. For example, public space in a large urban hotel may include several dining rooms and lounges, extensive retail operations, and meeting rooms for small groups (12:1-4). In any given urban center, there may be very large, medium, or quite small hotels. Large facilities can have up to 4,000 rooms; whereas, medium hotels generally have between 300 and 400 rooms. The smaller hotels have less than 100 rooms (2:2-1).
Major urban hotels are in many ways just like small cities. These facilities feed, protect, transport, and entertain their guests 24 hours per day. Furthermore, while the traditional hotels often consisted of a single building, more modern facilities may essentially comprise a single component of a larger, multi-use urban complex. At such sites, hotels can serve as, for instance, a catalyst for activity in a commercial center. The accommodations serve as the focal point among the various other aspects of the multi-use development (12:1-4).
Of course, the actual degree of service provided by any given hotel will depend upon such factors as the establishment's type and grade. Hotel structural designs, therefore, must take into account the type of lodging facilities to be provided, as well as their future clientele. For example, the most recent group of hotel establishments to emerge have been the convention hotels. These facilities typically allocate considerable quantities of space to retail, meeting, banquet, and exhibition areas. In addition, such hotels might even include some of the following features: (1) a ballroom large accommodate a double occupancy full-house; (2) a series of smaller meeting rooms; and (3) several food and beverage outlets dispersed throughout (12:1-4).
The history of hotel design in the United States has, for the most part, undergone a sporadic evolution. Early in the nineteenth century, comfortless colonial taverns and wayside inns gave way to more private accommodations. ...