A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging Lodging is a type of residential accommodation. People who travel and stay away from home for more than a day need lodging for sleep, rest, safety, shelter from cold temperatures or rain, storage of luggage and access to common household functions on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation Lodging is a type of residential accommodation. People who travel and stay away from home for more than a day need lodging for sleep, rest, safety, shelter from cold temperatures or rain, storage of luggage and access to common household functions, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed A bed ( listen ) is a large piece of furniture (or a location) used as a place to sleep, and as a primary place for relaxation and sexual activity, a cupboard A cupboard or press (Hiberno-English) is a type of cabinet, often made of wood, used indoors to store household objects such as food, crockery, textiles and liquor, and protect them from dust and dirt, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern Modern history, or the modern era, describes the historical timeline after the Middle Ages. Modern history can be further broken down into the early modern period and the late modern period. Contemporary history describes the span of historic events that are immediately relevant to the present time facilities, including en-suite bathrooms A bathroom is a room that may have different functions depending on the culturalist context. In the most literal sense, the word bathroom means "a room with a bath". Because the traditional bathtubs have partly made way for modern showers, including steam showers, the more general definition is "a room where one bathes". There and air conditioning Air conditioning is the cooling of indoor air for thermal comfort. In a broader sense, the term can refer to any form of cooling, heating, ventilation, or disinfection that modifies the condition of air. An air conditioner is an appliance, system, or machine designed to stabilise the air temperature and humidity within an area (used for cooling as or climate control HVAC is an acronym that stands for the closely related functions of "Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning" - the technology of indoor or automotive environmental comfort. HVAC system design is a major subdiscipline of mechanical engineering, based on the principles of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer. Additional common features found in hotel rooms are a telephone The telephone , commonly referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sound, most commonly the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to one another. It is one of the most common household, an alarm clock, a television, and Internet connectivity; snack foods and drinks may be supplied in a mini-bar Typically, a mini-bar comes in the form of a counter and small refrigerator stocked with a precise inventory. The room's guests can take a beverage or snack at any time during their stay. The bar is commonly stocked with small bottles of alcoholic beverages, juice, and soft drinks as well as candy , cookies (sweet biscuits), crackers (savoury, and facilities for making hot drinks. Larger hotels may provide a number of additional guest facilities such as a restaurant, a swimming pool or childcare, and have conference and social function services. Hotel rooms are usually numbered A room number is a number assigned to a room within a building. Its purpose is to identify a particular room, and help visitors locate that room. Room numbers may consist of three digits, but can be any number of digits (or named in some smaller hotels and B&Bs A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals. Typically, bed and breakfasts are private homes with fewer than 10 bedrooms available for commercial use) to allow guests to identify their room.

Some hotels offer meals as part of a room and board arrangement. In the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland[note 7] is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land, a hotel is required by law to serve food and drinks to all guests within certain stated hours; to avoid this requirement it is not uncommon to come across private hotels which are not subject to this requirement.^{[citation needed]} In Japan, capsule hotels The guest space is reduced in size to a modular plastic or fiberglass block roughly 2 m by 1 m by 1.25 m, providing room to sleep. Facilities range in entertainment offerings . These capsules are stacked side by side and two units top to bottom, with steps providing access to the second level rooms. Luggage is stored in a locker, usually somewhere provide a minimized amount of room space and shared facilities.

In the United Kingdom, Australia For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who belonged to one or more of the roughly 250 language groups. After sporadic visits by fishermen from the immediate north and discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by the British, Canada The land occupied by Canada was inhabited for millennia by various groups of Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored, and later settled, along the Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three and Ireland Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɪərlənd/ , locally [ˈaɾlənd], Irish: Éire, pronounced [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen)), described as the Republic of Ireland (Irish: Poblacht na hÉireann), is a country in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned into two jurisdictions in 1921 (and rarely in some parts of the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language), the word may also refer to a pub A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises in countries and regions of British influence. Although the terms are increasingly used to refer to the same thing, there is a definitive difference between pubs, bars, inns, taverns and lounges where alcohol is or bar A bar is an establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises and might not offer accommodation.^{[citation needed]} In India India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with 1.18 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Mainland India is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the and Bangladesh Bangladesh (Bengali: বাংলাদেশ, pronounced /bæŋgləˈdɛʃ/; Bangladesh), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh (Bengali: গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ Gônoprojatontri Banglādeśh) is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma, the word may also refer to a restaurant.

Etymology

The word hotel is derived from the French French is a Romance language spoken as a first language by about 136 million people worldwide. Around 190 million people speak French as a second language, and an additional 200 million speak it as an acquired foreign language. French speaking communities are present in 57 countries and territories. Most native speakers of the language live in hôtel (coming from hôte meaning host), which referred to a French version of a townhouse A townhouse is the term historically used in the United Kingdom, Ireland and in many other countries to describe a residence of a peer or member of the aristocracy in the capital or major city. Most such figures owned one or more country houses in which they lived for much of the year. During the social season (when major balls and drawing rooms or any other building seeing frequent visitors, rather than a place offering accommodation. In contemporary French usage, hôtel now has the same meaning as the English English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into South-East Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria. Following the economic, political, military, scientific, cultural, and colonial influence of Great Britain and the United Kingdom from the 18th century, and of term, and hôtel particulier In French contexts an hôtel particulier is an urban "private house" of a grand sort. Whereas an ordinary maison was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side and directly fronting on a street, an hôtel particulier was often free-standing, and by the eighteenth century it would always be located entre is used for the old meaning. The French spelling, with the circumflex The circumflex is a diacritic mark used in the written forms of many languages, and is also commonly used in various romanization and transcription schemes. It received its English name from Latin circumflexus (bent about)—a translation of the Greek περισπωμένη (perispōménē), was also used in English, but is now rare. The circumflex replaces the 's' found in the earlier hostel Hostels provide budget oriented, sociable accommodation where guests can rent a bed, sometimes a bunk bed, in a dormitory and share a bathroom, lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex, although private rooms may also be available. Hostels are generally cheaper for both the operator and the occupants; many hostels have long- spelling, which over time took on a new, but closely related meaning. Grammatically, hotels usually take the definite article An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun, in some languages extending to volume or numerical scope. The articles in the English language are the, a, and an - hence "The Astoria Hotel" or simply "The Astoria".

Classification

Hotels are also classified^{[by whom?]} by service type ranging for all-inclusive full-service resorts that cater to vacationers to small limited service hotels that cater to transient business travelers. The main categories of hotels are as follows;

• Full Service Upscale
  • Examples include Conrad Hotels Conrad Hotels is an international brand of upscale luxury hotels and resorts owned and operated by the Hilton Worldwide. Conrad was considered the luxury flagship brand in the Hilton Family of Brands, named after company founder Conrad Hilton, until being supplanted by the The Waldorf-Astoria Collection in 2006, Ritz Carlton The Ritz-Carlton is a brand of luxury hotels and resorts with 71 properties located in major cities and resorts in 23 countries worldwide. It also has major service training operations in its Ritz-Carlton Learning Institute and Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center, created by Ritz-Carlton executive Leonardo Inghilleri, where nearly 50,000 executives, Four Seasons Hotels Four Seasons Hotels, Inc. is a five-star Canadian-based international luxury hotel chain. It is considered among the finest luxury hotels worldwide, according to Travel + Leisure magazine and Zagat Survey, and operates 78 hotels in 32 countries including 22 AAA Five-Diamond properties, and JW Marriott
• Full Service
  • Examples include Hilton Hilton Hotels is an international chain of full-service hotels and resorts founded by Conrad Hilton and now owned by the Hilton Worldwide. Hilton Hotels are either owned, managed, or franchised to independent operators by the Hilton Hotels Corporation. As of 2008[update] there are 533 Hilton branded hotels across the world. Hilton Hotels became, Marriott Marriott International, Inc. is a worldwide operator and franchisor of a broad portfolio of hotels and related lodging facilities. Founded by J. Willard Marriott, the company is now led by son J.W. (Bill) Marriott, Jr. Today, Marriott International has about 3,150 lodging properties located in the United States and 67 other countries and, Doubletree, and Hyatt Hyatt Center is the headquarters for Hyatt corporation. Prior to this, the corporate headquarters was around the corner at 200 West Madison Street
• Select Service
  • Examples include Courtyard by Marriott Courtyard by Marriott is a brand of hotels owned by Marriott International. Courtyard by Marriott is designed for business travelers. Its rooms feature large desks, couches, free high speed Internet access, and "big" breakfasts. The majority of locations have full-service restaurants, and all have 24-hour "mini-marts," called & and Hilton Garden Inn Hilton Garden Inn is a chain of hotels trademarked by the Hilton Worldwide. Hilton Garden Inns are considered to be moderate-scale mid-priced hotels that are designed for both business and leisure travelers. The hotel brand is similar to that of the Courtyard by Marriott brand, a key competitor. Similar to other Hilton brands, most Hilton Garden
• Limited Service
  • Examples include Hampton Inn Hampton Hotels, Hampton Inn, Hampton Inn & Suites, and Hampton by Hilton are the names of a brand of hotels trademarked by Hilton Worldwide. Most Hampton hotels are independently owned and operated by franchisees, though a few are owned and/or managed by the Hilton Hotels Corporation. Hotels marked Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton offer, Fairfield Inn, Days Inn, and La Quinta Inn
• Extended Stay
  • Examples include Homewood Suites by Hilton, Residence Inn by Marriott Residence Inn by Marriott is a brand of extended stay hotels. The chain was launched in 1975 in Wichita, Kansas by Jack DeBoer, and acquired by Marriott International in 1987. As of April 2005, there were over 450 Residence Inn hotels in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The brand's slogan is Your home away from home. It was the first extended-, and Extended Stay Hotels Extended Stay Hotels is a privately owned hotel brand that operates in the extended stay hotel market. The company is headquartered in Spartanburg, South Carolina
• Timeshare A timeshare is a form of ownership or right to the use of a property, or the term used to describe such properties. These properties are typically resort condominium units, in which multiple parties hold rights to use the property, and each sharer is allotted a period of time in which they may use the property. Units may be on a part-ownership or
  • Examples include Marriott Vacation Club, Westgate Resorts, and Disney Vacation Club Disney Vacation Club is a vacation timeshare owned by The Walt Disney Company. It allows buying real estate interest in a DVC resort. Disney Vacation Club's President is Jim Lewis
• Destination Club Destination clubs were "invented" in 1998, when Rob McGrath, a veteran of the luxury timeshare development business, launched Private Retreats. Since then over 30 companies have launched clubs targeting affluent families that want the benefits of second home ownership, but with more flexibility and choice. During the global economic

Historic hotels

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. 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.

A number of hotels have entered the public consciousness through popular culture, such as the Ritz Hotel in London, United Kingdom, 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). The Waldorf Astoria and Statler hotels in New York City are also immortalized in the names of Muppets Statler and Waldorf.^{[citation needed]}

The luxurious Grand Hotel Europe in Saint Petersburg, Russia achieved fame with its inclusion in the James Bond film GoldenEye.

Unusual hotels

Many hotels can be considered destinations in themselves, by dint of unusual features of the lodging or its immediate environment:

Treehouse hotels

Some hotels are built with living trees as structural elements, for example the Costa Rica Tree House in the Gandoca-Manzanillo 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.

Bunker hotels

The Null Stern Hotel in Teufen, Appenzellerland, Switzerland and the Concrete Mushrooms in Albania^[1] 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.

Capsule hotels

Capsule hotels are a type of economical hotel that are found in Japan, where people sleep in stacks of rectangular containers.

Ice and snow hotels

The Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden, and the Hotel de Glace in Duschenay, Canada, melt every spring and are rebuilt each winter; 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.

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.

Underwater hotels

Some hotels have accommodation underwater, such as Utter Inn in Lake Mälaren, Sweden. Hydropolis, project cancelled 2004 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.

Other unusual hotels

• 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 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 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 due to its pyramidal structure.
• The Liberty Hotel in Boston, used to be the Charles Street Jail.
• 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.
• There are several hotels thoughout the world built into converted airliners.

Resort hotels

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

In Las Vegas there is a tradition of one-upmanship with luxurious and extravagant hotels in a concentrated area known as the Las Vegas Strip. 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.^[2]

In Europe Center Parcs might be considered a chain of resort hotels, since the sites are largely man-made (though set in natural surroundings such as country parks) with captive trade, whereas holiday camps such as Butlins and Pontin's are probably not considered as resort hotels, since they are set at traditional holiday destinations which existed before the camps.

Railway hotels

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 also in London is the Chiltern Court Hotel above Baker Street tube station and Canada's grand railway hotels. They are or were mostly, but not exclusively, used by those travelling by rail.

Motels

A motel (Motor Hotel) is a hotel which is for a short stay, usually for a night, for motorists on long journeys. It has direct access from the room to the vehicle (for example a central parking lot around which the buildings are set), and is built conveniently close to major roads and intersections.

World record setting hotels

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.^[3]

Oldest

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the oldest hotel still in operation is the Hoshi Ryokan, in the Awazu Onsen area of Komatsu, Japan which opened in 718.^[4]

Tallest

Burj Al Arab in United Arab Emirates is the tallest building used exclusively as a hotel.^[5] However, the Rose Tower, also in Dubai, which has already topped Burj Al Arab's height at 333 m (1,093 ft), will take away this title upon its opening.^[6][7][8]

Hotel rooms as an investment

Some hotels sell individual rooms to investors. The buyer is allowed to stay in the room without charge or at a reduced rate for a given number of days each year. The investor is paid a share of the takings for the room. Rooms can be sold on a leasehold basis, sometimes on a 999 year lease. Room owners are free to sell at any time.^[9]

Living in hotels

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

• 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 he raised his hand and told the diners "it was the food".^[10]

• Inventor Nikola Tesla lived last 10 years of his life at the New Yorker Hotel until 1943 when he died in the hotel room.

• Millionaire, Howard Hughes lived his last few years in a Las Vegas hotel.

Fictitious hotels

Hotels have been used as the settings for television programmes such as the British situation comedies Fawlty Towers and I'm Alan Partridge, the British soap opera Crossroads, and in films such as the Bates Motel in Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho and The Dolphin Hotel in 1408, a short story by Stephen King which was adapted into a 2007 film. Most notably perhaps is the Tipton Hotel, a ficticious hotel in Disney's "The suite life of Zack and Cody". When the show later became a spinoff into "The suite life on deck", the Tipton evolved in the SS Tipton, run by the same company.

See also

Industry and careers

• Bellhop
• Concierge
• Front desk clerk, a type of clerk
• General manager
• Hospitality industry
• Hotel chains
• Hotel toilet-paper folding
• Hotels
• Innkeeper
• Night auditor
• Property caretaker
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR)
• Security guard
• Tourism
• Transient occupancy tax (Canada)

Human habitation types

• Apartment hotel
• Bed and breakfast
• Boutique hotel
• Cruise ship
• Eco hotel
• Guest House
• Homestay
• Hospitality service
• Hostal
• Hostel
• Human habitats
• Inn
• Luxury resort
• Motel
• Serviced apartment
• Vacation rental

References

1. ^ Been-seen.com
2. ^ "The 25 Largest Hotels in the World". http://www.vegastodayandtomorrow.com/largesthotels.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
3. ^ Genting's First World Recognized As World's Largest Hotel, Bernama.com
4. ^ Hoshi Ryokan website, accessed 22 June 2008
5. ^ "World's Tallest Hotels". Emporis. March 2008. http://www.emporis.com/en/bu/sk/st/tp/ty/ho/. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
6. ^ The opening of the Rose Tower was originally scheduled to take place in April 2008, but has still not opened as of late May 2008.
7. ^ "Rotana to bring 10,000 more rooms under management". Gulf News. 2007-11-22. http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/11/22/10169274.html. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
8. ^ "Four Dubai Openings For Rotana Hotels". Rotana Hotels. 2008-01. http://www.rotana.com/specialoffersco-1397.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
9. ^ Sam Dunn; Judith Heywood (2007-09-07). "Overnight profit". The Times. http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/investment/article2399656.ece. Retrieved 2009-11-04.
10. ^ Home Suite Home – BBC News

Further reading

• Lundberg, Donald E., The Hotel and Restaurant Business, Boston : Cahners Books, 1974. ISBN 0843620447

Categories: Hotels | Tourist accommodations

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• Hotel: Encyclopedia
• Hotel Manager: Encyclopedia
• WorldHotel-Link: Encyclopedia
• Destination Hotel: Encyclopedia

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