Hotels and travel work hand in hand in the interests of the tourist industry. Each has it place in a stop-start process which is replicated in the movement of ants along ant tracks. Each little being en route to somewhere, pauses briefly to check its bearings and then hurries on. So too with tourists. They need to move and they need to pause and get their bearings.

In hotel lobbies around the world people come and go. Like actors moving across a stage they represent various characters but each illustrates something about the meaning of hotels. Wrapped in a temporary film of security each person who is waiting for a taxi or coach is like a bird on a branch, ready to depart from what has been a temporary refuge.

There is something of an oxymoron in the words \’hospitality\’ and \’industry\’ which are often juxtaposed in the phrase, \’hospitality industry\’. On the one hand, \’hospitality\’ connotes the disinterested and humane extension of welcome to guests. On the other hand \’industry\’ suggests activities that focus primarily on profitable activities. Taken together the two words create a new concept of the hotel room as an economic tool with humane characteristics.

Each room is serviced daily and has been designed by experts to present to each successive guest an impression of order and welcome. Beds are neatly made and fittings are often of higher quality and more functional than what guests have in their own homes. Despite such professionalism most guests cannot escape the impression that each room in a corridor is the same.

Odors are an unseen but significant problem for housekeepers. An establishment may have a pervading fragrance that either repels or attracts guests so that they return or do not return without quite knowing why. Chief among the odor concerns is cigarette smoke which clings to every article in a room like an unseen mold. The only solution appear to be segregation into smoking or non-smoking rooms.

The categorization of rooms is more rigid than the dichotomy between hotels and travel in the tourist industry. Whilst there are subtle differences between being in a hotel and being in a vehicle en route to somewhere both states are melded together as part of one experience.

There are many reasons why people travel. They range from business commitments, through domestic obligations to secret liaisons. However, most travelers have one thing in common. They experience a slight sense of alienation which comes from not being at home. Being in a permanent place imparts a sense of security, and when that sense is impaired ever so slightly the human being, like a migrating bird, is slightly lost.

Online travel sites probably make migration easier and more secure than it ever has been. Information about all the various options in respect of hotels and travel may be accessed, reviewed, compared and booked well in advance. Time can be taken to reflect upon the merits and demerits of various options and this can be very important in exploiting the rich offerings of the hospitality industry.

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