A hotel may targets many markets and can be classified according to the market or Clientele and Location they attempt to attract and serve. The most common types of hotel based on these criteria include :-
- Commercial
- Airport
- Residential
- Resort
- Time share
- Bed and breakfast
- Casino
- Conference center
- Convention hotels
COMMERCIAL HOTEL: commercial hotels are situated in the heart of the city. Mostly the businessmen or commercial executives patronize these hotels. Guest facilities at these hotels are – complimentary newspaper, colour TV with cable, E-mail, fax connection, car rental, airport pick up, coffee shop, bar, specialty restaurant, swimming pool, health club, room service, concierge, business center, conference room etc. length of stay in these hotels are from one day to few days.
AIRPORT HOTELS: these hotels are situated near the airport and are frequented by businessmen, airline passengers, layover passengers, crew members etc. facilities provided are similar to that of a commercial hotels but the only difference is that airport pick up is provided from hotel to airport and vice versa. Length of stay in these hotels is from few hours to few days.
RESIDENTIAL HOTELS: these types of hotel provide long term or permanent accommodation. Advance rent is collected while other charges are billed weekly. There may be a restaurant serving all types of cuisine and there will be laundry service. These hotels normally work on European plan. Recently these types of hotels are converted into cooperative hotels or condominiums. Length of stay is from a week to one or more months.
RESORT HOTEL: A resort may be located in the mountains, on an island, or in some other location away from crowded area. Most of the resort hotels provide extensive food and beverage, valet and room service for the vacationers. These hotels also provide special activities such as golf, tennis, horse back riding, nature hikes, sailing, skiing, swimming and dancing etc. resorts also try to be destination within a destination by providing wide range of services, facilities and activities giving a guests with many choices. A more leisurely, relaxed atmosphere distinguishes most resort hotels from their commercial counterparts. Length of stay is for one week or more.
CASINO HOTELS: hotels with gambling facilities are casino hotels. Although the guest rooms and F&B operations may be quite luxurious, but there function is secondary and supportive of casino operations. Similar to resort hotels these hotels also cater to leisure and vacation travelers. These hotels attract guests by promoting gambling. A recent trend in casino hotels now days are to provide a broad range of entertainment opportunities, spas, golf, tennis court. These hotels also have specialty restaurant. Length of stay is one week or more.
CONFERENCE CENTERS & CONVENTION CENTERS: Most of the hotels provides meeting space & they also offer overnight accommodations and because meetings are their focal point these centers place great emphasis on providing all services and equipment necessary to ensure a meetings success- technical production assistance, high quality audiovisual equipment, business center, flipchart, display chart and so forth. These centers also provides extensive leisure facilities like golf course, swimming pool, tennis court, fitness center, jogging track etc.guest amenities may not be plentiful at conferences centers since these centers concentrate more on fulfilling the needs of meeting planners and organizers then on meeting the needs of program attendees.
Convention hotels are another type of hotel segment of the lodging industry that has grown significantly in recent years. These hotels have 50,000 sq; feet or more of exhibit hall space plus ballroom and assortment of meeting rooms. These hotels also have sufficient no. Of guestrooms to accommodate all the attendees of most conventions. These hotels are primarily directed towards business travelers and offer business services such as secretarial assistance, language translator, fax machines, computer room, tele- conference etc. convention hotels usually attract the convention market from state, national and international association and other corporate houses.
TIME SHARE AND CONDOMINIUM HOTELS: time-share hotels are referred to as the vacation ownership hotels. The concept is that for a set period which may be one week or more in a year the person gets the right to enjoy stay and other facilities and services in an apartment are any other type of lodging in a tourist complex. It is like advance purchase of time in holiday accommodation. Here the purchaser has to pay a one time capital sum and then annual contribution towards the maintenance of the property. The fee usually covers services such as cleaning and maintenance of apartment and public areas, electricity, gas, water, etc. Avelon resorts. Sterling resort, mahindra holding etc. are the few time-share hotels in India.
Condominiums involve a joint ownership of a complex. Each owner has the full benefit of a unit and shares the cost that is common to the entire complex such as taxes, maintenance, upkeep of building etc. each owner can occupy or sell his unit independently but is obliged under the terms of contract to contribute towards the pool of common facilities and services. The owner can enjoy recreational exclusive to the complex and the management looks after the unit in the absence of the owner and if permitted by the owner let it out to provide income to him.
BED AND BREAKFAST HOTELS: These hotels are houses with a few rooms converted to overnight facilities to small building having 20 to 30 rooms. The owner lives in the premises and is responsible for looking after the guest, in these hotels only breakfast is served and meeting rooms, laundry, lunch and diner and recreational facilities are offered in these hotels, however some hotels do offer limited food service.
SUPLEMENTRY ACCOMMODATION: it consists of all types of accommodations other then the convention type, it may be described as premises that provides accommodation but not the other services which is provided by the hotels. The main distinguish features of supplementary accommodations are:
- Standard of comfort are modest as compared to that of a hotel,
- They can sell accommodation at a very low price,
- There is an informal atmosphere and freedom regarding dress code.
Supplementary accommodation plays a very important role in the total available tourist accommodation in a country; it caters to both the international and domestic tourist traffic.
Types of supplementary accommodations are:
- Dharamshalas or sarae,
- Dak bungalows,
- Youth hostel,
- Dormitories,
- Sanatoria,
- Paying guest accommodation,
- Tourist bungalow etc.
