This category covers lodging houses and hotels operated by membership organizations for the benefit of their constituents, and not open to the general public. Commercial hotels operated by such organizations are classified in SIC 7011: Hotels and Motels and commercial rooming and boarding houses are classified in SIC 7021: Rooming and Boarding Houses. Residential homes for the aged and handicapped are classified in SIC 8361: Residential Care.
721110 (Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels)
721310 (Rooming and Boarding Houses)
The organization hotels and lodging houses industry included establishments such as: boarding houses for members of organizations; fraternity and sorority houses; residence clubs; and rooming houses operated by private clubs. Commercial hotels, public boarding houses, and residential homes for the aged were classified elsewhere.
Membership lodging establishments existed in the United States from the founding of the nation. For example, the first fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa, was founded in 1776 at William and Mary College. The first sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, was instituted in 1870 at Depauw University. A plethora of other not-for-profit organizations that offered boarding facilities emerged during the twentieth century. The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), for instance, started its U.S. chapter in 1851 and grew to more than 13 million members by the early 1990s. Likewise, Youth Hostels Inc. of America, which provided inexpensive travel lodging nationwide to its members, had over 100,000 members. With the population aging, organizations like Elderhostel have also become popular. Here people 55 or older pay a fee to join, then take advantage of numerous study trips around the United States and the world. Most of these trips involve a classroom or field trip environment.
In addition to not-for-profit membership lodging facilities, the fastest growing sector of this industry during the 1980s was commercial vacation travel clubs. Members of these organizations often paid an annual fee and received access to private vacation facilities or special travel packages. A proliferation of travel and vacation membership clubs during the 1980s boosted the number of industry participants to about 2,500 by the late 1980s with revenues reached about $350 million. The industry suffered during the recession of the late 1980s and early 1990s, however, as vacation and travel industry revenues plummeted. Several companies folded and industry profitability withered.
In 1998, There were an estimated 1655 establishments in this industry with 10,200 employees. In 1999, $490 million in revenue was reported, an almost 9 percent increase from the previous year.
Timeshares were developed in Florida in the mid 1970s. Investors buy a week's time at a particular resort, then pay extra to join an "exchange" club. The ability to exchange vacation time with other affiliated resorts heightened the appeal of the timeshare concept. In 1998, the largest timeshare club was Fairfield Communities of Orlando, with $407.9 million in sales, 4,700 employees, and 270,000 owners. Second was Santeria Corp., also of Orlando, with $359.4 million in sales, 6500 employees, and 260,000 owners. Third was Trendiest Resorts of Redmond, Washington, with sales of $197.9 million, 1,549 employees, and 50,000 owners. Another leader was Silver-leaf Resorts, Inc., of Dallas, Texas, with $138.4 million in sales, 2,347 employees, and 78,000 owners.
Despite setbacks during the recession of the early 1990s, hotel and lodging industry job opportunities were expected to increase significantly between 1990 and 2005, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with most occupations growing in number by 20-40 percent by 2005. Although most of the growth would likely occur in low-paying labor jobs, such as those for janitors and waitresses, positions for trained hotel managers should leap by more than 50 percent.
Darnay, Arsen J., ed. Service Industries U.S.A. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999.
Hoover's Company Capsules. Hoover's Online, 2000. Available from http://www.hoovers.com .
Occupational Outlook Handbook, 1996-1997 Edition, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Labor, 1996.
U.S. Department of the Census. Economic Census 1997, 2000. Available from http://www.census.gov .
Ward's Business Directory of U. S. Private and Public Companies, Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 1999.
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