The hotel industry is a mature industry marked by intense competition. Market share increases typically comes at a competitor’s expense.
Common American hotel classifications are as follows:
Commercial Hotels cater mainly to business clients and usually offer room service, coffee-shop, dining room, cocktail lounge, laundry and valet service as well as access to computers and fax services.
Airport Hotels are located near airports and are a conveniently located to provide any level of service from just a clean room to room service and they may provide bus or limousine service to the air lines.
Conference Centers are designed to specifically provide meeting space from groups; they provide all services and equipment necessary to handle conventions.
Economy Hotels provide a limited service and are known for clean rooms at low prices meeting just the basic needs of travelers.
Suite or All-Suite Hotels are hotels which offer spacious layout and design. Business people like the setting which provides space to work and entertain separate from the bedroom.
Residential Hotels used to be very popular. The typical residential hotel offers long term accommodations.
Casino Hotels are often quite luxurious. Their main purpose is in support of the gambling operation. Casino hotels often offer top name entertainment and excellent restaurants.
Resort Hotels are the planned destination of guests, usually vacationers. This is because resorts are located at the ocean or in the mountains away from inner cities. Resort hotels may offer any form of entertainment to keep their guests happy and busy.
Some hotels are heavily involved in franchising activities. Franchisees will pay a fixed per-cent of receipts to a franchiser for advertising and royalties. Some hotel franchisers will lease the structure to the franchisee for a monthly rate and/or a percentage of sales.
The internal controls of these chain hotels are extensive; conversely, individual independent hotels do not always enjoy the same degree of controls over operations.
Ownership takes diverse forms, ranging from publicly-held companies to individuals. Included within this span are churches and other not-for-profit organizations, municipalities, partnerships and REITs. Of the various ownership arrangements, REITs seem to provide some of the more interesting, and perhaps more involved sets of rules.
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