ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the reader with an appreciation of the various types of accommodation and hospitality services and some of the issues which impact upon the sector. The growing diversity of the accommodation sector mirrors trends in the wider tourism sector, as it focuses on attracting customers and profitability as well as quality issues. The concept of hospitality underpins much of what the tourist experiences as a traveller, namely the consumption of food, drink and accommodation away from the home environment. Historical studies of the hospitality sector indicate that ‘commercial hospitality has its roots in supplying to travellers through the market, the basic human needs of food, drink, shelter and rest’. Tourist accommodation has been developed, over time, to a position where virtually all tastes are catered for: from holiday villages and resort hotels that encourage guests to spend their time on-site, to basic bunkhouse barns that cater for a single-night stay at very low cost.
