Hotels

 

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, business centre (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 richer 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.

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 pressing 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 park. Boutique hotels are typically hotels with a unique environment or intimate setting. A number of hotels have entered the public consciousness through popular culture, such as the Ritz Hotel in London. 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.

As we travel, as we all do, our migration from one place to another must stop somewhere due to exhaustion (and take a pee). We can ever go so far without stopping for a bite to eat, a potty break and a nap.

Our first travels required sleeping in the dirt with no shelter. As more trails began to follow a way station would appear for stagecoaches to deliver mail and carry passengers.

To entertain and refresh the traveler’s taverns offered food and drink and a room for a night. These inns would offer a room with a bed and a table. Some had windows. Some had privy pots. Some offered meals. Some became brothels.

The highway system was created to assist travels using the modern automobile to venture through the areas that were foreign before. Along the line of concrete and asphalt, mobile filling stations popped up fueling the travelers. The most popular stops also offered food and a room to park the car and sleep for a night. The motels were popular for families and as ‘no-tell’ motels.

The boarding houses in cities became swanky hotels with doormen, reservations, concierge service, room cleaning, restaurants, pools, gyms, parking and bars. To attend a hotel became a pampering experience.

A hotel room is just that. A room provided a bed, a chair, and table with a lamp, a telephone, a Gideon bible, a television (bolted to the floor), and a dresser. There may be a window with a view of the ocean or the parking lot. The bathroom had stiff towels and the warm bath depended what floor you were on. The walls had some sort of manufactured artwork and hopefully some fire alarm.

The hotel room was mostly abandoned during the stay but it was a place to store your stuff while you travel. Now they have safes available to store your valuables that state it’s own story. The phones and cameras and wallets will probably lost along the travels rather than in the room. Don’t know if there is hotel insurance?

Now if one room is not enough, there are suites available with a living room separate from the bedroom. This is like a two-room apartment. With enough cash, an entire floor can be rented for your stay.

Checking in and opening the door with a key or a punch card, everything looks pristine and welcoming (just like when you return home). Your room appears that no one stayed here the night before and don’t forget to tip. In the 5-star hotels the expectations of quality are assumed while the roadside motels hope for a night sleep without getting a rat bite.

They all have ice machines in the hallways and a vending machine for a coke or a dr. pepper. They all have entertainment from their roommates because the walls are very thin.

I’ve stayed in a few hotels. Some were very nice. Some were not. I never worked at a hotel but my father did manage some. Like many of the hospitality service industry, the room should be clean and neat, the room service polite and convenient, and a smile at the desk for whatever problem arise.

When you return home with all the stuff you hauled around and settle back into your routine, why do you need more than one room?

Sorry room service won’t answer.