Hotel

This article is about lodging. For other uses, see Hotel (disambiguation) . "Hotel room" redirects here. For 1993 HBO television series, see Hotel Room . Not to be confused with Hostel . This article needs attention from an expert on the subject. See the talk page for details. WikiProject Travel and Tourism may be able to help recruit an expert. (March 2009)
The Pierre Hotel , New York City , United States

A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation , in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed , a cupboard , a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities , including en-suite bathrooms and air conditioning or climate control . Additional common features found in hotel rooms are a telephone, an alarm clock, a television, and Internet connectivity; snack foods and drinks may be supplied in a mini-bar , 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. Hotels rooms are usually numbered to allow guests identify their room.

Some hotels offer meals as part of a room and board arrangement. In the United Kingdom , 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. In Japan, capsule hotels provide a minimized amount of room space and shared facilities.

In the United Kingdom, Australia , Canada and Ireland (and rarely in some parts of the United States ), the word may also refer to a pub or bar and might not offer accommodation. In India and Bangladesh , the word may also refer to a restaurant.

Contents Classification Historic hotels Unusual hotels Treehouse hotels Bunker hotels Cave hotels Capsule hotels Ice and snow hotels Garden hotels Underwater hotels Other unusual hotels Resort hotels Railway hotels Motels World record setting hotels Largest Oldest Tallest Hotel rooms as an investment Living in hotels Fictitious hotels See also References Further reading
Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal, Budapest , Hungary

The word hotel is derived from the French hôtel (coming from hôte meaning host), which referred to a French version of a townhouse 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 term, and hôtel particulier is used for the old meaning. The French spelling, with the circumflex , was also used in English, but is now rare. The circumflex replaces the 's' found in the earlier hostel spelling, which over time took on a new, but closely related meaning. Grammatically, hotels usually take the definite article hence "The Astoria Hotel" or simply "The Astoria".

Classification A budget hotel in Malaysia

The cost and quality of hotels are usually indicative of the range and type of services available. Due to the enormous increase in tourism worldwide during the last decades of the 20th century, standards, especially those of smaller establishments, have improved considerably. For the sake of greater comparability, rating systems have been introduced, with the one to five stars classification being most common and with higher star ratings indicating more luxury. Hotels are independently assessed in traditional systems and these rely heavily on the facilities provided. Some consider this disadvantageous to smaller hotels whose quality of accommodation could fall into one class but the lack of an item such as an elevator would prevent it from reaching a higher categorization. In some countries, there is an official body with standard criteria for classifying hotels, but in many others there is none. There have been attempts at unifying the classification system so that it becomes an internationally recognized and reliable standard but large differences exist in the quality of the accommodation and the food within one category of hotel, sometimes even in the same country. The American Automobile Association (AAA) and their affiliated bodies use diamonds instead of stars to express hotel and restaurant ratings levels.

Hotels are also classified 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 , Ritz Carlton , Four Seasons Hotels , and JW Marriott Full Service Examples include Hilton , Marriott , Doubletree , and Hyatt Select Service Examples include Courtyard by Marriott and Hilton Garden Inn Limited Service Examples include Hampton Inn , Fairfield Inn , Days Inn , and La Quinta Inn Extended Stay Examples include Homewood Suites by Hilton , Residence Inn by Marriott , and Extended Stay Hotels Timeshare Examples include Marriott Vacation Club , Westgate Resorts , and Disney Vacation Club Destination Club Historic hotels Hotel Astoria and a statue of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia in front, in Saint Petersburg , Russia

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.

Hôtel Ritz in Paris , France

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 .

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

Unusual hotels U.S. City Chicago's Magnificent Mile has hosted many skyscraper hotels such as the Allerton Hotel

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

Desert Cave Hotel in Coober Pedy, South Australia and 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.

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 Main article: Ice hotel

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 RMS Queen Mary , Long Beach, California , United States 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. Resort hotels Principe di Piemonte, Viareggio ( Italy )

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 Main article: Motel

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 Historical Hotel Savoy in Florence 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 717. 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 (1,090 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 Fictitious hotels This section requires expansion .

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 .

See also Industry and careers Bellhop Concierge Front desk clerk , a type of clerk General manager Hospitality industry Hotel chains (category) Hotels (category) Innkeeper Hotel toilet-paper folding Night auditor Property caretaker Revenue per available room (RevPAR) Security guard Tourism Transient occupancy tax (TOT) List of human habitation forms Apartment hotel Bed and breakfast Boutique hotel Cruise ship Eco hotel Guest House Homestay Hospitality service Hostal Hostel Inn Luxury resort Motel Serviced apartment Vacation rental
References ^ http://www.been-seen.com/article.cfm?id=11252 ^ "The 25 Largest Hotels in the World" . http://www.vegastodayandtomorrow.com/largesthotels.htm . ^ Genting's First World Recognized As World's Largest Hotel , Bernama.com ^ Hoshi Ryokan website, accessed 22 June 2008 ^ "World's Tallest Hotels" . Emporis. March 2008. http://www.emporis.com/en/bu/sk/st/tp/ty/ho/ . ^ 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. ^ "Rotana to bring 10,000 more rooms under management" . Gulf News . 2007-11-22. http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/11/22/10169274.html . ^ "Four Dubai Openings For Rotana Hotels" . Rotana Hotels. 2008-01. http://www.rotana.com/specialoffersco-1397.htm . "Overnight profit" . The Times . http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/investment/article2399656.ece . ^ Home Suite Home – BBC News Further reading Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hotel
Lundberg, Donald E., The Hotel and Restaurant Business, Boston : Cahners Books, 1974. ISBN 0843620447         Tourism

Types Accessible tourism Adventure travel Agritourism Archaeological tourism Birth tourism Bookstore tourism Christian tourism Culinary tourism Cultural tourism Dark tourism Dental tourism Disaster tourism Drug tourism Ecotourism Extreme tourism Female sex tourism Garden tourism Geotourism Ghetto tourism Halal tourism Heritage tourism LGBT tourism Lists of named passenger trains Literary tourism Medical tourism Music tourism Nautical tourism Pop-culture tourism Poverty tourism Religious tourism Rural tourism Sacred travel Safaris Sex tourism Space tourism Sports tourism Sustainable tourism Township tourism Vacation Volunteer travel Water tourism Wildlife tourism Wine tourism List of adjectival tourisms

Hospitality Hospitality industry Hospitality management studies Hospitality services General Manager Bed and breakfast Destination hotel Destination spa Front Desk Hostel Hotel Restaurant Hotel manager Motel Resort

Miscellaneous Campus tour Gift shop Grand Tour Package holiday Passport Perpetual traveler Resort town Roadside attraction Seaside resort Ski resort Souvenir Staycation Sunday drive Tour guide Tour operator Tourism geography Tourism region Tourism Radio Tourism technology Tourist attraction Tourist destination Tourist trap Transport Travel agency Travel journal Travel literature Travel website

Industry organizations
and rankings Caribbean Tourism Organization Convention and visitor bureau Destination marketing organization European Travel Commission South-East Asian Tourism Organisation Tourism in present-day nations and states Tourist information Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report Visitor center World Tourism Day World Tourism Organization World Tourism rankings World Travel and Tourism Council

Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/Hotel/Hotel -1.htm" Categories : Hotels | Tourist accommodations Hidden categories: Miscellaneous articles needing expert attention | Articles needing expert attention from March 2009 | All articles needing expert attention | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from January 2008 | Articles with unsourced statements from April 2008 | Articles with unsourced statements from August 2007 | Articles with unsourced statements from April 2007 | Articles with unsourced statements from January 2010 | Articles to be expanded from January 2010 | All articles to be expanded Views Discussion Edit this page History Personal tools Try Beta Log in / create account Navigation Contents Featured content Current events Random article Search   Interaction About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact Wikipedia Donate to Wikipedia Help Toolbox What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Printable version Permanent link
Cite this page Languages العربية Bosanski Brezhoneg Български Català Česky Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Eesti Español Esperanto فارسی Français Gaeilge Galego 한국어 हिन्दी Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Íslenska Italiano עברית Kreyòl ayisyen Latina Lëtzebuergesch Lietuvių Magyar മലയാളം Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本語 ‪Norsk (bokmål)‬ Polski Português Română Runa Simi Русский Shqip Sicilianu Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina Српски / Srpski Srpskohrvatski / Српскохрватски Suomi Svenska தமிழ் ไทย Тоҷикӣ Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt ייִדיש 粵語 中文 This page was last modified on 4 March 2010 at 02:47.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. , a non-profit organization.
Contact us Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers

Hotel