Introduction To Hospitality

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Hotel or Inn is defined by British law as a place where a bonafide traveller can receive food and shelter, provided he 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 travellers on payment and has, in turn, the right to refuse if the traveller is drunk, disorderly, unkempt or is not in a position to pay for the services. The hotel industry is perhaps one of the oldest commercial endeavours in the world. The first inn go back to the 6th century B.C. and were the products of the urge to travel, spurred by the invention of the wheel. The earliest inns were ventures by husband and wife teams who provided large halls for travellers to make their own beds and sleep on the floor. They also provided modest wholesome food thirst-quenchers like wine, port, ale, etc. and stabling facilities .Entertainment and recreation were provided by the host’s wife or his wench .The entire cooking, services and recreation was provided by the husband and wife team and his family. These conditions prevailed for several hundred years. The advent of the industrial revolution in England brought ideas and progress in the business of inn keeping. The development of railways and steamships made travelling more prominent. The industrial revolution also changed travel from social or government travel to business travel. The was need for quick and clean service. The lead in hotel keeping was taken by the emerging nations of Europe, especially Switzerland .It was in Europe that the birth of an organised hotel industry took place in the shape of chalets and small hotels which provided a variety of services and were mainly patronised by the aristocracy of the day. The real growth of modern hotel industry took place in the USA beginning with the opening of City Hotel in New York in
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