History of Cracow Hotel Industry The article can be treated as the first systematic description of the development processes in Cracow hotel industry placed in Polish literary output. The fact that it has been based on the reach bibliography as well as source publications considerably enriches its authenticity. A reader is given a wide view on the market of accommodation services from the beginning of their appearance in the city up to the present time. The development of the hotel industry has been at first connected with travelling for trade, religious, scientific and medical reasons. At that time, it was concentrated around wayside inns, convents, and afterwards around academic dormitories of the celebrated renaissance European centre that Cracow was regarded at that time. The text presents the evolution of Cracow hotel industry in several profiles: Territorial — a movement of hotel functions from the outskirts to the city centre, Quality — from neglected inns to the highest standard hotel networks, Demand — a change in the base, under the influence of the evolution of people's expectations. The article clearly describes circumstances, which determined the directions of the hotel industry development, i. e. customs of particular epoques, political situation, and Cracow significance as the centre of science, culture and economy. The part of the article, describing the development of the hotel industry in XIX and XX centuries, seems to be especially worth emphasising. It presents very picturesquely the atmosphere of hotel — keepers, their openness to social influences, as well as changes in the mentality of the contemporary society, in technology and in hotel architecture. The article is also enriched with tabular compendium of hotels, pensions and common lodgings.