Please check the attached document. This assignment is related to the previous assignment so it is attached.
Hospitality: History, Politics and Culture MNG10723 SOUTHERN CROSS UNIVERSITY ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET For use with online submission of assignments Please complete all of the following details and then make this sheet the first page of each file of your assignment – do not send it as a separate document. Your assignments must be submitted as either Word documents, text documents with .rtf extension or as .pdf documents. If you wish to submit in any other file format please discuss this with your lecturer well before the assignment submission date. Student Name: Ajaya Thapa Student ID No.: 22869568 Unit Name: Hospitality: History, Politics and Culture Unit Code: MNG10723 Tutor’s name: Dr Jill Adams, Mr Mathew Little Assignment No.: 2 Assignment Title: Commercial hospitality is just extension of hospitality in the home Due date: 24/08/2018 Date submitted: 24/08/2018 Declaration: I have read and understand the Rules Relating to Awards (Rule 3 Section 18 – Academic Misconduct Including Plagiarism) as contained in the SCU Policy Library. I understand the penalties that apply for plagiarism and agree to be bound by these rules. The work I am submitting electronically is entirely my own work. Signed: (please type your name) Ajaya Thapa Date: 24/08/2018 “Commercial Hospitality is just extension of hospitality in the home” We live in a world where tourism is a great part of our lives. In order to break away from mundane nature and monotony of everyday life, we often like taking a break in order to get the much-needed feeling of escapism. However, many a times, our zeal to travel profusely and explore more take us to distant parts of the world. It is not uncommon for a man from Australia to roam around the exotic tropical city of Kenya or a brushing against the harsh winds of Siberia. It ultimately boils down to taste and preference of the travellers. However, whenever we plan a trip, one of the most fundamental things we care about is our accommodation. Travelling is fun, exuberant and thrilling at times, but getting a good place to stay is indeed one of our tops most priorities and hence accommodation is one of those factors that can singlehandedly make or break our vacation. There is an ongoing discussion that commercial activity is just an extension of hospitality in the home, however using the word ‘just’ would undermine the significance of commercialization of hospitalisation. Hospitality is a big business and it has been in vogue since ages. It is being reported that the inception of commercial hospitality dates back to at least 2000AD. O’Gorman (2009) stated that dorms were discovered in Mesopotamia that closely resembles what we call today hotels or inns. Mesopotamia was a big multi-cultural and trading hub in its heyday; hence it is rational enough to make the conjecture that it must have been a city commonly frequented by tourists, traders and many different artisans. It is often ambiguous to define hospitality as a pure social or commercial activity at times, the lines do get blurry and at times, there is often clear-cut distinction between the two. It depends on the type of establishment and the types of services offered to customers with or without cost. Brotherton (1999) argued hospitality as “a contemporaneous human exchange, which is voluntarily entered into, and designed to enhance the mutual well-being of the parties concerned through the provision of accommodation, and/or food and drink”. On the other hand, Lashley (2000) views hospitality as a broad concept that encompasses private, commercial as well as social realm. According to his viewpoint, hospitality albeit carrying a commercial connotation, is extremely social as it gives chance for people to interact in their most private and intimate setting. Hence, many of the authors asserted that the fundamental elements found in hospitality are accommodation along with provision of food and other consumables. In order to gauge, if hospitality is an extension of home, it is imperative to first understand the definition of home. In actuality, the meaning and definition of home differs from person to person. For someone like a five-year toddler the definition of home would include a big house where he lives with his parents and his dog. For a 70-year-old person, it could be his old-age home and for someone in his early twenties, a dorm where he eats and sleeps could be his home. However, it has been noted that many people identify the sense of belongingness as the primary criteria for considering a place home. A four-door walled becomes a home when the people inhabiting the place feel familiar and comfortable in the space. That is a person needs to feel ‘at home’ in order to call a place home! Hence, in natural settings, a person invites another person over at their home when they are well acquainted with the person and feel comfortable and happy enough to share their setting with them. Hence, in absence of commercialization of hospitality, it is the personal bonding that matters most. However, in case of commercial hospitality, interpersonal relationship is add-ons; they are not preliminary criteria to accommodate new people into their house of property. A property-lender in this regard is a businessman first, as it is his economic incentive that has prompted him to lend his property to invite guests. He would like to maintain good relationship with his clients, but that is what a good businessman also likes to do. He would most certainly like to give his clients a homely experience not entirely because of extension of home hospitality but because he is partially obliged to do so. As soon as ‘money’ comes into picture, the demands and most importantly expectation of guests increase manifold, for instance, if the bed is not comfortable enough, the normal guests would be accommodating enough to overlook the discomfort, however the paid guests would not accept such a thing. They would like to get good return of their money. In a similar yet reversed scenario, if paid guests steal away the bathroom towels, the house-owners would consider this a loss in normal operations of business, and would not be too much bothered about it, but if the real guests do that, it can have huge implications on their personal relationship. Hence, commercialization is a big thing in sphere of life, the sole focus shifts to money; everything else becomes ancillary in nature. In the recent years, the backpack culture has also flourished and the budget travelers’ looks ways for cheaper accommodation, hence, they look for hostel, dormitories where they can live in a shared space. It is often because they have limited amount of money to share on accommodation, but also because they are all in for an experience to get an opportunity to make friends, discover new people and have a healthy and meaningful conversation with them. A lot of people these days find travelling to have a therapeutic effect as they embark on a self-discovering journey and discovering new ways of life is often what they look for. In quite an extreme case, several travelers often opt for couch-surfing, where people can spend some time with complete local strangers. There is a budding community where people like to invite guests at their home for a day or two. Though, many people have posted about their positive experience with couch surfing, however it cannot be considered as a completely safe option as living in a complete stranger’s house in a distant country or city sounds quite intimidating. It is good that we live in an extremely tech-driven society and almost all of the booking websites show reviews and ratings. Safety is one of the most important features of accommodation, hence people usually rely on these consumer feedback when they opt for such niche forms of accommodation like couch surfing, hostels and even popular hotels or inns. Thus, there are other forms of accommodation (although niche) that are mushrooming and are unlike the traditional and conventional forms of hotels that we know of. Furthermore, the concept of home stay has always been present and with emergence of technology such as AirBnb, people are increasingly getting more motivated to explore a city like a locale. They can hire an apartment where they stay, cook and do everything on their own. Thus, it is benefitting both the home-owners and people who wish to explore a place like a locale rather than a tourist. It helps anybody with a home to earn extra source of income by putting their place on rent. And it also helps travelers to cut down on accommodation and food costs considerably. In the recent years, the concept of sharing economy has also gained momentum and many people are sharing spaces not just while they are travelling but also a part of normal accommodation. The concept of roomies was always there, but now shared space has gone a level higher as people are even sharing the time of their accommodation, a place occupied by a person at night can be used by another during day. Thus, the world is moving to a smarter ways of accommodation sharing. Hence, in a nutshell it can be said that hospitality is still hospitality when it is commercialized, however the expectation and demands of both the giver and taker changes considerably. It cannot be considered the same. Though, a nice personal touch and fostering interpersonal relationship can be considered an add-on feature of commercial hospitality but it is often due to obligatory in nature, however the love and warmth of natural hosts is different, it is devoid of any financial incentive, hence it is more humane in nature. References Lashley, C. and Morrison, A.J. eds., 2000. In search of hospitality: Theoretical perspectives and debates. Routledge. Brotherton, B., 1999. Towards a definitive view of the nature of hospitality and hospitality management. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 11(4), pp.165-173. O'Gorman, K.D., 2009. Origins of the commercial hospitality industry: from the fanciful to factual. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 21(7), pp.777-790.