Introduction to Hospitality
Introduction
Hospitality is treating people like you would want to be treated when you are traveling. In
other words, it means making a tourist feel totally welcome not only as your guest but also as
the guest of the complete family of the Hotel. Hospitality is a genuine smiling face.
Hospitality can be termed as a deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and
maintain mutual understanding between an organization and the public i.e., the business of
making and keeping friends, and promoting an atmosphere of better understanding.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “the act or practice of being hospitable; the
reception and entertainment of guests, visitors or strangers”. The word hospitality is derived
from the Latin word “Hospitalitias”
Hospitality is the relationship process, presentation, formality and procedure experienced
between a visitor/ customer/ guest and a host. It specifically includes the reception and
entertainment of those who require or invited to experience an organization's service.
Hospitality can be termed as a deliberate, planned and sustained effort to
establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organization and the
public i.e., the business of making and keeping friends, and promoting an atmosphere of
better understanding.
As per the Oxford Dictionary Hospitality is defined as: Reception and entertainment of guest,
visitors or strangers with liberality and goodwill. ‘The word hospitality is derived from the
Latin word "Hospitalitias”
This is a customary in these days for hotels to get themselves graded. The star Taking all this
into account is in order so as to provide excellent customer service. The way in which
different cultures and subcultures expect to be treated in terms of the hospitality offered
wavers greatly and it is important that hospitality is measured in terms of what the customer
expects as opposed to what the employees themselves expect
According to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS 2012), the
hospitality industry is classified as part of the larger service-providing industry and is divided
into two sectors: food and accommodation services and arts and entertainment. The hotel and
restaurant industries are included within the food and accommodation sector. People who
work at an amusement park are included within the arts and entertainment sector. Within the
food and accommodation sector, there are two sub-sectors: accommodation and food services
and drinking places. Establishments such as hotels, which provide customers with lodging,
and places that prepare meals, snacks or beverages for immediate consumption are
considered hospitality establishments. Job descriptions within the food and beverage
hospitality industry include hotel and resort desk clerks, fast food cooks, restaurant cooks,
waiters, waitresses and combined food preparation and serving workers.
Very frequently we hear phrases like “He is always hospitable to his visitors”, “We are
grateful to friends for their hospitality in putting us up while we were on holiday”, “She is so
inhospitable that she grudges giving us anything to eat or drink when we visit her”, etc. All
such statements are suggesting a positive or negative attitude of welcome towards visitors;
friends or strangers. Hospitality activity covers everything, providing attentive and courteous
services, facilities and amenities to a traveller, meeting and greeting him at the door,
providing efficient and caring service of food and beverage to him in his room i.e., providing
“A Home away from Home”, and making his visit a memorable and pleasant experience.
Reception, welcome and, the treatment of a guest or a stranger in the friendliest manner is
Hospitality. In most of the countries all over the world, a guest is received with a great
,amount of courtesy and warmth and is provided with entertainment. The basic concept of
Hospitality is to make the guest feel that he has come amongst friends and that Guests Are
Always Welcome. Although the basic concept of hospitality has remained the same, yet with
the passage of time and development of technology and science, the needs and wants of
travellers have changed greatly thus providing numerous services and facilities in terms of
accommodation and other basic needs such as food and beverages. In olden days kings, lords,
maharajas, landlords, and sometimes the panchayats used to provide food and shelter to
travellers and their animals free of charge and it used to be a benevolent activity. But with the
passage of time, it has not only remained a benevolent activity but has also become a
flourishing business.
A part of hospitality activity is being attentive, alert, and cordial with the guest without
forcing yourself and your ideas on him, and at the same time being very polite and
cooperative. All those working in the hospitality industry have one common objective
‘Creating an image of friendly reception and treatment ‘for guests and visitors.
The travel and tourism industry can be segregated into five main parts and
further it shows the various sub components of each part. The hospitality industry
consist of lodging and food and beverage operations plus institutional food and
beverage services which do not cater to the traveling public. Lodging operations
stand apart from other travel and tourism businesses since they offer overnight
accommodations to their guests. Many lodging properties provide food and beverage service,
recreational activities and more.
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.
ORIGINS OF HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
Early travelers 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 for hospitality and one of the
first services for which money was exchanged. 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. Inns of the Biblical times offered only a cot or a bench in the comer.
,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 the Bible mentions that Mary and Joseph were turned away by a
Bethlehem innkeeper 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. 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. 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 travelers, 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.
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.
In America, early inns were modeled after European taverns with sleeping quarters shared by
two or more guests.
Herman Melville in his novel Moby Dick has mentioned a seaman who checked into a room
of a nineteenth-century inn and the 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.
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.
, 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 Hospitality industry in Kenya
This is traced back in the migration and settlement of ethnic groups messengers who were
sent on foot and they were accommodated where night found them. when the 1st Arab to visit
was Henry the navigator who arrived at the Kenyan coast and he was accommodated by the
community and the place. this hospitality stay in Kenya attracted more Arabs to trade in ivory
and slaves. The traders needed accommodation thus leading to establishment of hospitality
premises along the coast region of Kenya. Also in the colonialism era accelerated the growth
and development of hospitality industry since where some communities were hospitable
while others were hostile. In the construction of the famous railway lead to construction of
hospitality establishments set up to cater for the labourers e.g. Stanley hotel.
The Kenyan hospitality industry evolved at the coast due to Arab traders and the railway line
construction workers. Their presence necessitated the building of the first catering
establishment at the coast which was known as the Grand Hotel of Mombasa built at the
present site of Manor Hotel. After the country fell under the British colonization, there was
need to access Uganda and the railway was constructed leading to more catering units being
established along the railway line for the workers.
Later during the 1960's the government took initiative which lead to further development of
hospitality establishments.
By 1960, some hotels such as Norfolk had reached international five stars rating. Later in
1975, hospitality training was also started at Kenya Utalii College but had a limited capacity.
To supply the growing demand, there was proliferation of private and public universities and
colleges which had a varied curriculum. Kenya has over 485 licensed hotels of international
standards to choose from. Kenya hotels present the most diverse range of accommodation to
suit every taste. Class, elegance, ambiance and quality service are the major distinguishing
factors of Kenya ‘s hotels and game lodge.
Kenya hotels are graded in accordance with the star classifications system. They range from
the small town hotels to the five-star town and beach hotels. The criteria for classification are
complex but include the size and fittings in bedrooms, the extent of services, the quality of
food, the available recreational facilities and the hotel's location. The Hotels & Restaurants
Introduction
Hospitality is treating people like you would want to be treated when you are traveling. In
other words, it means making a tourist feel totally welcome not only as your guest but also as
the guest of the complete family of the Hotel. Hospitality is a genuine smiling face.
Hospitality can be termed as a deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and
maintain mutual understanding between an organization and the public i.e., the business of
making and keeping friends, and promoting an atmosphere of better understanding.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “the act or practice of being hospitable; the
reception and entertainment of guests, visitors or strangers”. The word hospitality is derived
from the Latin word “Hospitalitias”
Hospitality is the relationship process, presentation, formality and procedure experienced
between a visitor/ customer/ guest and a host. It specifically includes the reception and
entertainment of those who require or invited to experience an organization's service.
Hospitality can be termed as a deliberate, planned and sustained effort to
establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organization and the
public i.e., the business of making and keeping friends, and promoting an atmosphere of
better understanding.
As per the Oxford Dictionary Hospitality is defined as: Reception and entertainment of guest,
visitors or strangers with liberality and goodwill. ‘The word hospitality is derived from the
Latin word "Hospitalitias”
This is a customary in these days for hotels to get themselves graded. The star Taking all this
into account is in order so as to provide excellent customer service. The way in which
different cultures and subcultures expect to be treated in terms of the hospitality offered
wavers greatly and it is important that hospitality is measured in terms of what the customer
expects as opposed to what the employees themselves expect
According to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS 2012), the
hospitality industry is classified as part of the larger service-providing industry and is divided
into two sectors: food and accommodation services and arts and entertainment. The hotel and
restaurant industries are included within the food and accommodation sector. People who
work at an amusement park are included within the arts and entertainment sector. Within the
food and accommodation sector, there are two sub-sectors: accommodation and food services
and drinking places. Establishments such as hotels, which provide customers with lodging,
and places that prepare meals, snacks or beverages for immediate consumption are
considered hospitality establishments. Job descriptions within the food and beverage
hospitality industry include hotel and resort desk clerks, fast food cooks, restaurant cooks,
waiters, waitresses and combined food preparation and serving workers.
Very frequently we hear phrases like “He is always hospitable to his visitors”, “We are
grateful to friends for their hospitality in putting us up while we were on holiday”, “She is so
inhospitable that she grudges giving us anything to eat or drink when we visit her”, etc. All
such statements are suggesting a positive or negative attitude of welcome towards visitors;
friends or strangers. Hospitality activity covers everything, providing attentive and courteous
services, facilities and amenities to a traveller, meeting and greeting him at the door,
providing efficient and caring service of food and beverage to him in his room i.e., providing
“A Home away from Home”, and making his visit a memorable and pleasant experience.
Reception, welcome and, the treatment of a guest or a stranger in the friendliest manner is
Hospitality. In most of the countries all over the world, a guest is received with a great
,amount of courtesy and warmth and is provided with entertainment. The basic concept of
Hospitality is to make the guest feel that he has come amongst friends and that Guests Are
Always Welcome. Although the basic concept of hospitality has remained the same, yet with
the passage of time and development of technology and science, the needs and wants of
travellers have changed greatly thus providing numerous services and facilities in terms of
accommodation and other basic needs such as food and beverages. In olden days kings, lords,
maharajas, landlords, and sometimes the panchayats used to provide food and shelter to
travellers and their animals free of charge and it used to be a benevolent activity. But with the
passage of time, it has not only remained a benevolent activity but has also become a
flourishing business.
A part of hospitality activity is being attentive, alert, and cordial with the guest without
forcing yourself and your ideas on him, and at the same time being very polite and
cooperative. All those working in the hospitality industry have one common objective
‘Creating an image of friendly reception and treatment ‘for guests and visitors.
The travel and tourism industry can be segregated into five main parts and
further it shows the various sub components of each part. The hospitality industry
consist of lodging and food and beverage operations plus institutional food and
beverage services which do not cater to the traveling public. Lodging operations
stand apart from other travel and tourism businesses since they offer overnight
accommodations to their guests. Many lodging properties provide food and beverage service,
recreational activities and more.
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.
ORIGINS OF HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
Early travelers 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 for hospitality and one of the
first services for which money was exchanged. 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. Inns of the Biblical times offered only a cot or a bench in the comer.
,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 the Bible mentions that Mary and Joseph were turned away by a
Bethlehem innkeeper 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. 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. 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 travelers, 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.
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.
In America, early inns were modeled after European taverns with sleeping quarters shared by
two or more guests.
Herman Melville in his novel Moby Dick has mentioned a seaman who checked into a room
of a nineteenth-century inn and the 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.
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.
, 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 Hospitality industry in Kenya
This is traced back in the migration and settlement of ethnic groups messengers who were
sent on foot and they were accommodated where night found them. when the 1st Arab to visit
was Henry the navigator who arrived at the Kenyan coast and he was accommodated by the
community and the place. this hospitality stay in Kenya attracted more Arabs to trade in ivory
and slaves. The traders needed accommodation thus leading to establishment of hospitality
premises along the coast region of Kenya. Also in the colonialism era accelerated the growth
and development of hospitality industry since where some communities were hospitable
while others were hostile. In the construction of the famous railway lead to construction of
hospitality establishments set up to cater for the labourers e.g. Stanley hotel.
The Kenyan hospitality industry evolved at the coast due to Arab traders and the railway line
construction workers. Their presence necessitated the building of the first catering
establishment at the coast which was known as the Grand Hotel of Mombasa built at the
present site of Manor Hotel. After the country fell under the British colonization, there was
need to access Uganda and the railway was constructed leading to more catering units being
established along the railway line for the workers.
Later during the 1960's the government took initiative which lead to further development of
hospitality establishments.
By 1960, some hotels such as Norfolk had reached international five stars rating. Later in
1975, hospitality training was also started at Kenya Utalii College but had a limited capacity.
To supply the growing demand, there was proliferation of private and public universities and
colleges which had a varied curriculum. Kenya has over 485 licensed hotels of international
standards to choose from. Kenya hotels present the most diverse range of accommodation to
suit every taste. Class, elegance, ambiance and quality service are the major distinguishing
factors of Kenya ‘s hotels and game lodge.
Kenya hotels are graded in accordance with the star classifications system. They range from
the small town hotels to the five-star town and beach hotels. The criteria for classification are
complex but include the size and fittings in bedrooms, the extent of services, the quality of
food, the available recreational facilities and the hotel's location. The Hotels & Restaurants
