Looking for: A Brief History of Hotel Development in China

The word "hotel" was originally French, referring to the villa where French nobles entertained VIPs in the countryside. Later, the hotel industry in Europe and America also used this term. In the south of our country, it is often called "hotel" and in the north, it is often called "hotel" and "restaurant". Although the appearance of eastern and western hotels can be traced back to the "inn" period thousands of years ago, it was not until the last decades of the 20th century that the hotel industry became a modern industry. With the reform and opening up, the hotel industry in China has risen on a large scale. Today, modern hotels have become the "city within the city", "world within the world" and "home away from home" for customers.

A hotel refers to a place that relies on buildings and mainly provides services to passengers through rooms and restaurants. In other words, a hotel is an economic entity that uses space equipment, places and certain consumable materials to meet the needs of guests for accommodation, food, entertainment, shopping and leisure and entertainment through reception services, and obtains economic and social benefits.

Modern hotels today should meet the following basic conditions:

1 is a well-equipped and well-known building approved by the government;

2. Accommodation and catering services must be provided for customers;

3. There should be facilities to provide entertainment for customers;

4. Provide ideal services for accommodation, catering and entertainment;

5, it is profitable, and it is necessary to achieve reasonable profits;

6. It is based on meeting social needs.

Hotel traceability:

The origin of hotels began in ancient times. At that time, or because of low productivity, people were busy foraging and looking for shelter from wild animals every day in order to survive. Or need to move because of the change of weather; Or travel thousands of miles on a pilgrimage. No matter what the reason, these are inseparable from food and shelter, and people need to meet the most basic survival needs. Before the invention of money in human society, there were no hotels, so it was easier for people to find places to stay and eat when they went out, and it was free.

With the emergence of commodity production, the travel of businessmen led to the emergence of the earliest prototype of hotels-inns. Later, due to the development of commodity production, commodity exchange stimulated people's trade and tourism activities, and hotels also developed considerably on this basis.

China Hotel Industry:

China is one of the earliest countries where hotels appeared.

The post station in Yin and Shang Dynasties was the earliest accommodation facility in China. The buildings that appeared in the Zhou Dynasty were managed by special personnel, providing accommodation for various litigants along the way. Among them, the scale of "Houguan" is relatively large, which is equivalent to the current hotels or senior guest houses. Hotels that received ordinary tourists at that time were generally called "anti-tourism". During the Qin and Han Dynasties and the Wei and Jin Dynasties, there were also special facilities to provide accommodation and services.

In the Tang Dynasty, the development of economy and foreign trade and the growth of population made the hotel industry develop rapidly. At that time, big cities such as Chang 'an, the capital, had hotels of different grades and properties for people from all walks of life to live in, as well as "Sifang Pavilion" dedicated to receiving foreign guests. During the Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, hotels specially for foreign businessmen appeared in many big cities and ports. At that time, the famous Venetian traveler Kyle Poirot wrote: "There are many beautiful inns for businessmen to live in." During the Ming Dynasty, there was a "Huitong Pavilion" in Beijing, which was used to receive foreign envoys and representatives of various fraternal nationalities in China.

The emergence of modern hotels in China is only a matter of nearly a hundred years.

After the Opium War, with the invasion of imperialism and the influx of foreign businessmen, they successively established many large-scale hotels with restaurants and bars in large and medium-sized port cities in China. These hotels, called Grand Hotels in the south and Grand Hotels in the north, serve imperialist officials, businessmen and dignitaries. For example, Six Kingdoms Hotel in Beijing, Beijing Hotel, Lishunde Hotel in Tianjin, Richard Hotel in Shanghai, Wan Guo Hotel in Guangzhou, etc. After 1927, a number of guest houses were set up to receive Chinese and foreign tourists in big cities and scenic spots such as Beijing, Shanghai, Xi and Qingdao. In addition to providing accommodation and services, there are supporting facilities such as bathrooms, barbershops and recreation rooms. At the same time, some coastal port cities in China, such as Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangzhou, have also built a number of high-rise modern tourist hotels. Such as Shanghai International Hotel and Guangzhou Aiqun Hotel, which were also famous in Southeast Asia at that time.

After the founding of New China, especially after the climax of socialist transformation of 1956, the corporate nature, professional status and clients of hotels have undergone fundamental changes.

During this period, not only the original old hotels were rebuilt, but also a number of new hotels and guesthouses were gradually established. These hotels are generally built in provincial capitals and scenic spots in China, and undertake the task of receiving foreign guests. This period can be said to be an important period in the development history of China hotels after the founding of New China.

After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (that is, after 1978), China's foreign economic policy has promoted the development of China's tourism industry, and China's hotel industry has entered a new development period.

The main performance is as follows:

1. This old hotel not only updated and added equipment, but also significantly improved the service quality and management level. The quality of staff and workers has been improved, management methods have been improved, and good economic benefits have been achieved.

2. In order to adapt to the development of tourism, China has adopted various forms of investment, such as state investment, local fund-raising and Sino-foreign joint ventures, and built a number of four-and five-star hotels with large scale and advanced equipment, and implemented modern scientific management. Such as the Great Wall Hotel in Beijing, Jinling Hotel in Nanjing, White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou and China Hotel.

3. The design and construction of many new hotels have strong national characteristics, reflecting the garden art and style of China. Such as Xiangshan Hotel in Beijing, Taoyuan Hotel in Zhuoxian County, Hebei Province, Zhongshan Hot Spring Hotel in Guangdong Province, etc.

Most importantly, after the reform and opening up, hotels in China have embarked on the road of self-financing.

According to statistics, by the end of 1996, there were more than 4,000 foreign-related tourist hotels in China.

Western hotel industry:

According to historical records, there was the embryonic form of hotels-inns in ancient Greece and Rome, but it was not until A.D.19th century that a large number of hotels were built and managed. Foreign hotel industry has experienced four development periods from the earliest post stations, inns and hotels to modern hotels and international hotel chain companies.

(1) Internal period

This is the earliest prototype of the hotel, with extremely simple equipment, which can only provide the most basic accommodation services for tourists, with a small scale and low price.

(2) Hotel period

/kloc-In Europe in the 0/9th century, with the spread of the extremely luxurious lifestyle of the upper class, luxury hotels serving the royal family, nobles and big bourgeoisie came into being. Represented by the "Paris Hotel" in France, these hotels are large in scale, unique in architecture, luxurious in equipment, exquisite in food and thoughtful in service, which can meet the various needs of guests as much as possible, and are expensive, and are designed to serve the wealthy, dignitaries and privileged classes of the upper class.

(3) Business Hotel Period

At the beginning of the 20th century, with the development of the world economy and the opening of new markets, business tourism grew rapidly. Business hotels are characterized by providing complete equipment and facilities, providing excellent services, making tourists feel comfortable, convenient, clean and safe, and the price is cheap and reasonable. These hotels mainly serve businessmen and tourists, and the 300-room "statler Hotel" built by statler Company in Buffalo is its representative. Hotels use scientific management methods to achieve low cost and high efficiency. The appearance of this hotel marks that the hotel industry has entered a new historical period.

(d) The New Inn period

With the development of the world economy and the application of new technologies, especially the popularity of automobiles and the appearance of jet planes, the development and changes of the hotel industry have been accelerated.

The new hotel period is also called the hotel chain stage. The so-called joint numbering means that dozens and hundreds of hotels share the same name, and there are unified norms and standards in hotel facilities, service level and management. These companies first started in China and then expanded abroad.

The United States is the earliest, largest and largest country in the world to implement hotel joint operation. The most famous hotel groups, such as Holiday Inn, Hilton Group and Sheraton Group, have tens of thousands of rooms all over the world.