TextB Hospitality
The concept of Hospitality Services, alsoknown as “accommodation sharing”, “hospitality exchange” and “home staynetworks”, refers to centrally organized social networks of individuals whotrade accommodation without monetary exchange. While this concept could alsoinclude house swapping (交换) oreven time share plans, it has come to be associated mostly with travelers andtourists staying with one another free of charge. Since the 1990s, these serviceshave increasingly moved away from using printed catalogs and the telephone, toconnecting users via the Internet. As of March, 2008, over 1,000,000 people areregistered users of these Internet networks.
In essence, these systems employ reciprocity (相互作用) — users gain access to otherusers' information only by posting their own. Required fields normally includename and contact information, though newer services encourage users to includemore detailed personal material, including likes and dislikes, hopes anddreams, and even photographs. Of course, more information included tends toimprove the chances that someone will find them trustworthy enough to host orstay with while traveling. It is very much akin to social networking sites.
Whilethis is especially important in more rural travel venues (地点)where hotels are often built in very picturesque, though fragile environments,every night staying at a local's home means that much less demand for suchhotel rooms. Also, if accommodation sharing does in fact increase the length ofaverage stays, it may reduce the amount of trips to and from differentlocations and back home again, thus reducing the overall fuel expenditures inthe process.
Ostensibly(表面上),one of the primary reasons we travel is to experience what life is like forpeople living in other countries. Making interpersonal connections andfostering understanding of different cultures may in the long run also beimportant to international relations. However, even in our increasinglyglobalized world, supposedly rife (普遍的、流行的) withdiversity, in many popular travel destinations, we find tourists milling (乱兜圈子)around “tourist enclaves (飞地)”,where the companies they patronize (惠顾) backhome have set up shops to cater to their desires while they are abroad.Sociologist has referred to this phenomenon as the “McDonaldisation of society”and the more recently, the “globalization of nothing”. The location of hotelsnear these centers only fosters more convenient envelopment of the touristmoney. During hospitality exchanges, hosts want to show off their localknowledge and exciting "off the map" venues. Not only may travelersget a distinctly different experience, but they will also get a feel for the everydaylives of local residents.
Thesesystems foster richer and more convenient travel experiences not so much on thepremise of altruism (利他主义), buton the basis of social exchange theory. Implicit in the agreement to hosttravelers is the ability to ask to be hosted by them in the future. If oneenjoys having interesting guests in their home, this works out well for bothparties. It works comparatively better if you are visited by travelers from alocale you find particularly attractive. Thus, hosting someone from New YorkCity in Gainesville, Florida seems to be an unbelievable opportunity. Moreover,if you are a Westerner visiting someone in a developing country, your staymight be the only way that this individual or family could afford a trip to a richnation. This may mean more than just a relaxing vacation for such disadvantagedparties.
Tourismhas always searched for these two qualities, but much like Midas and the Midastouch (麦德斯和点金术),the reach of tourism has to a large extent destroyed the opportunity toencounter them in most places. Unluckily, the experience has been thoroughlycommodified by everyone who wanted to secure their opportunity to make a profitin the process. Accommodation sharing offers a way out of this bind and aviable alternative to having one's desires manipulated by corporateconglomerates (凝聚成团) who never had the best drawbacks.
Thereis no contractual agreement between users in these systems. Reservations aremade, but if they are for some reason broken, there is no higher authority towhich one could plead for a refund or other compensation. The only repercussion(反响)will be the poor rating you give that user and your only consolation will bethat your warning will deter others from visiting or hosting them. For those whofeel insecure unless their travel arrangements are written in stone beforedeparture, this system will not be comforting.
Thereis a chance that guest and host will not get along. Perhaps there will bescheduling or ideological conflicts. Maybe you will find that hosts or visitorshave misrepresented themselves. Perhaps the experience will not live up to yourexpectations. Intense interpersonal communications in advance and a flexibilityonce you have arrived is your best bet. These experiences require additionalplanning and courtesy towards the demands of your host. Thus, your livingconditions, length of stay, and overall experience will be circumscribed by theliving conditions you enter into.
Thereis a distinct possibility that someone will abuse the system and that innocentusers (especially women) will get hurt. All services include disclaimers thatrequire users to waive (放弃) their rights to hold anyone but themselvesresponsible for any harm that may come to them in using the system. They advisethat the best defense mechanism is to only involve oneself with users that haveextensive personal information and interpersonal networks within the systemthat have been verified by others. It does seem entirely plausible that someoneclever and patient enough might be able to invent an entire group of complexuser identities and build histories convincing enough to fool even morecautious patrons. Still, the difference between these systems and the othersocial networking platforms popular nowadays on the web (such as Facebook,MySpace, Tribe, Orkut and LiveJournal) is that any agreement reached throughthe accommodation sharing medium is contingent on actually meeting other peopleface-to-face. Other web scams (骗局) are easier because interpersonal interactionsrely so much on putative identities that are never actually verified in thereal world. However, this does not diminish the greater risk to physicalwell-being that this kind of traveling by definition must entertain. The bestadvice is to meet unknown persons in public spaces first, and try to meet someof their acquaintances in person before agreeing to a hospitality exchange. (1038words)
Exercises:
A. Readthe passage and answer the following questions.
What ishospitality service? Can you use your own words to define it?
Whatinformation should be provided by users of internet networks connectingtravelers?
What are theadvantages of hospitality exchanges? List at least four advantages.
What does thesociologist mean by “McDonaldisation of Society”?
Why canhospitality exchange systems foster richer and more convenientexperiences?
What are thedefects of hospitality exchange systems? List at least three defects.
How to dealwith the possibility that the guest and host do not get along?
How to avoidgetting hurt in using hospitality exchange systems?
B.Translate the following sentences into Chinese.
However, even in our increasinglyglobalized world, supposedly rife with diversity, in many popular traveldestinations, we find tourists milling around “tourist enclaves”, where thecompanies they patronize back home have set up shops to cater to their desireswhile they are abroad.
During hospitality exchanges, hosts wantto show off their local knowledge and exciting "off the map" venues.
These systems foster richer and moreconvenient travel experiences not so much on the premise of altruism, but onthe basis of social exchange theory.
Accommodationsharing offers a way out of this bind and a viable alternative to having one'sdesires manipulated by corporate conglomerates who never had the bestdrawbacks.
All services include disclaimers thatrequire users to waive their rights to hold anyone but themselves responsiblefor any harm that may come to them in using the system
