Thursday, July 14, 2011

In The Leisure Scenario Hotels Act As Star Performers

By Adriana Noton


Hotels are interesting features in the social landscape. In the view of post modern sociologists they can be de-constructed in many ways. Not only are they signs of commercial activity but also of the values and habits of people who use them. They may also be architectural and social artefacts in themselves.

Although it is an accepted word in the English language it does have French connections, and like many words of French origins connotes a certain flair. A hotel is not an 'inn' or 'hostelry'. These earthy English words suggest basic eating, drinking and sleeping but the French connected word suggests doing these things with some panache.

Accommodation is the primary purpose of hotels. Travellers need places to sleep peacefully and comfortably. The basic tariff will cover this, but may also include a great deal more, including a sense of luxury and prestige. Many establishments go to extreme lengths to compete in terms of finer features.

On the other hand each hotel has its unique character. It lives in a space between its location and the passing trade of travellers who come and go on a daily basis. Its unique character is derived from it function as a temporary stop in the transient flow of humanity. Hotel staff come to work every day and manage the delicate balance between those who come and go and those who come and stay.

The English novelist Arnold Bennett did a great deal to establish the hotel as a social feature forming a background against which human affairs are played out. He saw it as an ideal stage on which characters come and go. They are observed closely but discretely by hotel staff who very occasionally become involved with their guests.

In more recent times film directors have found rich veins of drama in the frailty of a door which separates the temporary safety of a private room with an outside threat of danger on the other side of the door. A suspicious pizza delivery boy or gun toting thugs represent one side of the equation, the hero or heroine the other and the ambient hotel space is the sign between the two elements.

Parallel with the hotel trade industry is a burgeoning Bed and Breakfast industry. It might be expected that his would pose a serious threat to the hotel industry, but such does not appear to be the case. New hotel chains seem to profit and expand, yielding good returns for investors even though Bed and Breakfast take their quota of travelling guests.

There are several reasons why hotels can easily withstand the combined assaults of many small competitors. A chain offers exactly the same standard of service in each of its units so that to stay in one is almost the same as to stay in another. Travel can be wearying and many people, at the end of a day like to stay in a place that they know will offer a standard of service that they know. They may also prefer privacy and discretion to the intrusive hospitality of an enthusiastic but quizzy host.




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