An Introduction in the Hospitality Industry

Since the evolution of earth, humans have traveled from one place to another as warriors, traders or people in search of knowledge, however, they all had one thing in common “a place to rest and dine”. In the early day, the Warriors and conquerors would put tents for accommodation, while traders and persons traveling for knowledge would trade their merchandise for lodging. 
 

Inn keeping is considered as the first commercial enterprise and providing of the service in exchange of money, hence began an era of hotels and their sub categories.

The link below would give a good insight about the current hospitality industry.

The rates were, of course, reasonable. The company was rough. Travelers shared the same quarters with their horses and animals. 
 

King James Version of Bible mentions that a Bethlehem innkeeper turned Mary and Joseph away, 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. 
 

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. 
 

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 about a seaman who checked into a room of a nineteenth century inn and 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.