Accommodation expenditures of the Ottoman State for hotels in Istanbul and the economic functions of hotels (1894-1910)

Ottoman Empire has always been a significant government which hosted a considerable amount of people as guests who visited the empire for various reasons. Istanbul, both as the capital of Ottoman Empire and due to its religious and commercial importance, has attracted numerous people. There were several places for the accommodation of the guests in the Ottoman capital. Thanks to the hotels beginning to be opened through the middle of the 19th century, accommodation culture took a more modern shape and its functions increased. All the expenditure of the guests accommodating in these hotels during their stay was handled by the government. In this study, the expenditure between 1894, the year in which grand hotels started to be opened and 1910, the year after Abdul Hamid II was deposed, is examined. The reason why the year 1894 was chosen as the starting point is that grand hotel managements started to open after that year. Accommodation expenses and the characteristics of the money spent by the government especially after this date constitutes the foundation of the thesis. What differentiates this thesis from other Ottoman accommodation sector studies is that it approaches to the subject from the economic perspective. The ultimate aim of the study is to shed light on the money spent for the hotels that began to operate at the final periods of the Ottoman empire and constitute most of the accommodation facilities by examining them. With the documents collected from government archives, the sum of the expenditure between the years 1894-1910, the invoice made out by the hotels and the reports of bill of costs by the governments are compiled and the study strives to illustrate the economic activities of the hotels between these dates. Besides, the study seeks to shed light on the Ottoman accommodation buildings and the people who stayed in them. Likewise, it provides brief information about the countries that the guests come from. The outcomes of the research demonstrate that people from abroad and from different parts of the empire accommodated in various hotels in Istanbul, the capital of Ottoman Empire, between the years of 1894-1910 and a significant amount of expenditure is made. Due to the invoices that are examined, it is understood that the hotels provided many services other than accommodation. At the same time, it is figured out that these documents cover many different expense items and differ from one another. With the collected data, the usage rates of the hotels are compared to one another and the most used hotels of the era are deduced. Also, it is concluded that the hotels, apart from being accommodation structures, hosted various economic and social activities and has a crucial place in the daily life of the society. As a result, the economic activities of the hotels between the years of 1894-1910 are illustrated.