Hotels have helped set the standard for holiday hosting traditions for more than two centuries, says Dr. Kevin James, a University of Guelph historian.
James is a professor at U of G’s College of Arts who studies the history of travel, tourism and modern hospitality throughout 19th-century Europe and beyond.
“Historically, there has been considerable financial investment in creating that ‘holiday experience,’” says James. “From simple boarding houses, where a roast may have been offered on Christmas or New Year’s Day, to the urban grand hotels that were small ‘cities within cities’ and hosted grand feasts, commercial lodging has played a major role in formalizing and standardizing today’s rituals of celebration and cultures of display.”
Author of Histories, Meanings and Representations of the Modern Hotel, James studies old hotel guest books and records to understand what they reveal about past traditions.
For instance, he notes an 1842 report of a Christmas pie baked in Whitby, U.K. that illustrates just how much holiday cooking has changed.
“The pie measured 84 inches round, 21 inches wide and had a height of nine inches, and contained pheasants, partridges, geese, rabbits, chickens, ducks, tongues, a turkey and ham.”
Such records reveal that people’s desires for festive spaces have often crossed socioeconomic boundaries. Decorating spaces could happen “at even the most rudimentary of lodgings and at the most unlikely times,” James says.
During the World Wars, for instance, many hotels were still in operation during the holidays, but special Christmas menus had to be adjusted for wartime food controls.
As such, hotels have long played a major role in promoting religion, culture and politics throughout history.
Stranded at a hotel this holiday? You’re part of history
James says it’s important to think of those who find themselves stranded or working at a hotel this holiday season. Thousands of workers across the country are staffing lobbies and making festive sites for visitors to enjoy.
These people are part of a long history of the hotel as a place of labour, improvised refuge and disrupted mobility.
“Whether pilgrims found themselves together along routes during holidays, or people were stranded together in hotels due to bad weather and cancelled flights, shared experiences forge unique bonds over the festive period.”
He adds, “And among the iconic institution associated with Christmas, a manger became famous because there was no room at inns.”
James is available for interviews.
- Evolution of the modern hotel
- The history of hoteling during the holidays
- What old hotel guest books reveal about the history of travel
- The history of airport lounges, and their purpose
Contact:
Dr. Kevin James
kjames@uoguelph.ca