Hotels And The Life Within Them

In the past the word 'Inn' was used to name establishments that provided accommodation and what are now hotels. The word 'hotel' came into use around the seventeenth century. It is related to the word 'hostel' which is now used to name establishments that house workers or students in large numbers. Being a word of French origin the word hotel might connote a certain refinement which has some snob value and might have sounded more sophisticate than 'inn' often suggesting rather rough and ready accommodation.

This is a place where one can get short term or long term accommodation. Travellers and holiday makers and commercial travellers may stay for short periods when travelling or taking a holiday. However, residential hotels set out to provide accommodation for permanent residents. Famous people have lived permanently in hotels but they are also favoured by older people who are sick of doing household chores.

The facilities provided will be determined by the length of time that guests stay. Many functional chains hire out rooms with basic facilities such as a bed shower and TV. Any extras are paid for separately. In this way travellers may get economical accommodation and avoid paying for extras that they may not require. In Japan there are even 'capsule hotels' that hire what may best be described as a shelf where a person may sleep briefly before moving on.

Luxury resorts go to extremes providing suites with expansive facilities. Plush carpeting, curtaining and linen will be complemented by twenty-four hours services and attention to every detail of guests' comfort. Within easy reach will be saunas, gyms and beauty salons. Linen always appears to be crisp and clean as is every object in a room or suite. Hotels like this seem to be able to compete for guests from an enormous pool of very wealthy people all over the world. There is no limit to luxury and opulence.

Many older establishments die in the face of fierce competition, but some survive. The oldest one is said to have survived in Japan for almost fifteen hundred years. They have old fashioned china, cigarette trays and floors that creak. Communal ablution facilities at the end of a corridor may have an iron bath with suspect plumbing, or a shower with mould and unhealthy smells from innumerable previous guests that have slept here.

The defining characteristic of a sleazy hotel is a narrow corridor lit by a dim electric bulb. Cockroaches scuttle into cracks as one inserts a key into the door of a numbered room. Inside, dusty curtains screen ones' view of a blank wall with drain pipes that gurgle. The smell of cigarette smoke will permeated everything, including the bedding and empty cupboard with theft proof hangers. Lying beneath a ceiling fan that turns slowly one may hear the activities of guests in the room adjoining.

Hospitality staff are often expected to work very long hours. They create by their general attitude and approach a complex ambiance that is different in each hotel. Even hotels that are franchised and bound to narrowly prescribed procedures take on their own character from the people who work within them. So important is staff attitude that some hotel chains offer special rewards for staff who have excelled themselves in customer satisfaction.

A famous TV series was said to be inspired by a hotel manager who hated his guests, especially if they were not socially acceptable in his opinion. The series does give some amusing insights into the lifestyle of hotel residents. Other hotels served as the settings for novelists who find an ambient setting suitable for various themes.