Индустрия Гостеприимства и Размещения. (Hospitality and Accommodation industry).
Text A: The Structure of Modern Hospitality Industry. Прочитать текст
Hospitality industry is a current term to refer to a wide range of businesses, dedicated to the service of people away from home. The industry is concerned with their accommodation (provision of places to stay), provision of fare (food at table), transportation (traveling and tours), and recreation (relaxation and entertainment).
The institutions which provide these services have undergone long evolution from the Roman and Greek taverns to the modem restaurants (the term was coined by the Parisian cook Boulanger who called his famous soups “restoratives”), from the Medieval inns to the modern five-star palace hotels, from the Persian khans (combination of stables for camels and sleeping places for people) to modern motels (hotels which provide accommodations for motorists).
Service at these establishments has also undergone changes from discriminatory feeding (different meals served to the guests of different rank), the table d'hote (“table of the host” at which the guests had to eat with the landlord and his family at a nominal cost) to the ordinaries (eating places that served a fixed menu at a fixed price). The nineteenth century established a custom of eating out (having a good meal at a restaurant as a treat) and created concepts such as a la carte (dishes cooked to order and priced individually), catering (arranging food and drink functions for big groups of people at a restaurant), institutional food service (serving members of particular societal institutions, such as schools, offices, industrial enterprises, etc.).
Advanced technology of the twentieth century has brought great changes in hospitality industry. People expect a wide range of accommodations and rates: B&B (bed and breakfast) (a rate that combines a night’s accommodation with a breakfast the following day), American plan (a rate that includes three meals a day), and European plan (an accommodation-only rate that includes no meal). People also expect a wide range of dining choices from full-service restaurants (restaurants that cook to order more than a dozen main-course items) to cafeterias (self-service restaurants where food is displayed on a counter and the guests can pick what they like). The institutional food service establishments of this type are usually called canteens. The fast-paced century created fast food industry (quick-service restaurants that offer limited menus) and a great variety of tourist and leisure facilities, both commercial (which compete for their customers in the open market) and non-commercial (financed from the state budget).
Being dedicated to the service of people away from home, hospitality industry is concerned with their accommodation, provision of food and drink, their transportation and entertainment. That is why the institutions, which provide these services, are divided into three branches: hotel business (provision of places to stay), restaurant business (provision of food and drink), and tourist business (provision of transport and entertainment).
The HOTELS may be classified according to location, prices, and type of services offered. By virtue (свойство) of their location, hotels may be central (situated in the city center), resort (in exotic locations), airport (for air passengers), and freeway (on the highways). By virtue of prices, hotels can be classified into luxury, up-scale, mid-scale, and budget. And by virtue of services offered, hotels may be classified into full-service (with all sorts of services), economy (offering clean, reasonably sized and furnished rooms), residential (for long-term guests), all-suite hotels (rooms with adjacent lounge and kitchenette area).
Classification of RESTAURANTS may be based on two factors: menu and services offered. According to the menu, there are two main categories: full-service and specialty / restaurants. Restaurants of the first type have more than a dozen main-course items that are cooked to order. Specialty restaurants specialize in one dish (pizza, hamburger, chicken, steak, seafood, etc.). According to the services, the restaurants are classified into occasion (also called luxury) and casual restaurants. Two types of services are used in occasion restaurants: French service (the food arranged on platters (большое плоское блюдо) and presented to guests, after which the preparation is completed on a trolley-like side table with a gas burner), and Russian service (the food is cooked in the kitchen, placed onto a serving dish, and served to the guests individually with a serving spoon and fork). Casual dining is characterized by relaxed atmosphere, where not only Russian service is typical, but also its simplified version called American service (the food is prepared and put into individual plates in the kitchen before being carried into the dining room), and even buffet- type service (self-service).
The TOURIST BUSINESS deals with promoting, transportation and accommodation. Among the promoters are tour wholesalers (who design and package tours), tour operators (who sell tour packages to tourists and act as escorts (guides), travel agencies (who sell on behalf of airlines, rail and bus companies). The transportation businesses are airlines, cruise lines, rental auto and bus companies. The accommodation businesses are motels (hotels for motorists), resort hotels (hotels in exotic places for people on holiday), destination-management companies (organizations in charge of developing and implementing tourist programs in the areas attractive to tourists). The tourist market is divided into segments (user-groups) according to the buying possibilities of the clients: mass, middle and luxury markets. People who travel with a group make a group inclusive tour, and those who prefer to travel alone are called independent. When the people are taught to deal with ecology of the region they are visiting, they are called ecotourists.