Hospitality and Accommodation I: The Distinctive Characteristics of the Hospitality Industry, Atithi Devo Bhava, Hotels and Other Lodging, Types of Hotels and Their Departments, Hotel Classification and the HRACC, Chain Operations, E-Hospitality, Accommodation Management, Fiscal and Non-Fiscal Incentives, and the Ethical, Regulatory and International Framework

"Atithi Devo Bhava", "the guest is God", comes from the Taittiriya Upanishad, where the teacher instructs the departing student to treat his mother, father, teacher and guest as divine (matru devo bhava, pitru devo bhava, acharya devo bhava, atithi devo bhava). It expresses the Indian ideal of hospitality as a duty rather than a transaction, and the Ministry of Tourism has used it for a public campaign, alongside Incredible India, urging citizens, taxi drivers, guides and shopkeepers to treat visitors with courtesy and honesty, because the way a tourist is treated on the street is part of the product as much as the hotel room.

Beyond hotels, "other lodging facilities", also called supplementary accommodation, carry a large share of India's travellers: guest houses, bed-and-breakfast establishments and homestays (many approved under the Ministry of Tourism's Incredible India bed-and-breakfast scheme), dharamshalas and pilgrim rest houses, youth hostels, government tourist bungalows, dak bungalows and circuit houses, camps and tented accommodation, houseboats, caravans, holiday homes and timeshare, serviced apartments and home rentals listed on online platforms. They are cheaper, spread tourism income into places without hotels and offer local experience. A hotel is organised into revenue-producing departments (rooms, divided into front office and housekeeping; food and beverage service; food production; and minor operated departments such as the spa and laundry) and support departments (engineering and maintenance, sales and marketing, human resources, accounts, security and purchase).

Classification grades hotels by their facilities and service so that guests know what to expect and governments can target incentives. Worldwide there is no single system; most countries use one to five stars, some add a deluxe grade, and private rating by online reviews now carries as much weight. In India the Ministry of Tourism classifies hotels through the Hotel and Restaurant Approval and Classification Committee (HRACC), which inspects them against published criteria for the building, rooms, bathrooms, public areas, food and beverage outlets, staff qualifications, guest services, safety and eco-friendly practices. The categories are one-star to five-star, five-star deluxe, and three heritage categories for hotels in buildings of historic character: Heritage Basic, Heritage Classic and Heritage Grand. The Ministry also approves hotel projects at the planning stage, so that investors can claim the incentives linked to approved projects. Classification is voluntary but most hotels seeking foreign and corporate business apply, and approved hotels must renew their classification periodically.

India's hotel chains began with the Taj Mahal Palace in Bombay, opened by Jamsetji Tata in 1903, the foundation of the Indian Hotels Company (IHCL); M. S. Oberoi took over Clarkes Hotel at Shimla in 1934, the beginning of the Oberoi group; ITC entered hotels in 1975; and the public-sector ITDC runs the Ashok group. The largest international chains by rooms are Marriott, Hilton, IHG, Accor, Hyatt and Wyndham, most operating in India through management contracts and franchises with Indian owners. Chains offer brand recognition, central reservations and distribution, loyalty programmes, standard operating procedures, purchasing economies and access to finance; their drawback for an owner is the fees and the loss of independence.

E-hospitality is the use of information and communication technology across the hotel business. At its core is the property management system (PMS), which holds reservations, room status, guest folios and billing and links to the point-of-sale systems of the restaurants and bars, the telephone exchange, key-card locks and accounts. Around it sit the central reservation system and the channel manager, which update room availability and rates across the hotel's own website, GDSs and online travel agencies; revenue management systems that set prices by forecast demand; online and mobile check-in, digital keys and in-room tablets; guest relationship and loyalty databases; reputation management of online reviews; and social media marketing. The benefits are speed, accuracy, direct bookings and personalisation; the risks are dependence on OTAs and their commissions, and data security.

Accommodation is divided into primary (serviced) accommodation, the hotels, resorts and motels that sell rooms with services, and supplementary accommodation, the guest houses, homestays, hostels, dharamshalas, camps and apartments described above, which offer fewer services at lower cost. Accommodation management covers the activities of the front office, which sells the rooms, receives and registers guests, handles their accounts and is the hotel's nerve centre; housekeeping, which keeps rooms and public areas clean, safe and attractive and manages linen and laundry; the bar and restaurant, which serve food and beverages; and the supporting services, engineering, security, purchase, stores, human resources and accounts, without which the guest-facing departments cannot work.

A hotel operates under many licences and laws: a food business licence under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006; excise licences for liquor; municipal trade and health licences and police registration of an eating house or lodging; fire safety clearance; pollution control consents; lift and boiler licences; licences for playing recorded music; labour laws; and the duty to record every guest and to report foreign guests to the immigration authorities. Ethical practice goes beyond compliance: honest advertising and rate display, respect for guests' privacy and data, no discrimination in admission, fair wages and working hours, responsible service of alcohol, and sustainable use of water and energy. A hotel-keeper's liability for guests' property is, in Indian law, largely that of a bailee under the Contract Act, and internationally it was addressed by the Council of Europe's convention on the liability of hotel-keepers for the property of their guests (Paris, 1962), which limits liability except for valuables deposited for safe keeping or loss caused by the hotel's fault, and by the International Hotel Regulations adopted by the International Hotel Association in 1981, which set out the hotel contract, including overbooking, deposits and the guest's obligations.