Hotel Front Office Management, 3rd Edition

22 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO HOTEL MANAGEMENTWorkers are spending fewer years in the labor force as the concept of early retirementbecomes more popular. And as the population segment known as the baby boom ages,the number of retirees is projected to soar. Many of these people will take on a secondcareer, but part-time jobs will likely be more common. With the two prime ingredientsfor using hotel facilities—time and money—readily at hand, these people will be a primarymarket for the hotel industry.Me/Pleasure ConceptThe idea of deserving recreation away from the job to restore mental acuity and improveattitude had evolved over the years. The work ethic of the eighteenth and nineteenthcenturies strongly influenced the way Americans play, as recreation and leisure were consideredprivileges reserved for the wealthy. Today, most workers enjoy vacations andexperience the feeling of getting away from it all. This trend toward self-gratification willcontinue into the twenty-first century. The idea that satisfying personal needs is a prerequisiteto satisfying the needs of others has a good hold in American society.The isolated nature of many jobs increases the need for respite. As more and morepeople find themselves spending more time communicating via computers and other machineryrather than face-to-face, social needs will continue to grow stronger. Workersneed the away-from-job experience to balance their social and mental needs with theirdemands. Travel helps to satisfy these needs, and the hotel industry benefits as a result.Discretionary IncomeDiscretionary income, the money remaining from wages after paying for necessitiessuch as food, clothing, and shelter, is the most important of all the trends that supportthe growth of the hospitality industry. One of the main reasons for the increase in discretionaryincome of American families is the emergence of the two-income family. Analmost double-income family unit had emerged over the years as more married womenjoined or stayed in the labor force. The strong growth in this segment of the labor forcewill undoubtedly continue. As more income becomes available to pay for the necessitiesof life, discretionary income for leisure time and corresponding goods and services alsobecomes available.Discretionary income is not a constant. It is definitely affected by various economicfactors: an economic downturn with increased unemployment reduces discretionary income,for example. And different economic conditions tend to favor different ways ofspending discretionary income: for example, low interest rates, which make the purchaseof high-ticket items (such as homes, cars, boats, and aircraft) more desirable, make lessdiscretionary income available for short vacations or quick day trips. Students of the U.S.economy need only review the effects of a recession or the energy crisis of the 1970s tosee how quickly discretionary income formerly directed to the hospitality industry canevaporate.TLFeBOOK