Inns vary greatly in their appearance and type of operation. Some are huge, elaborate establishments that offer all the services provided by hotels; others are small establishments that base their appeal on quaintness, unusual services, or decor. In general, inns should be considered hotels. Their type of operation should be judged, as with hotels, by their size, local customs, and the mood, decor, atmosphere, or period they are planned to convey.
Tourist camps, which include cabins or trailer parks, grew up with the advent of the motor age. As with tourist houses, these camps must locate on or near highways with heavy traffic. But unlike tourist houses, which are generally located in towns and cities, tourist camps are usually found along the highway, outside of city limits. These camps cater to motorists in search of inexpensive lodging. Trailer parks are in themselves a major industry and, like the hotel industry, a growing one. Some tourist camps provide service stations and general stores. Many of the original camps were started by service station operators as sources of extra income. Many tourist camps offer employment opportunities primarily during the summer months, when travel is the heaviest.
The motel was adapted from experience in the tourist camp. A deluxe version of the tourist camp, the motel has become more and more popular with travelers and is becoming an increasingly competitive threat to the hotel industry.
Motels today are as modern and as well-equipped as hotels. In many instances, since they are newly constructed, motels are even better than their older hotel competition. Motels provide private baths, radio and television, bellhop service, restaurants, telephone service, valet and laundry service, and they will even make reservations for you at your next stopping point. Additional features sometimes make motels more convenient for motorists than hotels. Usually located outside of busy downtown areas, motels relieve the driver of the fatiguing task of trying to park on congested city streets. By allowing motorists to park their cars alongside of their rooms (no longer called cabins), motels allow travelers to save on garage bills and miscellaneous tipping, and they make unpacking and packing every night unnecessary.
Because of their locations along highways, at airports, and even in some downtown locations, motels constitute the greatest competition faced by hotels. These sites are chosen with an eye to highway and air traffic, as well as nearness to newly built industrial sections. The increase in highway and air travel has helped augment the growth of airport and highway motels, each new motel diverting a portion of the business that formerly went almost exclusively to downtown hotels. Motels often have better locations than hotels built in former years and when different traffic patterns existed.
In the early days of the hotel industry, hotels were built largely downtown and quite often near railroad stations. With the decrease of railroad passenger traffic and the move of both industry and offices to the suburbs, these downtown hotels are no longer convenient for the customers they once served.
The moves to the suburbs by industry and the subsequent spurt in the building of conveniently located motels have been followed by another trend. The companies patronizing suburban motels have called on the motels to supply public space for meetings and meals. Motels have, therefore, added convention, meeting, and public ballroom space to meet these demands. Here again, motels have become a threat to hotels in this lucrative area. Many hotel organizations consider the sudden advent and popularity of motels so threatening that they have entered the motel field themselves.
Another area of the industry is rooming houses. Rooming houses provide inexpensive lodging for weekly or monthly guests. Most people who choose a rooming house are attracted because of low rents and convenient access to transportation. When rooming houses provide meals for their guests, they are then called boarding houses. These houses do not provide the comforts of a hotel but merely the necessities, including room, linens, bath facilities (generally public), and maid service.
While not major in scope, another important type of hotel operation is the conversion of older hotels into senior citizen residences. Certain downtown hotels that have declined in popularity have been converted into housing for older people, who enjoy the easy access to downtown shopping and conveniences.
Add another recent addition to the industry-the specialized hotel. Conference centers, with their focus on business meetings, are one example. Another is the all-suite hotel, which has proven itself a winner, albeit not a major entry as yet. The all-suite hotel offers suites only, and at the same competitive rates that other hotels charge for regular rooms. This trend toward specialized hotels, individual hotels, and chains should become an important segment of the industry.
HOTELS AND THE COMMUNITY
Because hotels provide not only lodging and meals but also public rooms and space for meetings, much that is newsworthy takes place in hotels. Depending upon the size of the space available, meetings, conventions, luncheons, social events, charity affairs, and other activities of community and often national interest take place in hotels.
From this point on, we shall refer to all hotels, motels, resorts, and other lodging as hotels since the occupational information that follows applies generally to all of these establishments.
By providing public meeting rooms, hotels perform a valuable service for their communities. Public space in hotels allows many activities of local as well as general importance to take place in communities that would otherwise be unable to accommodate them.
Since the first hotel opened its doors to the public, hotels have been the setting for many of the most important local and national events. Civic and national functions usually take place in hotel ballrooms and famous visitors often stop over at the local hotel. Local celebrities, civic dignitaries, and community leaders can often be found at the hotel, having lunch or dinner, attending social or business functions, or going to civic or service club luncheons and meetings. Many groups hold regular meetings and luncheons at hotels.
If you plan to enter the hotel field, your future will always be exciting and interesting. Whether you work in a small or large hotel, in a small or large city, you will be in the midst of things if you are in the hotel business.
You may wonder why other halls or meeting places have not competed for their share of this business. Hotels, because of their long experience in the hospitality and food industries, can offer service second to none in most communities. In larger cities, restaurants and some halls are providing competition, but none can match the prestige offered by a hotel.
EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK
Employment in the hotel industry is expected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations through the year 2006 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1996). Factors such as increased business travel and greater foreign and domestic tourism will create demand for more hotel and motel workers. In many areas of the country, there is a great shortage of hotel and motel employees, caused in part by a high turnover rate. This shortage should create good opportunities for those trained in all facets of the hospitality industry. In addition, many thousands of workers will be needed to replace those who transfer to other jobs, retire, or die.
The continuing growth of the entire travel industry will undoubtedly affect all kinds of hotels, meaning increased employment, both temporary and permanent, for all types of workers in the industry. Most of the growth in employment will be a direct result of the need for new workers in the many new hotels and motels that are being built in urban areas all across the country, especially along new highways and in expanding resort areas.
An increase in the number of meetings held by individual companies, industries, and associations has fueled the growth of convention-oriented meeting-space construction at the newest hotels. Meeting space has become a greater source of revenue for hotels than in the past and will influence the growth of the industry in the future.
Air travel also influences the hotel industry. The deregulation of air travel, the concentration of major airlines on destinations in large cities, and the birth of smaller airlines to serve the smaller cities and towns all affect the growth patterns of hospitality facilities. Obviously, larger cities and resorts now attract the largest amount of major meeting facility business. Smaller cities have to go after regional and smaller meetings because of the air capacities available.
Because of this increased competition from modern, new hotels, many older hotels feel the need to modernize their facilities. Hotels that are unable to renovate face lower occupancy rates and are often forced to reduce overhead costs, cut back on staff, and curtail services.
From a long-range standpoint, however, the demand for hotel rooms and services is expected to increase as the travel business continues to flourish and the country's population continues to expand. The greatest rise of employment is anticipated in the motel business, stimulated mainly by the building of new interstate highways and bypasses and increased automobile travel, both for business and pleasure. Personnel with special training will be needed in the front office jobs, as well as unspecialized workers in the back of the house. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor (1998), there are about 1.8 million people working in the industry, including both full-time and part-time workers (projected employment in the year 2008 is 2.08 million, an increase of 17.6 percent).
In a message to readers of this book, the late and well-known hotel industry leader and former president of the American Hotel Association, Frank L. Andrews, stated:
Regarding the future of the hotel business for the young men and women, naturally I am somewhat biased, having started in the industry as a very young man.
I feel it offers all the advantages any other industry can offer. The success of the industry and of any other industry depends upon the aptitude of the individual, his willingness to work, and perseverance.
It is difficult to try to estimate the salary one can expect in the hotel industry, since it includes workers of almost every occupation. Qualifications for each particular occupation vary and many factors must be taken into consideration, including education and experience. In addition, since many hotel workers depend largely on outside income, such as tips and service charges, the salary scale for their positions does not truly reflect their real earnings.
Salaries also vary according to the local wage scales for the various occupations and the size and location of the hotel. An added feature in estimating compensation is the fact that many hotel jobs include free meals and sometimes lodging and personal valet and laundry services as well. The latter are true especially of resort hotels where all services such as laundry, valet, meals, and recreation facilities are provided for employees in addition to their rooms.
This book includes salary estimates for each occupation discussed. But remember that earnings vary greatly and these estimates cannot be conclusive. You will find that some hotels provide meals and services for a person employed in a certain category, while another hotel will provide only a salary or wage for someone in the same occupation.
In general, earnings in the hotel industry range from a comparatively small weekly wage (augmented by tips, meals, lodging, and services, depending upon the hotel) to thousands of dollars paid out annually to top executives.
