Historical Perspectives
Being hospitable can be traced
back to the civilizations of
Sumeria, Ancient Egypt,
Ancient Greece, Rome and
Biblical Times.
Two possible explanations why people in ancient
times felt required to be hospitable:
1.
They felt that providing hospitality to strangers were
necessary to their religious well-being and;
2.
Having superstitious belief.
The more logical in our modern
thinking explains that providing
hospitality was a result of a
“give and take” philosophy.
The need for a place to stay away from home is as
old as the first nomadic traveler.
Trading between two cultures created the need for
groups of people to travel often great distances.
 Trading between two cultures created the need for
groups of people to travel often great distances.
 Along these trade routes, certain stopping
points became favored out of necessity.
 These stopping points became known as
junction points that grew into trading centers
and eventually evolved into cities.
 Journey segment is the maximum reasonable
distance traveled in one day along trade and
caravan routes.
 At these journey segments, lodging facilities
became a need. They were called relay houses
in China, khans in Persia, and tabernas in
Rome.
 At some point, innkeepers began to incorporate
food and beverage service in their operations.
Another development was the Roman network of roads that
crisscrossed Europe and parts of Asia and Africa. These
roads provided fast and safe routes for travelers.
The concept of hospitality was changed in
1282 in Florence, Italy. The innkeepers
created a guild or associations that
formed hospitality into business.
 The industrial revolution of the mid-1700s created new
modes of transportation that further changed the way
people traveled.
 The emergence of railroads and later the automobile
played large roles in lodging’s history because both
dramatically increased the lengths of journey segments
for a traveler.
 As the evolution of lodging continued, new
facilities began to emerge as an option for
travelers.
 The wealthy and landed aristocracy of the world
began to view the many spare rooms in their
castles and estates as sources of revenue.
 The best example of this can be traced back to the English
and colonial inns of the 1700s.
 The significant difference between the two was that colonial
inns offered rooms to anyone who could afford to pay,
whereas English inns were most often reserved for the
aristocracy.
 Another difference between the two was that English inns
rented out individual sleeping rooms, whereas colonial inns
regularly offered large rooms with several beds inside. This
meant that English inns could offer private guest rooms,
whereas colonial inns were better suited for communal
accommodations.
 The word hotel is the Anglicized version of the French hotel
garni, which translates into “large, furnished mansion”.
 The first lodging facility that can be directly considered a
precursor of the modern hotel was the 73 rooms City Hotel
built in New York in 1794.
 It is a significant milestones in the evolution of lodging
because its sole purpose was to house guests. All the
previous inns were homes first, and lodging facilities
second.
 In 1829, Tremont House was built in Boston. This
property was another milestone in the early
revolution of hotels.
 It was considered as the first five-star hotel. Highly trained
staff, French Cuisine, and luxurious appointed rooms
combined to give guests the finest hotel experience
available ever to that point in time.
 Amenities offered by the Tremont House include in-room
water pitchers and free soap, that was considered
revolutionary.