Essay

The hospitality industry is among the oldest commercial activities in

the world.
The word hospitality refers to the relationship between a guest and a
host, and it also refers to the act or practice of being hospitable.
It includes cordial reception and entertainment of guests and visitors
or strangers.
In India we has a saying of “athethi devo bhava” which means we
used to consider that guests are equivalent to god.

The word hotel is derived from French word h o^ tel . It is defined as “A

place where a bonafied traveller can receive food and shelter
provided he is in a position to pay for it and is in a fit condition to
receive it”.

Earlier in the 1700-1800’s neither we neither had mobile phone and

internet nor did we have cheap air tickets, travelling by air was only
fancied by the rich.
But as time progressed and the transportation facilities improved
then began the rise of hospitality sector, people instead of going to
their nearby beaches and hill stations they started to go abroad for
vacations with their families, and because of peace and stability
countries’ economies boomed which in turn helped businesses
flourish throught the globe, thus the requirement of accommodation
facilities arose.
Now a days people may travel for business, pleasure, further studies,
medical treatment, pilgrimage etc.
Now a days hotels have been classified and categorized on the bases
of star rating, services, locations, number of rooms, durations of
guests stay, etc. so as to fit the pockets and the requirements of all
the people.

Various organisations that support the industry are,

United Nations World tourism Organisation (UNWTO), International
hotel and restaurant association (IHRA), Hospitality sales and
Marketing Association International (HSMAI) and the World Travel
and Tourism Council (WTTC).

Current challenge faced by this industry

Covid-19
Challenge: So, I think this is a recently faced challenge (or rather,
ISSUE) in hospitality industry. The whole world shut down travelling
during the COVID19 outbreak, because of which the hotel industry
also had to shut down its operations. Cancelled reservations,
indefinite lockdowns, shut down hotels; this was probably the worst
hit times for the tourism and hospitality industry.
While it is a challenge to survive these times, it is even a bigger
challenge to come out of these times as a winner. And the hardest to
restore the business in these uncertain times.

Solution: To be honest, none of us would have imagined a situation

like this, where we would be fighting for our survival. But it is entirely
upto us on how we see these challenges, learn from them and come
out even stronger than we were.
Businesses took this opportunity to evolve and innovate, and
prepare themselves for the future. While these are all natural
calamities and not in our control, we can surely work on optimizing
our operations and ensuring that our business stays alive amid the
chaos. In the current times, you can use and implement strategies
mentioned in our COVID19 survival kit for hotels.

The future of hotel industry:

the future of hotel industry is very unpredictable, The outbreak of
the COVID-19 pandemic was unexpected and has affected the whole
world at its core.
In the near future, the hotel industry will tend to shift more towards
digitalised and contact less way of making payments and service of
food .
Hygiene standards will play an important role in this industry not
only food service but also in service and social hygiene as well.
Until and unless trade exists, until and unless people go out for trips
whether for foreign business or for family holidays this industry will
never cease to exist.