Hotel Chains

Hotel chains nowadays form the basis of world tourist business. There are currently several hundreds of hotel chains in the world. Among them giant corporations can be distinguished, which hotels can be found almost anywhere in the world. Their names are well-known even to the ordinary tourist: Radisson, Best Western, Hyatt, Marriott, and Hilton.

According to World Tourist Organization, one in five hotels belongs to a particular hotel chain. If you take into account that the approximate amount of hotel on the planet is about 16 million, the number will be really impressive.

Hotel chains are still considered to be a novelty for a hotel industry with its long history. The first hotel chains appeared in the late 30-s of the 20th century in the USA. Since then the USA holds the lead in the amount of the hotels, which belong to a particular hotel chain. About 70 % of hotels in the USA belong to hotel chains.

Hotel chains put forward a wide range of offers on the market. At this point we can say that, the hotel chain market is at the final formation stage. And if the niche of luxury hotel is more or less divided between the major players like Radisson and the others, the hotel chains of 3* level are still rapidly developing.

Continuously increasing demand for B&B hotels (Bed and Breakfast) has led to the appearance of dozens B&B hotel chains. One of the latest innovations in the world tourist industry – agritourism – also managed to acquire its own rural hotel chains. Among the countries where such hotel chains have been widely development can be distinguished Italy, Britain, France, Spain and Portugal.

Meanwhile, hotel chains in various countries can differ in size as well as in the principles of their operation. For example hotel business in Italy considered to be a family business for centuries, that is why Italian hotel chains are usually of smaller size and can be found more seldom that in other countries of Western Europe.

Several big hotel chains have already developed in Russia. Among them are Heliopark chain, which owns several hotels in Moscow region, and Azimuth hotel chain, which hotels can be found in St. Petersburg, Vladivostok, Samara and many other Russian cities.

In this column we will tell about some well-know hotel chains, familiarize you with their principles of operation, geography, types and pricing policy.