Types of Accommodation

Accommodation can be classified into various types; the most

popular of which are the following:
1. Hotels
Hotels can be a 10-room boarding house or a building
that has a thousand or more rooms, convention and meeting
facilities, recreation facilities such as swimming pools and
tennis courts, 24-hour room service, with several restaurants
and bars and various types of entertainment. Hotels have
been designed and built to meet almost any kind of budget or
comfort level that the traveling public might want.
2. Motels or Motor Hotels
Normally, motels only offer rooms
only and free parking to guests. These
are often found along busy highways and
cater primarily to transient and cost-
conscious travelers.
3. Resort Hotels
Resort hotels are intended for vacation
travelers. These hotels range from budget to
luxury and can accommodate these travelers
and even convention delegates. These are
usually located near beaches and offer more
amenities, shops, and recreation
opportunities.
4. Pensions
Pensions are found principally in
Europe. These are usually family-owned
accommodation facilities. In German speaking
parts of Europe, a pension is also called
Gasthaus. Pensions and Gasthaus usually offer
continental breakfast but do not have facilities
for other meals. Pensions are known for their
informal family atmosphere.
5. Paradors

Paradors are unique to Spain. These are

generally old castles, convents, or monasteries
that have been converted into hotels by the
government and are operated by the
government.
6. Condominium Hotels
Condominium hotels are a recent innovation. These are
often hotels with apartments (condominiums) instead of
basic rooms. The condominium units are sold by the hotel
developers to individuals who are given a title to the
physical real estate. The individual owners then contract
the developer or a management company to operate the
hotel and rent the space to visiting tourists. The individual
owners have the right to stay in their own units during
specific periods of the year with a reduced room rate. The
developers or management company receives a fee for
managing and renting out the units. The resulting profit is
shared among the individual unit owners. Condominium
hotels generally appeal to families because of the
apartments.
7. Campgrounds
Camping is a popular form of overnight
accommodation in both Europe and North
America. In North America, there are at
present more than 20,000 campgrounds,
some of which are owned by hotels.
Campgrounds usually appeal to families who
travel in recreational vehicles RVs.
Campgrounds and RVs stopping spots are
often found in government parks and forests.
8. Bed and Breakfast
Bed and breakfast is a form of lodging
which originated in Europe. This form of
accommodation provides a bed for the night
and breakfast the next day. It was only in the
1970s that the idea was brought to the united
states. Retired and semiretired people with
large houses have contributed much to the
growth of these establishments.
9. Tourist Inns
Tourist inns are lodging establishments
that cater to transients. These do not normally
meet the minimum requirements of an
economy hotel.
10. Apartment –Hotels (Apartels)
Apartment-hotels are buildings which
contain several independent and furnished or
semi-furnished apartments. These are leased
to tourists and travelers on a long-term basis
and offer basic services to its tenant, similar to
hotels.
11. Health Spas
Health spas are hotels and resorts which cater to
people who go to spas or mineral springs for medical
treatment or weight reduction. The idea of visiting health
spas originated in Europe. The Romans and the Greeks
visited the spas as early as the first century. The spas
became the center of the social life of the English, the
French, and the Germans during the seventeenth and later
centuries. At present, several health spas in Europe offer
modern techniques such as medically supervised
rejuvenation programs which include supervised diets and
rigorous exercises to shed fat and reduce weight.
 The spas in many European nations are
controlled by the state. In Czechoslovakia,
there are more than 900 curative mineral
springs and 50 spa towns and resorts that are
visited by thousands of people from 50
countries. They are attracted by the curative
effects of the mineral waters on the spas.
Private European hotel chains have entered
the health spa business in the continent.
12. Private Homes

The private home is the earliest form of

overnight lodging for travelers. It provides
lodging to tourists who cannot be
accommodated in hotels and motels during
peak vacation periods.
14. Time-sharing
Time-sharing is a more recent unique type
of accommodation. It started in Europe in the
1960s when people found it difficult to make
reservations every year in popular hotels during
summer. Time-sharing is the selling of vacation
lodging, usually condominiums, for a specific
week or weeks over a given number of years.
Originally, condominiums in resorts were bought
and marketed as either a second home or primary
home depending on the needs of the buyer.
The resort would rent the units during the
time when the owner was not in
residence, thus providing an income to
help with the payments. Later, a new
marketing approach that would sell more
lodging facilities at a higher profit to the
developer as adopted. By selling weeks
instead of permanent residence, the total
asking price could be higher.
 For example, a unit which sells for $100,000 as
residential structure would sell for $15,000 per
week thus bringing a total sales price or profit of
over $500,000.
 Time-sharing also increases the number of
potential buyers since the average person who is
restricted by both time and money would then be
able to afford a week at a resort and still receive
the benefits of having made an investment in
property.
 Time-sharing began in the United states in the early
1970s when oil prices increased. Florida developers,
unable to sell their whole unit condominiums,
decided to adapt them to time-sharing. However,
they knew they would have difficulty selling the
concept of right-to-use time-sharing to North
Americans.
 Therefore, the early North Americans time-share
developers split each whole condominium unit into
52 individual weekly portions and sold the portions or
shares. In this way, the buyers no longer had to pay
$150,000 for the entire unit nut only $3,000 for one
week or $6,000 for two weeks.
 There are two basic types of time-sharing programs
that have been developed. First, the fee-simple
program provides the buyer with both an occupancy
and ownership right to a specific resort unit for a
fixed period annually. This unit can be sold or leased
and used for tax purposes like any other real estate
purchase. Second, the right-to-use program
guarantees an annual occupancy right for a specific
period but does not convey ownership interest in
proper. Both types of time-share ownership interest
in the property and both payment of a pro-rate share
of the annual maintenance costs of the entire
property.
 A later development which has increased the
attractiveness of time-shares is a system of
exchange. This allows a person who buys a
time-share in a particular resort to trade for
another time-share in another resort. Several
companies provide computerized trading
services for owners.
14. Hostels
Hostels provide basic amenities such
as a bunk bed and a commonly shared
toilet and bathroom. The traveler
provides his or her own bedding. Hostels
appeal primary to young travelers.
 The idea of a hostel was conceived in 1909 by an
elementary school teacher in Germany who wanted
to provide low-cost overnight lodging to travelers
throughout Europe. In 1930, there were more than
2,000 youth hostels that were established in
Germany. In 1934, the first hostel was established in
the United States.
 At present, hostels are run by individuals or nonprofit
organizations. A few are run by the national
organization.
Classification of Hotels
There are different ways of classifying
hotels, such as location, type of guest, and
price. According to location, hotels may be
center-city, suburban, airport, or highway.
Based on guest type, hotels are classified as
commercial, conventions, or resort. According
to price, hotels are categorized as economy,
standard, first class, or deluxe.