Greek and Roman businessmen traveled extensively. Catering to them was the genesis of the hospitality industry. Romans built about 10,000 inns stocked with food and beverage 25 miles apart to aid Roman officials as they traveled throughout the empire. Similarly, Japan, Persia and China built conveniently located inns for traveling officials and others. After Rome's fall, religious orders began serving as hosts for weary travelers. All of these establishments had to be staffed by personnel who received on-the-job training.
According to author Kathy Lynn Emerson writing in Everyday Life in Renaissance England, inns were plentiful in England by the late 1500s and the innkeeper was part of the merchant guild. Successful innkeepers were prosperous and respected and no doubt an apprenticeship was prized. Through apprenticeships, young men and some young girls could learn the hospitality trade. In England during the 1700s, people traveled by stagecoach and inns became increasingly popular. During that same era in America, taverns, inns and other food and sleeping establishments became common throughout the colonies.
Delmonico's restaurant in New York opened in 1837 ushering in a new American culinary age. A decade later, New York was filled with restaurants, many of them established by immigrants. As the century wore on and travel became easier thanks to the railroad expansion, hotels, taverns and inns flourished creating a needs for qualified staff. Among immigrants there may have been indentured servants, although more likely people were simply hired and trained for various hospitality positions.
After World War II, with the boom in air travel and leisure time, tourism grew exponentially. Americans took road trips in the summers or flew to resort destinations along the coasts, the desert and the mountains. Businessmen traveled to conventions and conferences and all of this growth brought on a demand for trained staff at hotels and resorts and restaurants.
Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration was founded in 1922 and the University of Denver's the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management was founded in 1946. In the 1960s, however, academic hospitality education came to the forefront when there was a boom in establishing hospitality education. For example, the University of Houston's College of Hotel and Restaurant Management was established in 1969 thanks to a gift from Conrad N. Hilton. Today, there are scores of colleges and universities offering hospitality education from culinary to resort management and convention and event planners.