Hospitality industry first appeared in ancient times.
The concept of hospitality is extremely old; it is mentioned in writings dating back to Ancient Greece, ancient Rome and Biblical Times. The first documentary evidence of the existence of the hospitality industry is from the era of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. One of the documents proving the existence of the hospitality industry in ancient states, is the Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon. In that code, one of the acts mentioned taverns, which enjoyed a dubious reputation
Two possible explanations of why ancient times people
felt required to be hospitable: they felt that hospitality to strangers was necessary to their religious well-being and in others, they were hospitable only because of their own superstitious fears. Hospitality in ancient Greece is understandable that certain elements of religion were intermingled with the idea. Missionaries, priests, and pilgrims formed a very large part of the travelling public. Often they were journeying to holy places, perhaps oracles or temples that had a dominant position in their religion. During the Roman era, travelers who were not on the road for religious reasons were usually on military, diplomatic or political missions.
In ancient Greece, there was also a tavern, which plays an
important role in society, as they were an important part of religious and social life of the society. To the ancient Greeks, hospitality was a right. The host was expected to make sure the needs of his guests were met. The ancient Greek term xenia, or theoxenia when a god was involved, expressed this ritualized guest-friendship relation. In Greek society a person's ability to abide the laws to hospitality determined nobility and social standing. In the taverns and even had a place to sleep, but they were intended for the catering. Trade development implies the need for travelling overnight, so there were other type of enterprise - inns.
The most extensive network of coaching homes had in ancient
Rome. Construction Romans coaching houses to start creating and shaping the hospitality industry. In ancient Persia, travelling was done in large caravans, which carried elaborate tents for use along the caravan routes. However, at certain points on these routes, accommodations known as Khans were constructed. These were simple structure consisting of four walls that provided protection not only against natural elements but also against enemies who attacked under cover of darkness. In the later years of the Roman Empire, taverns and inns provided shelter for travelling merchants, actors, and scholars. Accommodations were still primitive. Sometimes there were rooms for the people but no stables for the horses; more often there were stables but no rooms.
The high spot of that era in terms of hospitality was the
development by the Persians of posthouses along the caravan routes. These developed later than the khans and provided accommodations and nourishment for both soldiers and couriers. Marco Polo described the posthouses known as yams as apartments suitable for a king. They were located 25 miles apart, perhaps equivalent of a days ride, and supplied fresh horses for the couriers carrying messages throughout the land. By Marco Polos estimate, there were 10,000 such posthouses in existence at the time of his journey to the far east.
In the early Middle Ages the provision of services to
ordinary people engaged in religious institutions. Travelling made mostly missionaries, priests and pilgrims, so coaching house became positioned closer to the churches and temples. During the Middle Ages, we find once again the intermingling of religion and hospitality. A It was considered as the duty of the Christians to offer hospitality to travelers and pilgrims. Monasteries functioned as inns, providing accommodations and food for the weary traveler. Some monasteries and churches, concerned perhaps with the invasion of private meditations by the traveling public, constructed a separate building to accommodate travelers. These building were known asxenodocheions, a Greek word meaning inns or resting places.
Charlemagne during his reign enacted laws setting out the
duty of a Christian to provide a free resting place for a traveler. However, in consideration perhaps of the possibility that a traveler might overstay his welcome, and also the burden or providing free food for an indefinite period of time, the law limited the stay of any traveler in any place to three nights. In England inns were built not for travelers, but rather for the population to consume alcoholic beverages. In the Middle Ages the number of coaching houses steadily increased, but the level of services provided there remained low. Guest slept on mattresses s or just on the floor. Food was also quite meager and monotonous. Most often, the guests ate that brought with them or bought from the owner
In rural areas, inns were not so common.
Most often in the villages was one inn that serves all the people coming. Wealthier people at inns were not staying and traveling in his carriage or on horseback. Poor people, who makes such trips on their own, such institutions were not allowed to come in. All the inns there was a clear differentiation along class lines. Wealthy guests had dinner in the dining room or in their room. Poor people ate together withthe owner and his family. They provide a simple food, no frills, for the minimum price.
Wealthy people can afford to order anything they wish,
can go to the kitchen and watch the cooking. Trying to please the wealthy guests, the innkeeper typically offer him something special from the kitchen, a dish that is famous in the whole district. Food prices also varied. Ancestors gourmet among Europeans were residents of Italy. Early bourgeoisie of this country, engaged in trade and craft, facilitated the formation of cooking art and development of the hospitality industry. In 1282 in Florence Italy, the great innkeepers of the city incorporated an association for the purpose of turning hospitality into a business.
Inns became licensed and were permitted to import and
resell wine. The inns themselves belonged not to the innkeepers but to the city, and they were operated under three-year leases, which was sold by auction. In the year 1290, 86 inns in Florence were members of the guild. A Shortly thereafter, the business of hospitality spread to Rome and other Italian cities. It is interesting to note that during that period many of the innkeepers were German rather than Italianpossibly because many of the merchants who were traveling themselves German and were eager to find accommodation where they would find their own language and food they were accustomed to.
Around the second half of the XIV century. the center of
the famous culinary and hospitality arts moved from Italy to the French capital - Paris. Food Industry in France received substantial government support. The French kings did not expense was spared on the delicious food. The French King Charles V personal chef Guillaume Tireli that in 1375 in a single copy wrote the first cookbook
In Italy, a similar book was only 100 years later, in 1470 It
was written by unknown monk and was called "Virtuous pleasure." In 1508 in England the first cookbook was published by a printing press. In 1571, France had developed the first menu that allows you to quickly select dish and to know how it is cooked. The menu is meant for the court of King CharlesIX. It was of only sporadic. Currently refined menu appears 100 years later, in the XVII c., at the court of Louis XIV in the form of "notes" with a la carte dishes on the palace kitchen. King served a list of dishes in a single copy The title of the Evening at King serve hundreds of guests, but there existed discrimination on social grounds. Guests are served a variety of different dishes, which, of course, were different from the royal.
During this period of 16th to 18th Century considerable
improvement took place, particularly in England, in the quality or accommodations. The common mode of transportation used then was stagecoach. Stagecoaches were forced to make overnight stops on long journeys. These called for not only food and rest for the horses but also food and accommodations for the passengers. A direct result was the construction of inns or taverns at suitable locations along the stagecoach routes. Since the passengers were mainly wealthy people, accustomed to certain luxuries, the stagecoaches contributed not only to growth in the number of inns but also to improvements in their quality.
The inns or taverns also became popular meeting places
for local nobility, politicians, priests and other. License for the inns were issued by the local lord or knight whose territory the inn lay. The design of the inns was in the form of quadrangle, with stagecoaches and people entering through a vaulted gateway. The yard within the quadrangle was used for many purposes, such as weddings. The quadrangular form provided outside was easy to control and protect. The various buildings or sections within provided sleeping accommodations for the travelers, a faculty in which food and drink was served, and shelter for both the drivers and the horses.
Origin and development of hotel business can be divided
into four main stages: 1) to the beginning of the XIX century. - Background to the hotel industry - the first stage; 2) The beginning of the XIX - early XX centuries. - The emergence of different companies in the field of hotel services - the second stage; 3) The beginning of the XX century. - The middle of the XX century. - Increase in the number of enterprises in the area of service, improve the quality of services provided - the third stage; 4) from the middle of the XX century. to the present time - the formation of the hospitality industry - the fourth stage.
The Renaissance through the French Revolution:
During the Renaissance, world travel and international trade greatly improved the European way of life. The food preparation system we now call haute cuisine, an elaborate and refined system of food preparation, had its roots during this period. Guilds, or associations of people with similar interests or professions, were organized. Cooking guilds established many of the professional standards and traditions that exist today. In 1765, a man named Boulanger began serving hot soups called restaurers (meaning restoratives) for their healthrestoring properties. He called his caf a restorante, the origin of our modern word restaurant.
Colonial North America
As people immigrated to the New World, cities along the East Coast grew. As early as 1634, an inn in Boston called Coles offered food and lodging to travelers. Very few early-colonial Americans ever traveled or dined out. Those people who did travel, stayed at inns, often sleeping together in the same large room and even sharing a single bed. If travelers arrived after dinner had been served, they would have to go without.
The Industrial Revolution:
During the Industrial Revolution, people moved to the city to find work in the growing number of factories to earn a better living. People needed to live close enough to the factory to walk to work, go home for lunch, and leave again for dinner. As cities became business hubs, dining and lodging establishments opened up to serve the needs of workers and employers. With the invention of the railroad in 1825, inns, taverns, and foodservice facilities located near railway stations began to grow.
The Twentieth Century:
By the turn of the century, more people were working and therefore eating out more, especially for lunch. During World War II in the 1940s, the lodging industry prospered as people traveled for warrelated reasons. After World War II, in the 1940s and 1950s, the quick-service restaurant segment of the industry grew quickly. In the 1960s, commercial air travel became popular, and builders focused on land near airports as the next new place to situate hotels, motels, and foodservice facilities.