The hospitality and tourism industry is made up of a variety of interconnected sectors, including lodging (everything from roadside motels to luxury resorts), recreational activities (cruises, theme parks, and the like), rental cars and food services. All of these sectors work in tandem with the transportation industry to bring consumers to the destinations where they?ll spend money on the local goods and services. In the industry, this is known as an ?upstream? effect: the more likely travelers are to board a plane to get somewhere, for instance, the more in demand the hospitality and tourism industry?s services become. According to the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA), spending by overseas and domestic vacationers in the U.S. alone was $654 billion in 2005?about $1.8 billion per day. In the States, after automobiles and food stores, hospitality and tourism is the No. 3 retail industry, and one of the top-three businesses for nearly two-thirds of the 50 states. The World Tourism Organization estimates worldwide growth of travel and tourism in 2007?measured by number of arrivals?at 4 percent. Lodging, travel agencies and food services are briefly discussed below, followed by an analysis and discussion of opportunities available in the airline industry.

Who wants to go somewhere?

Because of industry?s interrelated segments, the aftereffects of the September 11 attacks, along with other turmoil overseas, had a chilling effect from 2001 through 2003. The subsequent dip in the economy also led to slashed budgets for business travel, the bread and butter of the lodging and rental car sectors. But through 2007, a variety of factors? including a perception that the economy is improving, increased confidence about security and lower-cost plane fares?have led to an overall rebound. PKF Hospitality Research predicted hotel revenue (along with costs, unfortunately) would be up for the fourth consecutive year in 2007. Even high gas prices haven?t managed to dampen travelers? wanderlust. According to a survey conducted by AAA, 1.7 percent more people will take a trip of 50 miles or more over the last weekend of May, 2007 than did the year before. They also noted travelers would economize on food and hotels in order to reduce the sting of high prices at the pump.

Checking into hotels

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 62,000 establishments? including upscale hotels, RV parks, motels, resorts, casino hotels, bed-and-breakfasts and boarding houses?provide overnight accommodation in America, with a staggering 4.4 million rooms on offer each night. These employ 1.8 million wage and salary workers in the process; two-thirds of these work in service occupations, such as housekeeping and food prep. All of this helped the lodging industry earn roughly $133 billion in receipts during 2006.

Hotels fall into several categories: commercial, resort, residential, extended-stay and casino. Some commercial hotels are also classified as conference facilities, with spaces designed to accommodate large-scale meetings and events. In recent years, the industry has seen the most growth in extended-stay properties, accommodating guests for visits of five nights or longer. By eliminating traditional services like lobby facilities, 24-hour staff and daily housekeeping, the sector has been able to reap profits. In addition, during the last few years, properties more commonly tack on charges to the room rate (for facilities fees, energy taxes or wireless charges, for example), regardless of whether the guest has actually used the features in question. Partly for these reasons, average revenue per available room (known in the trade as RevPAR) increased 7.7 percent in 2006. Top hotel corporations include Marriott International, Starwood and the Intercontinental Group. Another hospitality giant is Cendant, considered the world?s largest hotel franchiser, with Days Inn, Super 8 and other brands under its roof. In July 2006 Cendant?s board voted to divide the company into four parts. Its travel booking services became Travelport, which owns Orbitz; the Cendant name continues to be attached to the company that controls the Avis and Budget car rental firms; and the hotels and timeshares are owned by Wyndham Worldwide. (The Blackstone Group bought Travelport and took it private later that year.) Realogy was created to take over the company?s real estate functions. Accor and InterContinental are the segment leaders in Europe.

Inhospitality

If you?ve had a bad customer service experience in the hospitality and tourism industry, you?re not alone?and the industry?s trade organizations do care about your plight. The industry has struggled for some time with human resource issues, and ?the current bad situation is worsening,? says the International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC). The ISHC frets that the ?spirit of hospitality is deteriorating,? with guest services compromised by staff reductions, high turnover and poorly trained workers.