Types of Hotels or classifcation of Hotel by Type

Hotels are classified according to the hotel size, location, target markets, levels of service , facilities , number of rooms , ownership and affiliation etc.

1.Size - Or number of rooms

Under 150 rooms

150 to 299 rooms

300 to 600 rooms

More than 600 rooms

These categories enable hotels of similar size to compare operating procedures and statistical results .

2.Target Markets

Hotel target many markets and can be classified according to the markets they attempt to attract their guests. Common type of markets include business, airport, suites, residential, resort , timeshare , casino , convention and conference hotels .

• Business Hotels: - These hotels are the largest group of hotel types and cater primarily to business travellers and usually located in downtown or business districts . Although Business hotels primarily serves business travellers , many tour groups, individual tourists and small conference groups find these hotels attractive. Guest amenities at business hotels may include complimentary newspapers, morning coffee, free local telephone calls , Break fast etc. In addition to this facilities like access to business centre , personal computer , Wi-Fi and fax machines also provided to the guest.

• Airport Hotels: - These type of hotels typically target business clientele, airline passengers with overnight travel layovers or cancelled flights and airline personnel. Some hotels might give free transport between hotel and airport . Some hotels also provide meeting facilities to attract guests who travel to a meeting by air and wish to minimize ground travel. Another attraction of these hotels is instead of charging the guest on a daily basis guest can also pay for their room on a hourly basis.  

• Suite Hotels: - These kind of hotels are the latest trend and the fastest growing segments in the hotel industry . Main attraction of these hotels is guestrooms with a living room and a separate bedroom. In exchange for more complete living room suite hotels generally have fewer and more limited public areas and guest services than other hotels . This also helps keep suite hotel's guestroom prices competitive in the market .Professionals such as accountants, lawyers, business men and executives find suite hotels particularly attractive as they can work and also entertain in an area besides the bedroom.

• Extended Stay Hotels: - Extended stay hotels is somewhat similar to the suite hotels , but usually offers kitchen amenities in the room . These kind of hotels are for travellers who want to stay more than a week and does not want to depend on the service of the hotel . Extended service hotels usually does not provide any F & B service or Laundry service etc. These kind of hotels are considered by guests as "Home away from home "

• Apartment Hotels: - Apartment / Residential hotels provide long-term or permanent accommodation for Guest. Usually guest makes a lease agreement with the hotel for minimum of one month up to a year. These lease agreements are renewed on a yearly basis. Guest rooms generally include living room , bedroom, kitchen , private balcony , washing machines , kitchen utensils etc. Residential hotel also provided Housekeeping , laundry , telephone and in some hotels a restaurant and lounge etc will be present on the premises.

• Resort Hotels: - Resort hotels are usually located in the mountains, on an island , or in some other exotic locations away from city's . These hotels have recreational facilities , scenery , golf , tennis , sailing , skiing and swimming . Resort hotels provide enjoyable and memorable guest experiences that encourage guest to repeat to the resort.

• Bed and Breakfast Hotels :- These are houses with rooms converted into overnight facilities , this can size up to 20 to 30 guest rooms . They are also known as 'Home Stay's'. The owner of the B&B usually stay on the premises and is responsible for serving breakfast to guest . Due to the limited services offered at these hotels the price for room is very less than any full service hotel.

• Timeshare and condominium Hotels: - Another new type or segment of the hospitality industry is the timeshare hotels. These are sometimes referred to as " Vacation-interval" hotels . Timeshare hotels are where the guests who purchase the ownership of accommodations for a specific period .These owners may also have the unit rented out by the management company that operates the hotel . Condominium are similar to timeshare but the difference between the two lies in the type of ownership. Units in condominium hotels only have one owner instead of multiple owners , each for a limited amount of time each year. In a condominium hotel, an owner informs the management company if when he/ she wants to occupy the unit.

• Casino Hotels :- Hotels with gambling facilities may be categorized as a distinct group called Casino Hotels .Although the food and beverage operations in casino is luxurious their functions is secondary to and supportive of casino operations. Casino hotels attract guest by promoting the gambling and other entertainments.
• Conference Centres: - These type of hotels focus on meeting and conferences and overnight accommodation for meeting attendees. They also provide High quality audiovisual equipments, business services , flexible seating arrangements , flipchart etc. These hotels mostly located outside the metropolitan areas and have facilities like golf , swimming pools , tennis courts , fitness centres , spas etc.

• Convention Centres: - Convention hotels are larger in size compared to conference centres and likely to have more than 1500 rooms . These hotels are huge and have sufficient number of guest rooms to house all the attendees of most conventions, even the size of the meeting rooms , ball rooms , exhibit rooms are quite huge .They usually cater to convention market for state , regional , national, and international associations .

3. Levels Of service

• World class service: - These are also called luxury hotels , they target top business executives, entertainment celebrities , high- ranking political figures, and wealthy clientele as their primary markets . They provide upscale restaurants and lounges , concierge services and also private dining facilities . Guestrooms are oversized , heated and plush bath towels , large soaps bars , shampoo , shower caps and all amenities . Housekeeping services are given two times a day including turn-down service . Above all luxury hotels give personalized service to the guest and have a relatively high ration of staff members to guests.

• Mid-Range Service: - Hotels offering mid-range service appeal ti the largest segment of the travelling public . This kind of hotels does not provide elaborate service and have a adequate staffing . They also provide uniformed service , food and beverage room service, in room entertainment's and also Wi-Fi . Property may offer a speciality restaurant , coffee shop and lounge that cater to visitors as well as hotel guests . Type of guests who like to stay at these hotels are business people , individual travellers ,and families . Rates are lower than luxury hotels as they provide fewer services , smaller rooms and a smaller range of facilities and recreational activities .

• Economy / Limited Service: These hotels provide clean , comfortable , safe , inexpensive rooms and meet the basic need of guests . Economy hotels appeal primarily to budget minded travellers who wants a room with minimum services and amenities required for comfortable stay, without unnecessary paying additional cost for costly services . The cliental of these hotels include families with children , travelling business people , backpackers , vacationers retirees etc. These type of hotels might not offer food and beverage facilities .

4. Ownership and Affiliations

Ownership and affiliation provide another means by which to classify hotel property . There are two types one is Individual and another is chain hotel.

• Independent Hotels :- They do not have identifiable ownership or management affiliation with other properties. That means these properties doesn't have any relationship to another hotel regarding policies , procedures , marketing or financial obligations . Example for the same would be family owned and operated hotel that is not following any corporate policies or procedures. The advantage of a individual property is its autonomy . An independent hotel however does not get the advantage of board advertising exposure or management insight and consultancy of an affiliated property .

• Chain hotels :- These kind of ownership usually imposes certain minimum standards, rules , policies and procedures to restrict affiliate activities . In general the more centralized the organization tge stronger the control over the individual property . Some chain have strong control over the architecture, management and standards of affiliate properties . Others concentrate only on marketing , advertising and central purchasing .