Employees in hotels have good vantage points for watching the stream of human affairs that pass through their doors. They watch the public, keeping their own private lives on hold. This is the way that it has been for centuries throughout the world. English literature is rich in narratives that record the interesting comings and goings of hotel guests seen from the interested perspective of an innkeeper.

In addition to having a social role the hospitality industry also has an economic dimension in the world economy. Since the earliest times people have needed to travel for a large variety of reasons. There is an unfailing demand for temporary accommodation and hospitality and an established industry is based on that sustained demand.

Although the demand is strong the supply is equal to the task of meeting the needs of travelers and holiday makers. The online section of the industry features hundreds of agents and booking sites clamoring for attention. They promote many hotels that may be lined up along a single city street and also low capital private establishments offering bed and breakfast from domestic residences.

It is a deep truth about life that competition is a vital aspect of survival and evolution. Insects birds and animals strive constantly to kill and outdo each other. In the animal world the aim is to attract mates and in the hospitality industry it is to attracts occupants to carefully prepared rooms that will stand empty if not let out for the night.

Hospitality and business are not easy bedfellows. One is married to profit and the other to disinterested friendliness. To be competitive a hotel business has to provide hospitality, profitably. Friendly faces and sweet dreams must be paid for in hard cash. Other very old services have similar challenges. Some succeed and others do not despite the unfailing demand.

Discrepancies between hospitality and efficient business practices imply the need for professional training. Across the world there are university courses and schools that prepare students for professional qualifications. Once qualified students should be ready to start learning their trade through experience.

Adequate preparation will necessarily include practical activities that will become the bread and butter of the hospitality industry. People who are more inclined to poetry, philosophy or abstract mathematics may not do as well as those who may be less well endowed in the high order intellectual departments but more adept at practical activities. Despite this emphasis emphasis on practical activities the most competitive students will be those who can see beyond the details of event organization and food preparation to the problem solving processes that lie behind immediate activities.

In hotels many activities are performed simultaneously. Some staff will be poring over administrative procedures, others will be cleaning rooms or receiving guests graciously. A manager will be keeping his eye on the general running of the business and for this he needs to have been though the hierarchy and know where he is in the general organization of a business that may be international in scope. As in a dramatic performance, every player has his part and all the parts together must be orchestrated into an excellent performance that continues, relentlessly, in the public eye night and day.

Staying at the h