HOTELS – PAST & PRESENT

Lodging History

Ancient HistoryClassic Greek and Roman DaysOdyssey and Iliad – while travelling the

Mediterranean, he experienced the warm hospitality on places he had stayed

Ancient Greece – hospitality was provided to religious travelers, missionaries, priest and pilgrims

Ancient Rome – Inns and Taverns were developed, travelers need to show their Letter of Eviction (a permission given by the government)

Common Accommodations

• Taverns (Tabernas) • Inns (cauponas)• Caravansaries (for Caravans crossing East Desert)• Yarns – post-houses or apartments suitable for a

King• Khans – rest-house found in Middle East• Xenodocheions (xenodochion)- accommodation

provided for religious travellers beside the monasteries

Taverns Inns

C a r a v a n s

Yarns Xenodocheions

Khans

Middle Ages Highlights• The reign of Charlemange created a law that as

Christians, they must provide a free-resting place for travelers.

• 1282 –great innkeepers in Florence, Italy incorporated a guild turning hospitality into business

• 1300’s – Tabard (hostelry in London) introduces a table d’ hote menu

• 1800 – the term hostel was not used until this time

Colonial Period(16th to 18th Century)

• Public Coach – was built in 1650 (this are similar to bus lines) and along the routes were coach inns as form of accommodations

• Taverns – was also built in 1710, primary routes along Atlantic Coast was established (farm houses were converted into inns)

• Hotel de Henri IV- was built in 1788, Nantes, France (the finest European hotel and cost £17,500, 60 beds)

• City Hotel – (1794) 1st lodging facility in New York that can be directly considered a precursor of the modern hotel

Nineteenth Century

• Introduction of Railroads and Depot Hotels began to develop

• 1830 – Pennsylvania, 1st state to have railway travel to spas ( mineral springs or pool)

• Saragota Springs – in New York was the most famous spa

• Spas at Baden, Germany

• Marienbad, Bohemia

• Vichy, France

• French Riviera• Homestead in Hot

Springs (Allegheny Mountains of SW Virginia)

• Niagara Falls (Canadian Horseshoe Falls)

• Greenbrier (White Sulfur Springs Resort in W-Virginia)

Famous ResortsFamous Spa

Benchmark for Hotel Industry

• The opening of the Tremont Hotel in Boston, considered to be the 1st luxury hotel that boosted;

– Indoor toilets– Private bedrooms w/ locks and doors

– Tremont also has a version of today’s bellhop, then called a rotunda man

• Cesar Ritz – famous Swiss Hotelier, became a manager at the Savory in London, 1889. Then he opened some famous luxury hotel in Paris, New York and other cities

20th Century

• Famous Personalities– Cesar Ritz – famous Swiss Hotelier, became a

manager at the Savoy Hotel in London, 1889. Then he opened some famous luxury hotel in Paris, New York and other cities.

– Thomas Cook – an Englishman arrange his 1st tour and considered the 1st travel agent

– Ellsworth Milton Statler – opened 1st “modern” hotel, known as the Buffalo Statler in 1908 (1907) in New York

Buffalo Statler

• Fire doors• Installation of light switches inside the door so that

guests could enter a lighted room• Private bathrooms• Key holes placed directly above doorknobs for easy

access• Circulating hot and cold water in each room• Full length mirrors• Morning newspaper

Statler’s Contemporaries

• Conrad Hilton• “King of the Innkeepers”• Mobley – in Texas, 1st hotel, 1919• Dallas Hilton -1925• 1954 – Hilton-Statler Inc

• John Willard Marriott Sr.• Founder of the Marriott Hotel Chain

• Kemmon Wilson• Founder of Holiday Inns• 1st Holiday Inn motel was opened in Memphis in 1952• In 1960 Holiday Inn went international