A Complete Overview of All Hospitality Sectors

What is the Hospitality Industry?

We've all heard of this term, but it's a little hazy for those who aren't familiar with the industry. Hospitality is a subset of the service industry.  It primarily involves addressing customer satisfaction and catering the needs of guests. This can be addressed by dealing with issues such as lodging, amenities and travel arrangements. However, it is still important to break the concept of hospitality down into three sections for the sake of brevity and clarity. These concepts are undoubtedly already familiar to you:

•Accommodations

•Food and drink

•Tourism and travel

Let’s now go ahead and take a look at each one in greater detail in order to appreciate the “bigger picture”.

An Overview of All Hospitality Sectors

1) Accommodations

Accommodations in the hospitality industry primarily concern where guests will stay as well as the amenities that will be provided to them. From luxury properties to budget hotels and hostels, each location is intended to suit your discrete needs. It can be argued that accommodations represent the veritable backbone of the hospitality sector and as a result, management will place a great deal of emphasis upon what they have to offer.

Bed and Breakfasts

Bed-and-breakfast establishments combine a sense of convenience with a down-home flavor that is attractive to many individuals; particularly those who are constantly on the room. These tend to be smaller boutique properties and yet, their presence within the sector cannot be understated due to how many locations currently exist.

Hotels

Hotels (both franchises and boutiques) are the most well-known properties within the hospitality sector. From brand names such as Hilton and Radisson to smaller brick-and-mortar establishments, guests expect to be provided with services and amenities that are equal to the price that they paid for the room in question. Hotels contribute billions of pounds in revenue to this industry every year.

Motels

Known for their sense of mobile convenience, motels are frequently employed by business travelers and those who are looking to enjoy budget-friendly prices while between two destinations. Having said this, some occupants will spend weeks or longer at a motel. Recent years have witnessed massive advancements in regards to technology as well as staff responsiveness.

Hostels

Hostels are often associated with student travelers and yet, they can be used by anyone who desires a room for the evening. They are generally rented on a 24-hour basis and most hostels are located close to city centers (to provide easy access to those who are not familiar with the location). Hostels are also known for their ability to offer rock-bottom prices.

Resorts

Resorts fall into the high end of the hospitality sector spectrum. Yoga retreats, wellness centers and properties designed to provide unfettered views of nature all fall into this category. If you have been looking for a home away from home while enjoying a bespoke sense of luxury, modern resorts aim to please.

Serviced Apartments

Services apartments are fully furnished properties that can be made available for both short- and long-term stays. Room service, daily housekeeping, access to fitness centers, and free wireless Internet connectivity are some of the hallmarks associated with these locations.

Time-Sharing Plans

This type of accommodation will divide up the amount of time that guests are allowed to stay. Each customer is provided with an arrival and departure date. Time shares are often associated with extremely popular tourist locations such as the Costa del Sol in Spain or the Algarve region of Portugal.

2) Food and Drink

The second hospitality sector is “Food and Drinks”. It is already a foregone conclusion that guests will need to be offered food and drink services during their stay. This is another cornerstone of hospitality in general, as the quality and availability of such items will often impact the overall customer experience and in turn the status of the hotel itself.

Restaurants

Restaurants represent a sizeable portion of the hospitality sector as a whole. These premises are often branded in accordance with the hotel and depending upon the amenities, some will even offer Michelin-starred service options. Guests will often base their overall experience around the quality of food that restaurants provide.

Catering

Hotels and resorts can often include catering services as a portion of their standard pricing plans. Larger properties will provide catering in order to address business luncheons, professional seminars and similar gatherings that restaurants might not be able to efficiently accommodate.

Bars & Cafés

Bars and cafes are excellent places to grab a quick refreshment or a tasty meal. Furthermore, they are known for their laid-back social atmosphere; a notable difference when compared to many in-house restaurants. Most properties will offer such options due to the fact that they tend to draw a reliable number of clients.

Nightclubs

Some hotels are partnered with a proprietary in-house nightclub (Hotel W Barcelona is a perfect example). Nightclubs are an excellent means to obtain additional revenue and it is important to point out that the public is normally allowed to enter alongside guests of the property.

Tea and Coffee Shops

Whether referring to a proprietary bistro or a third-party firm such as Starbucks which has rented out space, tea and coffee shops offer an additional sense of convenience to guests during their stay. Providing wireless access alongside on-the-go services, these smaller establishments have become increasingly popular.

3) Hospitality Related Concerns

It is obvious that individuals will need to be provided with a timely means to arrive at their destination. Trains, airplanes, cruise liners, and even car hire services are all encompassed by this category. In fact, without this hospitality sector, the hospitality industry as a whole would cease to exist without the presence of such options.

Travel Agents

Travel agents essentially take on the role of intermediaries within the hospitality industry. They are often used by clients in order to expedite the process of booking a holiday and perhaps most importantly, finding the most appropriate levels of accommodations.

Tour Operators

Tour operators are professionals or firms which solely specialize in the provision of package holiday deals. They are often utilized by those looking for specific arrangements such as all-inclusive cruises or family packages.

Online Travel Agencies (OTA’s)

Online travel agencies are playing an increasingly important role within the hospitality sector due to their Internet presence. OTA’s are great options if you are looking to obtain amenable deals via online searches. There are also times when a free membership can offer additional benefits such as email alerts and substantial discounts if you book within a certain time frame.

Cruises

Cruise liners are often paired with hotels due to the fact that ports of debarkation may be used by travelers for days at a time. In other words, it only makes sense that customers are provided with a quality property during their stay at various locations. Having said this, many franchised hotels have actually placed their properties on the ship itself.

Car Rental

A huge hospitality sector is “Car Rental”. Car hire services can be used in synergy with hotels by guests who are looking to avoid the hectic nature of public transportation. While these may be provided by travel agencies, they might also be able to be obtained directly at the property. There are times when the price of a care hire will be included within the overall holiday package.

Casinos

The hotel-casino relationship has been another advancement within the hospitality industry. Supplying an amazing source of entertainment while allowing guests to stay in the same complex is an extremely attractive concept. Certain customers may also be provided with compensation packages (“comps”) in the form of casino credits or high-roller suites. Some notable examples include the MGM Grand Las Vegas, the Sands Monaco and the Foxwoods Resort Casino.

Different Management Types Within the Hospitality Sector

Within the hospitality sector, there are a number of distinct management types, each with their own requirements in terms of knowledge, skills and qualifications. Some of the main types are explored below:

Restaurant Management

Restaurant management involves managing the core operations of a business within the restaurant industry. Most definitions specify that a restaurant is a business where customers are able to order food and eat the food on-site. With that being said, restaurants may be connected to other businesses in the hospitality sector, such as hotels.

Travel Management

Travel management is an important part of the hospitality sector and can be briefly summarized as the process of managing, organizing, and optimizing corporate travel. Through enlisting the help of a travel manager, or a travel management company, businesses are able to reduce costs and capitalize on industry contacts.

Hotel Management

Within the hospitality sector, hotel management involves overseeing day-to-day operations within a hotel, or a business that falls within the hotel industry. This can include supervising specific tasks, planning business strategy, assisting with marketing and customer service efforts, training staff, recruiting staff, and investing in the right technology.

The Hospitality Sector’s Emerging Trends

Every hospitality business owner must keep up to date with the most important trends in this sector in order to stay ahead of the game. What’s more, businesses operating within the hospitality industry must keep up with the travel and tourism’s wider industry so they can continue offering an excellent service to their prospective customers.

Emerging Hospitality Marketing Trends

Hospitality marketing is a make-or-break tool for the travel and hotel industry. To remain abreast of your competitors, you must apply the latest digital marketing tools to your hospitality business. If the right strategies are used, you can increase revenue and enhance your brand’s image. By looking into how online users research and plan their travel tours and accommodation, you can create the perfect marketing strategy.

Revenue Management & Hospitality Sector

The concept of revenue management can be simplified as the optimization of financial results. If the hotel and hospitality industry analyses their sales through historical, current and future data, they will be able to maximize revenues. Revenue management is a technique to forecast demand and optimize inventory including price availability. When done correctly, this will result in higher revenue.

Hospitality Management

Efficient hospitality and good service are highly important to any business. In the hospitality sector, the customer is always the focus as they can make or break a business. To be able to succeed in hospitality management, you must always priorities your customers’ needs. After all, a happy customer will recommend your business to two of their friends, while an unsatisfied one will tell 1000 people about their bad experience.

The Impact of the Corona Crisis on Hospitality Sector

With the unwelcome arrival of Covid-19, the adverse effects of this invisible enemy on the hotel and hospitality sector have been phenomenal. Almost every country in the world is going through tight travel restrictions with full or partial lock downs imposed on the entire population. As a result, many important regional and international business and leisure events have been cancelled, including the Olympics, the UEFA Euro and the ITB Berlin Travel Fair.

Businesses in almost every sector have faced restrictions and because of the imposed lock downs, many people have lost their jobs. And if no-one works, they certainly can’t plan any holidays, especially not this year nor next year.

The lack of bookings means that companies operating in the hospitality sector like restaurants and hotels have lost up to 90% of occupancy, while some are forced to close. And the ones that have remained open are willing to bare the heavy, ongoing costs to see what the future brings. There is no denying the substantial financial impact of the virus on hoteliers who are facing serious cash flow problems.

‍