and crew members.

Adjoining Room

Adjoining rooms share a wall with another hotel room but are not connected by the doors. For eg. Room no. 201 and 202, 203, and 204, 205 are adjoining as each pair of rooms shares a common wall.

Adjacent Room

An adjacent room is very close to another room but does not share a common wall with it.

Parlor Room

A parlor room has a living room without a bed and may have a sofa and chairs for sitting. It is generally not used as a bedroom.

Studio Room

A studio room has a bed and a sofa-cum-bed and is generally used as a living room.

Cabana

A cabana is situated away from the main hotel building, in the vicinity of a swimming pool or sea beach. It may not have beds and is generally used as a changing room and not as a bedroom.

Suite

A suite comprises more than one room; occasionally, it can also be a single large room with clearly defined sleeping and sitting areas. The décor of such units is of very high standards, aimed to please the affluent guest who can afford the high traffic of the room category.

Duplex

A duplex suite comprises two rooms situated on different floors, which are connected by an internal staircase. This suite is generally used by business guests who wish to use the lower level as an office and meeting place and the upper-level room as a bedroom. This type of room is quite expensive.

Efficiency Room

An efficiency room has an attached kitchen and bathroom for guests preferring a longer duration of stay. Generally, this type of room is found on holiday and health resorts where the guest stays for a longer time.

Hospitality Room

A hospitality room is designed for hotel guests who would want to entertain their own guests outside their allotted rooms. Such rooms are generally charged on an hourly basis.

Penthouse

A penthouse is generally located on the topmost floor of hotels and has an attached open terrace or open sky space. It has very opulent décor and furnishings and is among the costliest rooms in the hotels, preferred by celebrities and major political personalities.

Lanai

A lanai has a veranda or roofed patio and is often furnished and used as a living room. It generally has a view of a garden or sea beach.

Top Leaders in Hospitality Industry

They are those persons who contribute in the hospitality industry a lot. Some famous names are following as:

Ellsworth Statler

Ellsworth Statler is a famous name in the field of hospitality as he was one of the pioneers of this industry and contributing and contributed immensely to the development of the hospitality industry through his innovative ideas, which are still applicable in the various fields of the hospitality industry.

In 1908 A.D., he opened as an innovative hotel of its own kind during that time called Buffalo Statler which had the room with some modern facilities such as attached bathrooms, telephone facilities, and restaurant facilities.

Statler also contributed a great deal towards the international marketing efforts in the field of the hospitality industry. Statler was also very popular among his employees, as he believed in the concept of the internal marketing as he used to consider his employees as internal guests.

Conrad Hilton

Conrad Hilton is also a very famous name in the field of hospitality and was one of the pioneers of the modern hotel industry. Hilton becomes a famous and successful hotelier after World War I when he brought the Mobley hotel in Texas and built the Hilton Hotels in Dallas, Texas in 1925. After the World War II, he formed the Hilton Hotels Corporation in 1946 and then he formed Hilton International Company, which had about 125 hotels under its banner.

Hilton was the first major and organized hotel chain of American hotels when Conrad Hilton purchased the Statler chain of hotels in 1954. Today Hilton Hotels are spread in most of the countries of the world and includes Conrad International, Doubletree, Red Lions Hotels, Harrison Conference Centers, Homewood Suites and Embassy Suites.

J. Willard Marriott

J.W Marriot was another pioneering name in the world of the hospitality industry. He started the Marriott Chain of Hotels and thus became a frontline leader in the field of hospitality. He was thoroughly aware of the employees/consumer relationship and tried to make sure that his employees were totally satisfied with their job and working environment.

He had a strong marketing brain and could forecast the importance of airline catering business for various airlines operations and was the first to enter in the field of hospitality. In today scenario, Marriot Corporation is one of the leading companies in the field of hospitality with an annual sale of $7.5 billion and has a variety of food and beverage service operation under his banner.

The lodging chain of Marriott includes Marriott Hotels and Resorts, Marriott Suites, Residence Inns, Courtyard Hotels and Fairfield Inns.

Ralph Hitz

Ralph Hitz was also a very popular personality in the hospitality industry. He was the head of a large hotel organization in U.S.A called the National Hotel Company. His hotel management used to receive a management fee for running day by day administration of hotel owned by real estate investors.

Hitz had excellent marketing brain, as he was the first intellectual to develop a customer database for providing the guests of hotels with personalized service leading to guest satisfaction and overall profitability of the hotels. Hitz also believed in training and motivating the employees of the hotels to give and improved services for guest satisfaction.