ABSTRACT
Questions concerning the definition of terms such as ‘hospitality’ and ‘hospitality management’ are at the core of this book. On the one hand, a diversity of approaches to such definitions can reflect a healthy pluralism. Contra this point of view, diversity can reflect conflict and confusion, a lack of clarity. In an intellectual era dominated by relativist theories such as postmodernism, the latter position can appear as a virtue. This is not the view taken here. The discussion in this chapter seeks to circumscribe debate on the nature and relationships between ‘hospitality’ and ‘hospitality management’, and in so doing to distil a realist account of these concepts as a basis for future research. At the core of this discussion is the nature of hospitality itself, which we view as imperative to any meaningful discourse about what has come to be termed the ‘hospitality industry’ and ‘hospitality management’.
