In recent years there has been a growing interest in the study of hospitality as a social phenomenon. This interest has tended to arrive from two communities. The first comprises hospitality academics interested in exploring the wider meanings of hospitality as a way of better understanding guest and host relations and its implications for commercial settings. The second comprises social scientists using hosts and guests as a metaphor for understanding the relationship between host communities and guests as people from outside the community - migrants, asylum seekers and illegal immigrants.

The Routledge Handbook of Hospitality Studies encourages both the study of hospitality as a human phenomenon and the study for hospitality as an industrial activity embracing the service of food, drink and accommodation. Developed from specifically commissioned original contributions from recognised authors in the field, it is the most up-to-date and definitive resource on the subject. The volume is divided into four parts: the first looks at ways of seeing hospitality from an array of social science disciplines; the second highlights the experiences of hospitality from different guest perspectives; the third explores the need to be hospitable through various time periods and social structures, and across the globe; while the final section deals with the notions of sustainability and hospitality. This handbook is interdisciplinary in coverage and is also international in scope through authorship and content. The 'state-of-the-art' orientation of the book is achieved through a critical view of current debates and controversies in the field as well as future research issues and trends. It is designed to be a benchmark for any future assessment of the field and its development.

This handbook offers the reader a comprehensive synthesis of this discipline, conveying the latest thinking, issues and research. It will be an invaluable resource for all those with an interest in hospitality, encouraging dialogue across disciplinary boundaries and areas of study.

Conrad Lashley holds the Professorship in Hospitality Studies in the Academy of International Hospitality Research at Stenden University of Applied Science, the Netherlands. He has held professorial appointments at several UK universities, and regularly makes keynote research presentations in Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Sweden as well as in Great Britain. He is the author or editor of eighteen books, and has published over a hundred papers in refereed research journals and sets of conference proceedings. He is currently co-editor of Research in Hospitality Management and Editor Emeritus of Hospitality & Society. He has worked extensively within the industry and generated commercial income from research and consultancy, as well as in-company management programmes. His research interests are principally concerned with understanding the meanings of hospitableness as a social phenomenon that has significance for commercial provision.