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HOTELS & LODGING: GENERAL RESOURCES


This guide highlights websites for the hotel/lodging industry.  It includes research-oriented “gateways”, industry portals (which concentrate on news and “practical” content), professional associations/organizations, topical directories, legal issues, and academic/library-sponsored research guides.  It does not link directly to websites that are exclusively or primarily concerned with locating lodging accommodations. It also includes full-text journal databases with significant hotel/lodging content.


American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) 

•   Formerly known as the “American Hotel & Motel Association”
•   The industry’s oldest and one of its most pre-eminent professional associations, the AH&LA serves as a comprehensive resource for industry research, news and advocacy
•  “Information Center” provides “Lodging Industry Profiles” (statistics/facts on the U.S. lodging industry from 2001 – 2005), a timeline of the industry’s development from 1900 to the present, and profiles of the industry’s “Top 50 Hotel Companies”
•  “Knowledge Base” provides a browsable/searchable database of industry articles, books, case studies, company information/news, events, reports, trends; updated daily; archived from 2000 to the present
•  “Industry Links” provides access to professional associations/organizations, educational institutions, trade journals/press, federal agencies
•   Also includes information on AH&LA’s conferences/events, “governmental affairs” initiatives, membership, programs, publications
•  Outstanding; one of the most accessible sources for up-to-date information on all activities, sectors and trends of the industry; an indispensable resource for conducting industry research


Business & Company Resource Center

•   JWU subscription database that is restricted to the Johnson & Wales Univ. community
• Provides comprehensive information on over 300,000 companies, domestic and international
•   Profile for each company includes contact information, SIC/NAICS codes, annual sales revenue, number of employees, year founded, web address and company status (parent or subsidiary)
•   Public company profiles may include most or all of the following: news/articles, company history, investment reports, financials, rankings, suits/claims, product lines; profiles of private companies may not contain all of the above information
•   Also includes industry overviews, links to professional associations/organizations; has company comparison capability
•   This outstanding, comprehensive database is indispensable for any sort of company research for all industries, including the hotel/lodging industry; industry research features also provide valuable information on a company’s standing within an industry, as well as industry trends and reportse


ehotelier.com

•   This meta-site, online since 1999, is one of the most popular hotel industry sites, claiming over 3,800,000 hits monthly
•  “Browse over 23,500 pre-selected and categorized hotel-industry website links that are growing daily” on the following: hotel chains (over 600), directories, trade journals/magazines, industry/professional associations/organizations
•   Includes additional resources: career opportunities, forum/discussion group, industry news (“updated hourly”), free newsletter
•   Also links to sites for other hospitality-related sectors: culinary, food/beverage, conventions/events, equipment/supplies, books (available from Amazon.com. Outstanding; this is one of the best sites for practical, up-to-date industry news and links to a tremendous amount of industry resources


Historic Hotels of America (HHA)

•   Sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation
•  “The National Trust established Historic Hotels of America in 1989 to identify quality hotels that have faithfully maintained their historic integrity, architecture and ambience”
•   Hotels must be in a building that is “… at least 50 years old and listed in, or eligible for, the National Register of Historical Places or recognized locally as having historical significance”
•   Originally composed of 32 “charter members,” HAA is currently comprised of 218 members in 40 states, “… in settings that range from the rustic countryside to refined urban centers and everything in between”
•   Each hotel profile includes an overview, “historic significance” and information on its amenities/services (including dining, business travel, meetings/events, photo gallery)
•   Outstanding; an excellent resource for information on many of America’s historic hotels and their current amenities/services


Hospitality & Tourism Complete

•   JWU subscription database that is restricted to the Johnson & Wales Univ. community
•  “A bibliographic database covering scholarly research and industry news relating to hospitality and tourism”
•  “Contains more than 480,000 records from 500 titles, with coverage going back to the mid 1960s”
•   Scope is domestic and international
•   Searchable by keyword; browsable by “Subject Terms”
•   Excellent abstracts accompany each citation or full-text article
•   May limit search results to full-text articles, peer-reviewed journals, specific publications, chronological parameters
•   This outstanding, comprehensive database is indispensable for conducting research for all sectors of the hospitality industry, including hotels/lodging


Hospitality Links: Lodging Industry

•  Maintained by the School of Hotel Administration, Cornell University
•   This directory links to over 1,000 sites for 24 sectors of the hotel/lodging industry, including “General Lodging Resources,” industry/professional associations/organizations (national and international), careers, publications, hotel chains, management companies, “brands”
•   Links are accompanied by excellent annotations
•   Outstanding; one of the best online directories for the industry; particularly useful for commercial sites


Hotel and Restaurant Law: An Overview

•   Sponsored by the Legal Information Institute (LII) of the Cornell Law School
•   Provides short but insightful commentary on hotel and restaurant law
•   Links to federal material (statutes, regulatory agency rulings, judicial decisions) and state material (statutes, judicial decisions)
•   Links to other LII “overview” guides
•   Excellent; not extensive, but one of the best places to begin basic research on hotel (and restaurant) law


Hotel-Motel Fire-Safety List

•   Maintained by the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), Department of Homeland Security
•   Formerly known as the “Hotel-Motel National Master List”
•   Directory of over 35,000 properties nationwide which meet the safety specifications of the Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act of 1990 (PL101-391)
•   Original purpose was to provide a directory of fire-safety-approved lodging facilities for traveling employees of the federal government
•   Searchable by property name, location (city, state, zip code), “property type” (hotels/motels, apartment buildings, colleges/universities, bed & breakfasts); almost all properties are hotels/motels
•   Each property entry includes number of floors, contact information (web address, phone number, e-mail address), map
•   Includes information for applying/registering a property
•   Includes FAQs, “Fire Safety Tips”
•   Last updated August 2006
•   Outstanding; one of the best resources for determining fire-safety ratings for hotels and other types of public accommodations


Hotel Online

•   Online meta-site for industry professionals “… providing the latest and most relevant news, trends, discussion forums, employment opportunities, and classified advertising available anywhere”
•  “Hospitality News” section of site provides news updates each weekday; articles are archived for 60 days; “Search Tool” provides keyword searching for over 21,000 back-filed articles from the past 6 years
•  “Viewpoint Forum offers the opportunity to post your comments, critiques, real life experiences and advice for a world wide audience”; available from January 2000 to the present
•  “Hospitality Daily Headlines” ( e-mail 4 times weekly) available for free; registration required
•   Also includes employment opportunities, advertising information
•   Excellent; another great site for up-to-date industry information


Hotel Resource

•   Portal for hotel/lodging industry commercial information
•  “Suppliers” links to hundreds of vendor sites for a wide variety of products/services; also links to vendors for additional hospitality sectors
•   Also links to additional industry resources: associations/organizations, directories, education, employment opportunities, franchising, industry news, publications, research, technology, trade shows
•   Searchable
•   Outstanding; one of the best sources for locating products/services and related industry information quickly and easily


Hotels, Resorts and Other Lodging Segments

•   Sponsored by the Hotel Management Department, University of Nevada at Las Vegas
•   Directory of links to websites organized into over 20 hotel/lodging categories (“bed & breakfasts,” budget hotels, historic hotels, resorts, etc.)
•  “This is not meant to be a comprehensive list, but a representative sample of various market segments”
•   Also includes “Reservation Systems, Directories and Guides,” which links to almost 30 international directories-locators for a variety of types of hotels and to hotel/lodging industry meta-sites and news resources
•   excellent; presents a good variety of hotel/lodging sectors; useful for students


Industry-Related Subject Guides: Lodging

•  Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to open this guide in PDF format.
•  Maintained by Mihoko Hosoi for the Nestle Library (NL), Cornell University School of Hotel Administration
•  “Not exhaustive”
•  Discusses print, database, and Internet hospitality-related resources in the NL
•  Print resources (which include almanacs/handbooks, encyclopedias/dictionaries, directories, industry survey/analysis reports, statistical sources, journals) may be found in many academic libraries and large public libraries
•  Databases are restricted to the Cornell University community; these may be found in academic libraries or large public libraries
•  Internet resources are minimal; links to library’s “Hospitality Links” (please see above)
•  Includes tips on constructing productive subject searches in library on-line catalogs
•  “Prepared in October 2005”
•  Outstanding; an excellent overview of many of the industry’s best research resources


WiredHotelier.com

•   Sponsored by Hospitality Net, one of the best portals for hospitality industry information
•  “WiredHotelier.com is the first publication [of] its kind to put 100% focus on Internet-related issues within the global hotel-industry vertical”
•   Concentrates on four sectors of the hotel/lodging industry: technology, “guest rooms” issues, “online distribution,” safety/security
•   Includes industry news, articles, conference/event information, employment opportunities, suppliers, multimedia
•  This site’s target audience is industry practitioners/professionals; includes considerable commercial content
•   Excellent; another very useful industry portal, especially for commercial resources


Websites discussed on this page are for informational purposes only. Johnson & Wales University Library is not responsible for the accuracy, content, or stability of any websites linked to this page. When in need of legal, medical or nutritional advice, consult a professional.

Compiled by Rick Keogh 5/06; links last checked 1/08

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