There is a wonderful sense of freedom when you start to daydream about the next vacation.  Thinking about the people, the culture, the landscape, and the languages you’ll hear, is a splendid way to spend a day.  Planning is certainly part of the fun, and having the new experiences you daydream about is the next part of the equation.  It’s always lovelier when 5 star hotels are involved in the planning.  Knowing that you’ll be spending your nights sleeping in the lap of luxury, in accommodations that meet the highest standards in the hotel business, is reassuring to say the least.  It means that you can count on excellence in service, style, and comfort.

The hotel industry has come a long way since its beginnings.  It’s not only recently that there have been changes to make a stay in a new place more hospitable, and often an event and a vacation in itself.  The industry has been undergoing changes for some time.  It would be virtually impossible to trace history back to a beginning, because the notions of hospitality and kindness seem to come naturally when taking care of travelers.  But it is interesting to look at the origins of what we might recognize as the luxury hotel industry.  In the U.S. in the 18th century, when George Washington was making his Presidential tour of the nation, famous people clamored for the chance to have him stay in their homes.  Washington, being a populist at heart, said he would only stay at inns, so he would not be showing favoritism.

This lead to a tremendous competition among the innkeepers to make their lodgings more alluring, and it was this impulse that lead to the building of the City Hotel in New York City in 1794.  The City Hotel never did host Washington, but was enormously appealing.  At one time the most expensive building in the city, it had nearly 200 rooms, and also a tavern, public parlors, and offices for the business travelers.  It was quite a shift in thinking about lodging, and became a high water mark for other hotels.  This is the kind of sumptuousness and savvy that today’s 5 star hotels can emulate, making the guests feel like the world is indeed your oyster.

5 Star Hotels and the History of Inns is a post from: Color Burn

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