Hotels; catering; tourism and Employment

Hotels

The hotel sub-sector comprises quite different types of accommodation. The bulk of personnel are, however, employed in common hotels. Most of them are of moderate size, i.e. up to a hundred beds, but hotel companies running several hotels can be quite large. The largest companies have as many as 5000 and some even more than 6000 hotels and over 150,000 employees in approximately one hundred countries. Not all hotels run by large companies are owned by them. Many are franchised, or the companies run them through management contracts often also giving them their brand names. Independent hotels continue to exist, but they are losing ground to chain hotels, especially in North America.

At the same time, small enterprises play an important role in the whole sector, as they employ about half of its labour force, and make up between 80 and 90 per cent of all enterprises. Large enterprises, however, are influential in the activities of many small ones through franchising or management contracts, whilst they stay legally independent, e.g. as far as workers' representation is concerned.

Useful links/resources

• Hotel Online: The top 10 hotel groups in the world - 2009 world ranking