ABSTRACT
The provision of accommodation and food and beverage services are the two principal features of the hospitality industry that distinguish it from (most) other industries. Hotels are but one sector of the hospitality industry and not the only one to provide accommodation. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book offers a positive account of hotel accommodation management in its many complexities. Because the hospitality industry has an almost insatiable demand for graduates from these courses, graduates who are then misused and rapidly leave the sector – hence the continuing demand. The industry as a whole fails to adequately distinguish between competence and experience. Indeed, as has already been implied, change has happened, and continues to happen, in quite fundamental ways even though many in the industry, and certainly education, have yet to catch up.
