hotel operations-1 (chapter-1).docx

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Introduction to Hotel operations -1

Prepared by: Vishnu Narayanan.V

Course Code: TMgt-M1031

Program Name: BA in Hotel Management

Chapter -1

Syllabus

Concept of Hospitality

Historical background of hospitality industry

Nature of Hospitality Industry

Traditional Style Hospitality for Visitors

Defining Hotels

Growth and Development of Hotel Industry around the world

Relationship between Hotel and Tourism

Concept of Hospitality

What is the meaning of HOSPITALITY? There have been different definitions

of Hospitality. Broadly speaking, Hospitality is the act of kindness in

welcoming and looking after the basic needs of guests or strangers, mainly in

relation to food, drink and accommodation. A contemporary explanation of

Hospitality refers to the relationship process between a guest and a host. When

we talk about the Hospitality Industry, we are referring to the companies or

organisations which provide food and/or drink and/or accommodation to people

who are away from home. However, this definition of the Hospitality Industry

only satisfies most situations. Can you think of any circumstances where the

phrase away from home would not be accurate?


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Historic background of Hospitality Industry

Early travellers were either warriors or traders or people in search of knowledge

and there were no hotels. Warriors and conquerors pitched their tents for

accommodation while traders and persons traveling for knowledge placed a

high value on hospitality and sometimes traded their merchandise for lodging.

Inn keeping can be said to be the first commercial enterprise and hospitality one

of the first service for which money was exchanged. Inns of the Biblical times

offered only a cot or a bench in the corner. Guests stayed in large communal

rooms with no sanitation and privacy.

The rates were, of course, reasonable. The company was rough. Travellers

shared the same quarters with their horses and animals. King James Version of

Bible mentions that a Bethlehem innkeeper turned Mary and Joseph away,

because there was "no room at the inn". According to Biblical scholars the

innkeeper may have meant that the room was unsuitable for a woman about to

give birth to a child. At that time, and probably for several centuries after that,

men and women shared the same accommodation accompanied by their horses

and livestock. The stable where Mary and Joseph spent the night was probably

almost as comfortable as an inn and at the same time certainly more private than

the inn itself.

In the 3rd century AD, the Roman Empire, developed an extensive network of

brick paved roads throughout Europe and Asia Minor, and a chain of roadside

lodges was constructed along the major thoroughfare from Spain to Turkey.


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Till the Industrial Revolution of the 1700s, no significant improvement was

made in the inns, and taverns and they were not very suitable for aristocrats.

To accommodate wealthy travellers, luxurious structures were constructed with

private rooms, individual sanitation and comforts of a European castle. These

elegant new establishments adopted the French word for mansion-'Hotel'. Their

rates were beyond the reach of an ordinary person.

In America early inns were-modelled after European taverns with sleeping

quarters shared by two or more guests.

Herman Melville in his novel Moby Dick has mentioned about a seaman who

checked into a room of a nineteenth century inn and next morning woke up to

find out that he was sharing the bed with a cannibal. Sharing beds was a very

common practice in early American and European inns. Throughout the 1800s

American innkeepers improved their services and continued to build larger and

more amply equipped properties and most of these properties were located near

seaport towns.

The tendency of Americans to travel more provided an inspiration to lodging

operators. The nation's democratic spirit also led to the development of

comfortable and sanitary lodging within the reach of an ordinary person.

Nature of the Hospitality Industry


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Chapter -1

Basically for all those who are away from their home, hospitality industry

provides services. Hospitality industry consists of those businesses and

institutions and (provide food, and lodging-such as hotels, motels, lodges) inns,

cruise ships and restaurants etc. To some extent it also inc1udes the airlines

industry. In a broad sense, any group engaged in tourism, entertainment,

transportation and lodging are covered under hospitality.

Hospitality industry is a part of travel and tourism industry. Early travellers

were mostly warriors, businessmen, and scholars in search of knowledge or

people in search of occupation. Mostly warriors would pitch their tents for

accommodation while businessmen would look for a comfortable and safe

place; and would often pay through their merchandise or cash to people

providing them accommodation and food. The poor people traveling to far off

places in search of job or occupation were provided the facilities of food and

accommodation free of charges. As per some authentic sources, to facilitate

travel throughout Western Europe a highway was constructed in 312 BC. Travel

could be done on this highway by chariots. Later in 117 AD this roadway was

reconstructed and covered a distance of nearly 50,000 miles.

Hospitality business now is both profits making as well as non-profit making.

For example, commercial hotels are profit making while canteens, cafeterias

and religious catering outlets such as langars and bhandaras are non-profit

making.


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Chapter -1

Hospitality industry provides services, which are need oriented, and the services

vary with the needs. For example, the needs of a business executive shall be a

business hotel while the needs of a student are generally a youth hostel.

Traditional Style Hospitality for Visitors

In different parts of the world, traditional style hospitality is provided. For

example, ladies decorated with flowers greet the guests in Honolulu. In some

countries, local people gather to welcome visitors -at airports. Providing

shoeshine service for every guest in the morning in a hotel in Bangkok is a part

of welcome to the guests. In one of the hotels in Mauritius, after the dinner

service is over the staffs collects in the dining area and sings local songs in the

honour of the guests. Memorizing the names of the guests and addressing them

by their names is another way of providing hospitality.

Hospitality in one of the hotels in France is shown by singing melodious songs

at the time of departure of a guest.

Traditional ways of providing hospitality in Ethiopia varies from place to place.

Ethiopians have always been known for their hospitality. In fact in the recent

past, couples are known to welcome any visitor, allow them to sleep on their

bed and wash their feet. Although this generosity has faded away in urban areas,

there is still hospitality among Ethiopians which have never failed to amaze

visitors to the country. The hospitality of Ethiopians reaches such an extent that

it is sometimes misunderstood by tourists.

All the above-mentioned examples along with many others reflect the concept

of hospitality provided by highly trained and experienced staff. Through their

sincere efforts every guest feels like a VIP and a welcome syndrome is


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Chapter -1

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica the word 'Hotel' is of ancient origin,

but its use in English for a house offering lodging and food for travellers is

recent. The Hostellers of London took the name of Inn keeping in 1473. The

world Hostler' or 'Ostler' having come to mean an inn servant.

The term 'Hotel' was used in England in about 1760. British law as a place

where a bonafide traveller can receive food and shelter provided he is in a

position to pay for and is in a fit condition to be receiveddefines hotel or inn.

In legal terminology a: hotel is an inn and is required under common law to

offer to its visitors lodging, food and protection, to their baggage. Hotel service

is generally based on these three fundamental necessities of life. In addition to

these a modem hotel provides its visitors many luxuries of modem urban cityliving, all under one roof.

1. Inns Public houses in early times in England were called inns. Normally the

term 'Inn' was meant for the finer establishments catering to nobilities and

clergy: In France these were ca1led HOTELLERIES.

2. Taverns. The house frequented by common man was known as taverns. The

less important establishment in France were called CABARETS.

3. Hostel Derived from the word' Host' and was used very late. The head of the

hostel was called" HOSTELER' in French, while in England he was called

'Inn-Keeper'.


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Chapter -1

Growth and Development of Hotel Industry around the world

Early history of accommodation for travellers can be traced back to the Greek

word 'Xenia', which not only meant hospitality but also the protection given to a

traveller from discomforts. The city was bound to offer hospitality. In Sparta

city, although due to rigorous customs visitors were not encouraged, yet

goddess Athena was considered as protector of strangers and hence her name

was 'Xenia Athena'.

In this period travellers were mainly diplomats, philosophers; intellectuals arid

researchers. Guests were invited to stay with noblemen. In ancient Olympia,

buildings constructed with the aim to accommodate strangers can be seen. They

were called 'Leonidio' and were, built in 4th century B.C. The concept of

hospitality can also be drawn back to ancient times. Homer finds mention of it

in Iliad and The Odyssey.

Hotel keeping can also be traced back to many centuries and its evolution

through the, ages has been brought about by Britains economic and industrial

changes and developments.

During the seventh and eighth centuries, it was thee monasteries that applied

hospitality to strangers and, as no charge was made for the accommodation, a

travellers were expected to contribute according to their means to the Abeey

funds. As more people began to travel they grouped themselves together not

only for company but for mutual protection from highway and robbers.


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Chapter -1

Consequently travellers arrived in groups at a monastery and it was often

difficult to accommodate them all.

To overcome this, separate lodging houses, called 'Inns' (a Saxon word) were

built. The word 'inn' came to mean a 'Lodging House' and until the passing of

the Hotel proprietors Act in 1956, it was the legal term for 'Hotel' and hotel

proprietors were legally referred to as 'Common innkeepers'. 'Common' in this

sense referred to Common Law.

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, manor houses, being hospitable

'places; willingly gave accommodation to travellers. As no payment was

expected, travellers tipped the servants as a 'thank you' for the generous

hospitality received-thus the practice of tipping was born.

When high taxes crippled the generosity and hospitality of the owners of the

manor houses, many became commercial inns. During Elizabeth the First's

reign, posting houses were established and travellers, in addition to getting

refreshment were able to change horses before continuing their journey.

The turn of the century saw an era that was called the 'Belle Epochwhen thegrand and luxurious hotels flourished. A few hotels are still operating today. In

London and some other citysattempts have been made to recapture some of the

grandeur of the past era in the making of modem hotels, and bring back the

memories the grand hotels of olden days.


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The next stage in the cycle of evolution of the hotel industry was the coming of

the motorcar. It enabled people to visit those parts of the country not reached by

railways. This gave birth to inland resorts and the hotel Industry began to

flourish.

International air, travel has helped create the modem 'stop-over' hotel. With the

increase in this form of travel, the number of hotels built close to airports has

multiplied.

Another trend in hotel keeping is the motel, which is the twentieth-century

version of the old 'Coach Inn'. People traveling the country by car, stopping

overnight here and there; require not only refreshment for themselves, but also

safe parking for their cars. Post Houses, developed by the Trust House Forte

Group are in fact the modern version of the old coaching inns.

Relationship between Hotel and Tourism


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Chapter -1

The hotel and tourism industry (H&T industry) meets the needs of people with

kindness and goodwill while they are away from their homes.

The H&T industry has four service sectors: food and beverage, lodging,

recreation, and travel and tourism.

The food and beverage industry, also known as the foodservice industry,

consists of businesses that prepare food for customers. The number of people

employed in foodservice industry is expected to double by 2015 toapproximately 22 million people.

Lodging, also known as accommodation, is a place to sleep for one or more

nights. A business in the lodging industry provides a place for people to sleep

overnight. It can be one of many sleeping places such as a fancy hotel, a youth

hostel, an elder hostel, a campground, or highway side motel

Recreation is any activity that people do for rest, relaxation, and enjoyment.

The goal of recreation is to refresh apersons body and mind. Any business thatprovides an activity for rest, relaxation, and enjoyment in order to refresh a

persons body and mind is in the recreation business. Recreation businesses are

incredibly diverse because people have varying ideas on what activities they

participate in for rest, relaxation and enjoyment. There are four general types of

recreation businesses: entertainment, attractions, spectator sports, and

participatory sports.

The travel industry is in the business of moving people from place to place

while the tourism industry provides those people with services that promote

travel and vacations. Busses, planes, cabs, boats, and passenger trains are all

part of the travel industry while travel agencies, tour operators, cruise

companies, convention planners, and visitors bureaus are all part of the tourism

industry.


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