Hospitality, History, Power, and Culture: A Comprehensive Examination

This essay delves into the multifaceted relationship between hospitality, history, power, and culture, particularly within the commercial context of the hotel industry. It examines how the provision of comfort and personalized service, mirroring the experience of home, defines true hospitality. The essay analyzes the impact of customer perceptions, online reviews, and the influence of peers on hotel choices. It contrasts traditional and modern approaches to accommodation, emphasizing the role of innovation, technology, and corporate social responsibility. The paper explores the challenges of commercialization, the importance of maintaining core values, and the use of power in providing optimal customer experiences. The essay concludes by highlighting how rational thinking and innovation are crucial to the evolution and success of the hospitality industry, positioning hospitality as an integral component of history, power, and cultural expression.

Running head: HOSPITALITY, HISTORY, POLITICS AND CULTURE
Hospitality, History, Politics and culture
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Executive Summary
Humans are provided with the power depending on their capability to make effective and
judicious utilization at the right place. Incapability to make correct usage of the provided
power degrades their personality and status. Herein the aspect of hospitality attains a negative
connotation. Maintenance of consistency in this incapability reflects the culture of the people
regarding the exposure of lackadaisical attitude towards executing the tasks with efficiency.
On the contrary, seeking innovative measures within the business activities helps the people
to encounter radical and historic transformations, altering their plight. All these aspects seem
true in this assignment. Providing home like comfort in the hotel rooms, with due respect to
the specific tastes and preferences of the customers is a typical and appropriate example of
commercial hospitality. Application of rational thinking towards the provision of innovative
services combines all the aspects within the field of hospitality. Countering this, maintaining
kind, understanding and courteous attitude towards the needs, demands and requirements of
the customers enhances the field of hospitality as a whole.

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“Commercial hospitality: an extension to hospitality”
Approaches to Home
The common perceptions associated with home are comfort. After a hard day’s work,
it is the home, which provides the much needed relaxation to the people. However, when the
tourists go abroad for spending vacations and holidays, they miss the warmth and comfort of
their homes. This is irrespective of the fact that the hotel personnel claim that the tourists
would get a homely feeling in the rooms with all the luxury (Gibson 2016). In other words,
no matter how the hotel rooms are luxurious, the comfort, security and privacy are missing.
In spite of this, the basic purpose of shelter is covered by the rooms offered by the hotel
personnel. Consciousness of the personnel towards providing the home like feeling and
comfort relates with the true essence the term “hospitality”.
Insight into influences about home
People now are tech savvy and rely on internet for the fulfilment of their basic needs.
This is applicable for the tasks, which they perform including hotel booking. As a matter of
specification, the features which are considered for hotel booking are- rooms with basic
amenities, cleanliness and ratings among others. With the aspect of ratings, “influence” can
be associated. The experience of the relatives regarding the services of the hotel adversely
influences the mindset of the hotel regarding hotel booking (Bowie et al. 2016). If the ratings
are closer to five, the people book the hotel in which their relatives stayed. On the contrary, if
the ratings are poor, conflicts generates, which compels them to switch hotels. Viewing it
from the other perspective, this difference of opinion, also generates tough competition
between the hotels, regarding the exposure of better hospitality, in terms of achieving large
scale customer satisfaction.

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Sometimes, it is seen that the narration of the peers and relatives seems to be wrong in
terms of the services provided by the hotel staffs. Therefore, self experience is of utmost
importance regarding taking a stance, especially for getting homely comfort outside home.
Aligning the concept of safety, at home the people know the location of the things. This
knowledge and acquaintance reflects less chances of getting hurt by accidentally confronting
things (Andriotis and Agiomirgianakis 2014). On the contrary, in hotel rooms, the chances of
getting hurt by things are more obvious, as the people are unfamiliar with the location of the
things. This example reflects the predominance of safety, security and privacy of the home
over hotel luxury in terms of accommodation.
Vacation provides the people with the much needed relaxation from drab and
monotonous lifestyle. Therefore, availability of long holidays make the people yearn for
going abroad or places, which would provide a calm and serene ambience to relax for few
days. Within this, meaningfulness and authenticity plays an important role. Advertising
tourism packages at cheaper and reasonable rates relates with the aspect of meaningfulness
within the search for better recreation (Mok, Sparks and Kadampully 2013). Staying
committed to the promised services is one of the other grounds for this correlation. Including
the means of social media helps the hospitality industry personnel to expand their customer
stock at one go. Surveying the needs, demands and requirements of the customers and then
introducing the schemes, offers and discounts is the organizational culture, which is aimed at
ensuring the wellbeing of the customers. Conveying the correct information to the customers
on the social media and official websites aligns with the aspect of authenticity, which reflects
the transparency practiced by the hospitality industry personnel for achieving loyalty, trust
and dependence from the customers (Lashley and Morrison 2013).
Commercial hospitality

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The aspects in the above paragraph bring the term “commercial hospitality” into the
discussion. The aspect “commercialization contradicts the attributes of loyalty, trust and
dependence. This contradiction can be related with the gaming mentality of the hospitality
industry personnel in terms of the affordability, specific tastes and preferences of the
customers. Moreover, this commercialization snatches away the comfort, security and
privacy of the customers, equalizing their plight with that of a beggar, who pleads for a
shelter. In view of these connotations, the aspects “commercial” and “hospitality” cannot be
placed side by side (Xiang et al. 2015). Herein, the terms “power” and “culture” attains a
negative parameter in terms of ensuring the wellbeing of the customers.
Gaming mentality reflects the collaborative interplay of the personnel regarding the
purchasing power of the customers. However, in the competitive ambience, there is one
saviour, who understands the needs of the customers and makes desperate efforts to lure them
towards the brand image. This understanding and caring nature enhances the corporate social
responsibility of the tourism industry. Joint ventures with the stakeholders and shareholders
helps the tourism industry personnel to launch lucrative offers, discounts and schemes for the
customers, in terms of hotel accommodation (Manhas and Tukamushaba 2015). Partnerships
are a means of financial aid and support for the industry personnel for upgrading their
performance from the issues of price fluctuations, inflation and inadequate stock among
others. This collaboration enables the personnel to complete the allocated tasks in an efficient
and effective manner. Moreover, this collaboration removes the individual burden on the
personnel regarding the projects at hand.
Traditional accommodation relates to the services provided by the tourism industry
personnel in the earlier times. This lacked the basic amenities like AC, fridge, TV among
other. The hotels at that time served only the purpose of having a shelter to spend the night
for the people. However, with the growth of population, there have been transformations in

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the needs, demands and requirements. One of the requirements is the uninterrupted internet
connection for establishing connection with friends and relatives for sharing the experience
(Kandampully, Zhang and Bilgihan 2015). Provision of Wi-Fi services within the hotel
premises enables the tourists to take pictures and send it to their loved ones. This provision
results in the conglomeration of the new within the old ambience of the hotels. Old can be
made new through the means of innovation. The bed sheets can be made colourful instead of
white. This would attract the tourists at the first chance. Along with this, the color of the
walls could be kept light. The tapestry of the rooms could project the cultural heritage.
Balcony is a must, which allows the tourists to view the scenic beauty. This balcony would
remind them of their home, where they spent their evenings watching hard day’s drab
monotony ending (Torres and Kline 2013).
Be it home or outside, comfort ceases the worries and tensions of the people.
Countering this, home like comfort is missing in the hotel rooms. The hotel managers make
attempts to present home like comfort in the rooms, however, they fail to provide the warmth,
comfort, security and privacy, which the people can feel in their homes. Herein, the old and
the new hotel accommodation services attain a negative tone. Viewing it from the other
perspective, room gives a sense of confinement within the four walls. There is a strict
discipline, which the people need to maintain. However, in the ambience of the hotel room,
there is no discipline (Andriotis and Agiomirgianakis 2014). The people can move out of the
hotel rooms according to their wish. Here, discipline only means exposing rational behaviour,
as they are under the surveillance of the CCTV cameras. In cases of irrational behaviour, it is
this shelter, which protects the people from the taunts and mocking of the society. Thinking
shelter as accommodation fades away the true essence of the aspect of “protection”. Rather, it
generates the feeling of imposing wrong interpretation towards ensuring the protection of the
customers.

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Power to provide proper accommodation
Applying the aspect of power to accommodation reflects the need of exposing rational
and mature behaviour towards the needs, demands and requirements of the customers. For
example, coming to the rooms and enquiring about the services needed by the customers at
one go, saves the time of the room service boys (Lynch 2017). This also allows the customers
to fulfil their relaxation needs without being interrupted. Providing the needed service blindly
projects the exposure of irrational and immature behaviour. Here, authority and power attains
a backseat in terms of the executing the roles and responsibilities rationally. Attempts to
preserve the core values reflect the culture of the personnel in terms of ensuring the wellbeing
of the customers.
Rationality towards the proposed extension
In view of this rationality, hospitality can be considered as a component of history,
power and culture. Typical example in this direction is rational thinking in terms of bringing
innovation within the services provided by the hospitality industry personnel. In case of
providing accommodation, giving homely comfort makes commercial hospitality an
extension to hospitality (Golubovskaya, Robinson and Solnet 2017). Delving deep into the
aspect, “hospitality” relates to the courteous, kind and generous attitude. And “commercial
hospitality” can be correlated with the attempts to offer homely comfort to the customers
through the means of innovation with keeping the core values intact. Emerging successful in
keeping these values intact enhances the organizational culture. Experimenting with the
existing services brings radical transformation in the history of the tourism industry. Typical
evidence of this fact lies in the advertisements and promotions, which took the industry to
each and every corner of the world (Kirillova, Gilmetdinova and Lehto, 2014). Optimizing

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the fact, specific transformations are size of the rooms, type of beds, and inclusion of
luxurious facilities among others, which made the stay of people in hotels a boring one.

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References
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