Accommodation & Lodging Industry: Essay On Options, Quality, And Trends. (70 Characters)

Write about the laws regarding accommodation and lodging industry.

The term hospitality refers to the host and guest relationship where the host serves and entertains the guest with the best that he has (Cook, Hsu and Marqua 2014).  Hospitality industry is broadly divided into food, lodging, transportation, event planning and some other sectors. It is a rather big industry with several branches. It is billion-dollar industry, which stands on the leisure and disposable income of people.  A unit of engaged in hospitality comprises of  multiple groups involved in operations and facility maintenance like receptionists, housekeeper, servers, porters, kitchen workers, bartenders, facilities management team, human resource management team and the marketing department (Claveria, Monte and Torra 2015). This fundamental concept of this industry is applicable to any business that strives to satisfy customer based on their leisurely needs. The first and the foremost foundation of this industry that it is based on customer satisfaction. As it depends on the disposable income of people, an economy downfall or recession hits the market badly as in such situations people would not have surplus resources to spend on luxury and leisure.  

Types of accommodation and lodging

Hospitality industry offers a variety of choices regarding lodging and accommodation (Rittichainuwat 2013). It includes:

• Hotels
• Motels
• Hostels
• Bed and Breakfast
• Resorts
• Cruise, Floatels and Houseboats
• Serviced Apartments
• Homestays or Guesthouses
• Inns and Taverns
• Farmstays
• Vacation rentals

Hotels provide accommodation, meals and a variety of other hospitality services. Hotels have air-conditioned rooms with attached bathrooms. There are wide range of hotels as per the facilities they provide and they are categorized based on star ratings, from 1 star to 5 star. It ranges from simple budget style hotels to the most expensive accommodations in the world.

Motels were originally constructed for travelers and motorists who needed to rest while driving down the road for a long time. In Australia, motels are popularly known as motor inns or motor hotels. They provide overnight accommodation to travelers and tourists. Generally, motels provide no such services or facilities as such like hotels or guesthouses. They mainly provide a room with or without an attached bathroom. However, the main attraction of motels are the ample parking space one gets to park their vehicle while they stay there.

Hostels are an inexpensive accommodation option, which usually offer shared rooms such as dormitories along with shared bathrooms. These are perfect choice for students and backpacking travelers on a shoestring budget. The occupants share the limited amenities of the establishment like the bathrooms, lounge area, kitchen and washing units. Here, rooms maybe offered separately to men or women, or sometimes both in the same rooms depending on the policy of the hostels.

Accommodation Options

Bed and Breakfast type of accommodation offers room and a breakfast facility. It is generally an independently run establishment where the room rates are inclusive of the breakfast price. They provide rooms like hotels yet are a little less expensive and with lesser amenities.

Resorts are an expensive mode of accommodation, which are primarily visited by vacationers with a hefty budget looking for entertainment and relaxation under the same roof. Resorts provides an array of recreational facilities and services to the guest. It comprises of pools, kids activity area, sports centers and other entertainment facilities.

Cruise, Floatels and Houseboats involves accommodation on a water-body where people mostly drop in to relax. The fact that these are on water limits the variety of amenities like huge sport centers; however, modern cruises are extremely spacious and contain everything that one can need. On river Murry, Lake Eildon and river Hawkesbury in Australia, there are many motorized houseboats offering accommodation to tourists.

Serviced Apartments and Guesthouses are private places rented out by the host or owner to guests. These are mostly fully furnished houses or apartments where guests can accommodate themselves comfortably like home. These comes with bedrooms, living room, attached bathroom, kitchen, balcony, private parking, pool access and other amenities.

Inns and Taverns are small accommodation and lodging establishments that offer rooms to travelers. Additionally, these offer food and drinks to boarders as well. These are mainly purpose oriented accommodation options and not meant for staying for a vacation.

Farmstays refers to the lodging options in a working farm that promotes countryside living and brings one close to nature. These are quite like guesthouses, only situated on farms in the countryside. Boarders get to enjoy a village life; collecting eggs, plucking fruits, feeding animals, harvesting crops are some the tasks they get to do here.

Vacation rentals are the ones that are let out by the host for some time, especially during holidays. These rentals are generally located in popular tourist destinations where lodging is in high demand. These are fully furnished homes, just like serviced apartment. The owner or the host is supposed to vacate the establishment when it is let out to a guest.

Australian Consumer Law (ACL) set out in the schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, laid down by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, is the national law to protect consumers in Australia (Consumerlaw.gov.au 2018). It is applicable to each of the states, territories and to the nation at large. It lays down guidelines for travel and accommodation businesses along with other industries. It covers the policies that businesses should keep in mind while advertising and promoting their business. It says that businesses must meet the customer satisfaction by providing services:

• With necessary care and skill,
• Which are appropriate for the particular purpose,
• Within the reasonable time.

Australian Consumer Law and Regulations for Lodging and Accommodation

  Other than that, the Tourist Accommodation Act, 1984 and the Tourist Accommodation Regulations, 2007 lays down the rules and norms for lodging and accommodation businesses to run (Legislation.gov.au 2018).  

It requires a variety of skilled and unskilled labour or worker or employee to run a lodging and accommodation business (Pan 2015). They are:

• Receptionists or front desk management: They are responsible for helping the guest to check-in and out of the accommodation, arrange for transportation and sightseeing and other booking related work.
• Housekeeping department: They are responsible for cleaning and maintaining private and public spaces expect for the kitchen area as it falls within the ambit of the food service management.
• Maintenance and engineering department: This department has the duty to maintain the electrical and the electronic facilities of the establishment.
• The accounts team: This team keeps a tab on the accounts of the establishment, comprising of the payments received from the business and arranges for the salary of the staffs as well.
• Security team: They looks after the safety and security of the guests as well the establishment as a whole.

Service quality refers to the quality of services, facilities and amenities provided by the accommodation and lodging establishment. The success of the organization depends entirely on the quality of services it offers. A business offering lodging and accommodation service has to go under the scanner of various quality checks like cleanliness of public and private areas, food quality, on-time room service, working condition of the electrical and electronic appliances, staff courtesy, interior decor and other facilities provided by the establishments (Lu et al. 2015). Although the experiences of these quality may depend from one person to the other based on their expectations. Expectations keeps on changing over time due to the changing mindsets, wants and influence of advertisement. Nevertheless, the basic quality criteria remains the same (Benavides-Velasco, Quintana-García and Marchante-Lara 2014).

Grading on the other hand refers to the classification or rating given to hotels or lodging and accommodation establishments based on the quality of hospitality and services provided by them. There are many criteria on which the grading is done and there are over 100 hotel rating systems around the globe according to WTO and IH&RA (Tefera and Govender 2015).  It has been laid down that such grading or rating system is encouraged to protect customer’s expectation and money. Presently, internal as well as local accommodation establishments are pushed by the competitive market to seek the tools and other means to achieve service quality. It is important for hotels to obtain grades and certificates from reliable rating authority so that they can easily attract customer’s attention. Government agencies now are becoming vigilant enough to rate the hotels by following a strict regulatory guideline to protect consumerism. Universally, the most common grading symbol for hotels is the star ratings, however, nowadays crowns, sun, moon, diamonds or letters are also been used (Moreo, Green and O'Halloran 2018). In the age of Online booking system, the online travel sites grade hotels as per their whims and fancies without specifying the criteria. However, surprisingly, customers may find different ratings for the same hotel on different booking websites (Wto.org 2018). Therefore, it is quite confusing for customers to truly judge the grade and quality of the lodging establishments.

Some of the current trends that are shaping the accommodation and lodging industry are as follows:

• The internet is taking the world of accommodation and lodging industry by storm. Technology and advanced internet facility have had its advantage to control the industry as customers now majorly depends upon these resources to rely and make their bookings (Mo Kwon, Bae and Blum 2013).
• Trendy services like ‘Bed & Breakfast’, ‘free Wi-Fi’, ‘ airport pick & drop’, ‘multi-cuisine restaurants’ are some lucrative facilities that lodging establishments nowadays offer to attract more and more customers (Cantallops and Salvi 2014).
• The concept of ‘home-sharing’ is becoming more prominent day by day. People are choosing homestays and serviced apartments over conventional hotels for getting the feel of a home away from home.

Conclusion

To conclude, accommodation industry is in bloom as the global economy is quite stable presently. People has the income to spare for a lavish vacation and support the hospitality industry. Accommodation is the first and foremost essentials for a vacation and people are getting conscious about it more due to the advanced technology as hotel booking is now one click away. Consumer Law protects the customers as the accommodation businesses are refrained from making false promises through alluring advertisements.

References:

Benavides-Velasco, C.A., Quintana-García, C. and Marchante-Lara, M., 2014. Total quality management, corporate social responsibility and performance in the hotel industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 41, pp.77-87.

Cantallops, A.S. and Salvi, F., 2014. New consumer behavior: A review of research on eWOM and hotels. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 36, pp.41-51.

Claveria, O., Monte, E. and Torra, S., 2015. A new forecasting approach for the hospitality industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(7), pp.1520-1538.

Consumerlaw.gov.au. (2018). Legislation – Australian Consumer Law. [online] Available at: https://consumerlaw.gov.au/the-australian-consumer-law/legislation/ [Accessed 3 Sep. 2018].

Legislation.gov.au. (2018). Tourist Accommodation Regulations (NI). [online] Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2015Q00331 [Accessed 3 Sep. 2018].

Lu, C., Berchoux, C., Marek, M.W. and Chen, B., 2015. Service quality and customer satisfaction: qualitative research implications for luxury hotels. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, 9(2), pp.168-182.

Mo Kwon, J., Bae, J.I. and Blum, S.C., 2013. Mobile applications in the hospitality industry. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 4(1), pp.81-92.

Moreo, A., Green, A.J. and O'Halloran, R., 2018. What certifications are important in the hospitality industry?. Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism, 17(1), pp.121-135.

Pan, F.C., 2015. Practical application of importance-performance analysis in determining critical job satisfaction factors of a tourist hotel. Tourism Management, 46, pp.84-91.

Rittichainuwat, B.N., 2013. Tourists' and tourism suppliers' perceptions toward crisis management on tsunami. Tourism Management, 34, pp.112-121.

Tefera, O. and Govender, K., 2015. Hotel grading, service quality, satisfaction and loyalty–proposing a theoretical model and relationship. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 4, pp.1-17.

Wto.org. (2018). WTO | Services: Tourism and travel-related services. [online] Available at: https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/tourism_e/tourism_e.htm [Accessed 3 Sep. 2018].