Commercial Hospitality Essay: An Extension of Hospitality at Home?

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of commercial hospitality, arguing that it is essentially an extension of hospitality experienced in the home. Beginning with a definition of hospitality and its evolution, the essay traces the development of commercial hospitality, focusing on the accommodation sector. It examines customer preferences, the impact of the sharing economy (particularly Airbnb), and the challenges faced by traditional hospitality providers. The essay explores how commercial entities strive to replicate the comfort and satisfaction of a home environment, highlighting the importance of both tangible and intangible aspects of hospitality. The essay concludes by emphasizing the influence of home hospitality on the commercial sector, including the rise of sharing economy platforms, and the need for traditional businesses to adapt and compete in the modern market. References from various scholars have been included to support the arguments.

Running head: COMMERCIAL HOSPITALITY
Commercial Hospitality
Name of the University
Name of the Student
Author note

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Introduction
Hospitality is an ancient concept and it is associated with the gracious and munificent
greeting of guests at home or any other place. The connotation of hospitality however, has
modified with time, if not changed. In addition, its application has also expanded and it is no
longer limited within the confinement of home. In fact, a simple gesture of warmth and
graciousness has now transformed into a multibillion-dollar industry.
The essay discusses commercial hospitality on details and tries to justify the statement
that it is merely an extension of hospitality at home. The essay follows a chronological order
beginning with a detailed definition of hospitality. It is then followed by an overview of
hospitality at home. This hospitality extended to give birth to commercial hospitality that people
witness in various sectors, accommodation in particular. The essay focuses primarily on the
hospitality business concerning accommodation and customer preferences when it comes to this
aspect.
Defining hospitality
Hospitality as defined earlier is the simple gesture of welcoming and treating guests in a
gracious manner. Kirillova, Gilmetdinova and Lehto (2014) have provided a different
perspective of hospitality. According to them, hospitality is interpreted as per the beliefs upheld
in one’s own community. They state that hospitality depends on the ideals and beliefs propagated
by a certain community or religion. A gesture of kindness for one might be an insulting gesture
for the other. Nonetheless, the basic criteria remain the same across all communities and
religions- satisfying the guests.

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This age-old tradition has given rise to an industry that is ever growing. The hospitality industry
provides broad range of services to the customers and focuses solely on their satisfaction. The
hospitality industry is primarily categorized into three broad areas that are accommodations
comprising hotels and other similar businesses, food and beverage comprising restaurants, clubs
and such businesses and travel and tourism including trains, cruise ships airlines. (Kandampully
et al. 2014) is of the view that the services that encompass the hospitality industry although not a
necessity but do comprise an important part of people’s lives. The author further augments the
view by pointing out the exceptional rise of demand in this industry. This can also be identified
from the evidence that an entire subject of study has been dedicated to this industry. Hospitality
management is pursued by millions of people around the globe that proves the growing demand
of the industry.
Hospitality in the home
The very concept of hospitality as already mentioned, began from home and does even
today. People always try to welcome their guests, either relatives or friends or any acquaintance
with warmth and in a generous manner. Likewise, those who visit other’s homes expect to be
treated nicely. Being warm, generous and well behaved to guests involves asking them for food
or drinks, enquiring whether they had any trouble reaching and so on. Every person visiting
expects these common gestures from the host and vice versa. The main and common goal, thus
for the people providing hospitality is the visitor’s satisfaction. When people visit any relative’s
or friend’s home, the first thought that comes to their mind is the similarity the home has to their
own. They try to feel the vibe they get at their own homes. To a host, it is an achievement when
visitors get the similar feeling as their own home (Kwok and Yu 2013).

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It is however, crucial to state that welcoming guests with warm gestures and offering
them beverages and foods do not entirely count as being hospitable. Hospitality involves both
tangible and intangible gestures. Making someone comfortable and allowing them, the space to
open up and share their experiences is as important as offering tangible things. These little things
learnt at home led to the beginning of commercial hospitality.
Commercial hospitality- an extension of hospitality in the home
Kowalski (2013) argues that commercial hospitality has its origins in the earliest eras of
human life and thus it is one of the oldest businesses in the world. Commercial hospitality
involves any business that is concerned with providing accommodation or selling food and
beverages in exchange of money. Commercial hospitality is something that people chooses as an
option to spend money and leisure time. Therefore, it is something that is not a necessity for
people but a luxury. Those associated with the commercial hospitality industry are well aware of
this fact and they try their best to attract and satisfy customers.
When people decide to go on a tour to some places alien to their home, they mostly
expect to have as comfortable journey and stay as possible. By home, it does not mean only the
apartment or building people live in, it may also mean their country or their locality. Home
generally refers to the place where people feel comfortable and satiated. Thus, while planning to
tour or visit some other place, people look for the same comfort, treatment and satisfaction they
get in their home. Various factors play a role in the decision that includes the place, the climate,
the language and the culture of the chosen for spending time (Filieri and McLeay 2014). In
addition, people look forward to be acquainted with the culture, tradition, and cuisine of other

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places while being in the comfort of the chosen accommodation. They desire authenticity as well
as safety while choosing an accommodation.
Modern trends in hospitality demonstrate a visible transformation from the conventional ways.
The supreme leaders of commercial hospitality providing luxury accommodations to tourists are
facing a threat from the emerging trend. This emerging trend is the sharing economy provided
mostly online (Wosskow 2014). Airbnb is the company that revolutionized the hospitality
industry in the contemporary world. It took the commercial hospitality industry comprising
hotels, motels and other similar businesses by storm. The online platform offers innumerable
options for travelers and tourists from accommodation to restaurants and many more
(Airbnb.co.in 2018). The uniqueness of Airbnb is that the hosts too can earn by giving their
homes, apartments, castles or any space as short-term accommodation to tourists. Zervas,
Proserpio and Byers (2014) assess the rise of this sharing economy by pointing out the economic
impact it had on the traditional hospitality businesses. They put forth the case of Airbnb and its
impact on low-priced hotels based mostly in Texas, United States. Other platforms like Airbnb
also emerged during the last decade that further expanded the hospitality industry. Some of these
firms include HomeAway, Tripping.com, Flipkey, VRBO and many more.
An analysis of this sharing economy trend reveals the fact that commercial hospitality is
indeed an extension of hospitality found at home. Mentioned in the above section, these sharing
economies provide opportunities for people to stay as guests in anyone’s home and have a
homely experience. In addition to that, the hosts can also earn by welcoming guests in their place
and being hospitable. According to Ikkala and Lampinen (2015), the hosts or users who rent out
their homes for tourists or guests are aggravated to monetize network hospitality not just for
financial reasons but also for social experience.

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Big brands in order to cope with this emerging form of commercial accommodation are
devising new ways to lure tourists. These brands have been shaken from their position by these
commercial accommodations that have also given rise to rivalry. Hotels have laid allegations on
these sites that they have taken away their customers and caused damage to their business (Liu
and Mattila 2017). It is but true that these allegations would not help the traditional providers.
They need to understand the pulse of the new generation customers and utilize the digital
platform. They must not lose their authenticity however, in an attempt to outperform the
contemporary accommodation providers. Instead, they can bring forth the drawbacks of sharing
economy and the strengths of traditional accommodation. In addition, they can perform a
thorough analysis of the strategies employed by the sharing economy like shared values,
commitments, and trust to build their own strategy (Cusumano 2015). Although a novel concept,
peer-to-peer sharing can be challenged by the traditional accommodation providers by sticking to
their roots and making the best of social media. Direct interaction with the customers increases
the chances of attracting them by many folds (Mody, Suess and Lehto 2017).
Conclusion
Commercial hospitality has always been inspired from the hospitality received in the
home, either of one’s own or others. Being of the oldest services in the world, hospitality
industry has given people the opportunity to feel at home away from home. However, certain
limitations are also faced by people that include monetary capacity, availability of time,
acquaintance with strange environment, language and so on. Traditional commercial
accommodations succeeded in providing luxurious experiences to the people but the homely
feeling was still what people looked for. The emergence of sharing economy completely changed
the hospitality perspective. People now got the perfect choice of accommodation- a home away

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from home. In addition, they also got the opportunity to have a meaningful experience by getting
to know their hosts. This justified completely, the statement that commercial hospitality is just an
expansion of hospitality in the home. The report followed a logical structure to justify the
statement and included views of different scholars.

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References:
Airbnb.co.in 2018. About Us - Airbnb. [online] Airbnb.co.in. Available at:
https://www.airbnb.co.in/about/about-us [Accessed 4 Jan. 2018].
Cusumano, M.A., 2015. How traditional firms must compete in the sharing
economy. Communications of the ACM, 58(1), pp.32-34
Filieri, R. and McLeay, F., 2014. E-WOM and accommodation: An analysis of the factors that
influence travelers’ adoption of information from online reviews. Journal of Travel
Research, 53(1), pp.44-57.
Ikkala, T. and Lampinen, A., 2015, February. Monetizing network hospitality: Hospitality and
sociability in the context of Airbnb. In Proceedings of the 18th ACM conference on computer
supported cooperative work & social computing (pp. 1033-1044). ACM.
Kandampully, J., Keating, B.W., Kim, B., Mattila, A.S. and Solnet, D., 2014. Service research in
the hospitality literature: insights from a systematic review. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 55(3),
pp.287-299.
Kirillova, K., Gilmetdinova, A. and Lehto, X., 2014. Interpretation of hospitality across
religions. International journal of hospitality management, 43, pp.23-34.
Kowalski, Z., 2013. Commercial hospitality as a business model in the independent hotel
company. Managerial Economics, 14, p.99.
Kwok, L. and Yu, B., 2013. Spreading social media messages on Facebook: An analysis of
restaurant business-to-consumer communications. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 54(1), pp.84-
94.

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Liu, S.Q. and Mattila, A.S., 2017. Airbnb: Online targeted advertising, sense of power, and
consumer decisions. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 60, pp.33-41.
Mody, M.A., Suess, C., and Lehto, X., 2017. The accommodation experiencescape: A
comparative assessment of hotels and Airbnb. International Journal of Contemporary
Hospitality Management, 29(9), pp.2377-2404.. Mody, M.A., Suess, C., and Lehto, X., 2017
Wosskow, D., 2014. Unlocking the sharing economy: An independent review.
Zervas, G., Proserpio, D. and Byers, J.W., 2014. The rise of the sharing economy: Estimating the
impact of Airbnb on the hotel industry. Journal of Marketing Research.