A Brief History of Hotels

We’re back with another history lesson (see our previous post on the Brief History of Window Treatments), this time focusing on a topic that folks would likely know a great deal about, but might be a bit fuzzy on its history: hotels.

Again, the history with hotels starts way back — this time in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Ancient Greece. For the most part, guests of these ancient taverns or lodges were religious pilgrims, diplomats, and merchants traveling along trade routes.

An illustration of an Ancient Greek inn. There were private lodgings like the inn shown above and public lodgings known as “shebeens”.

As time marched on, and as the frequency of pilgrimages increased and as trade routes continued to grow, so did the need for more inns and taverns to accommodate these weary travelers. This rise of travel in the Middle Ages also cemented these early hotels as a vital place to socialize and exchange news.

A rough floorplan for the first floor of a middle-aged tavern.

The popularity of hotels grew steadily throughout the centuries until the Industrial Revolution saw the demand for hotels increase exponentially as new methods of transportation made travel easier and much faster. This time period also marked a rise in hotels becoming the meeting places for the social elite. With these wealthy guests now frequenting hotels, the rise of “luxury amenities” grew.

One such amenity was first seen in 1907, at The Statler Hotel in New York, where each room now came with a private bathroom.

It wasn’t until the 1950’s that hotel chains like Hilton and Marriott opened their doors and standardized the guest experience. From this point on, these major hotel brands have been steadily improving their hotels, like accepting credit cards as a form of payment a decade later, allowing rooms to be booked online with the invention of the internet, and today, focusing on hyper-personalized guest experiences.

Above is a photo of Marriott’s first-ever hotel, The Twin Bridges Motor Hotel, located in Arlington, Virginia (Opened January 18, 1957).

Bonus Fact: This is the Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan in Japan. This hotel opened in the year 705 and is recognized as the oldest continuously operating hotel in the world.

The best makers never stop learning. Bookmark this blog and explore more of our guides to keep building your skills — your next project just got a whole lot easier with Threadwell.