Rediscovering the lost art of hospitality

4 August 2015 06:30 pm Views - 1680

When someone makes you feel comfortable and at home, that person, providing a warm, friendly environment is being hospitable. Anything ‘hospitable’ is welcoming and open. A Greek proverb suggested that in being hospitable, the main feeling should be goodwill. The basis for the word hospitable is the Latin ‘hospes’, which refers to welcoming a guest, a word that evolved into meaning ‘to entertain’. A note of caution: hospitality operates on a knife edge, embodying its etymological origins, viz. ‘hospes’, meaning friend as well as enemy. 

Seeing it from another angle, hospitable, as someone once said, means “making your guests feel at home”. Alas, most hotels and restaurants don’t exactly do that. Instead, they make you wish you had stayed at home! Why? Stay with me awhile. Let’s consider the simplest definition of hospitality. ‘Hospitality is a noun, meaning, a generous and friendly way of treating people, especially guests, so that they feel comfortable and at home’. Notice that in this definition, hospitality is a noun but the explanation of it shows a need for action! 



As I said earlier, the problem with most hotels and restaurants is that they snugly trade on the ‘noun’ but struggle to translate into ‘action’. Hospitality is not about entertaining; it is not planned - for event or performance. True hospitality is an attitude of service, the desire to confer care and concern on others. It must convert strangers into loyal guests, it must be inclusive - not exclusive, it must be welcoming - not hostile, it must be unconditional - not restricted, it must be pleasurable -  not duty driven. For some, hospitality comes naturally. Others must learn it. Above all it must be practised.


Branding hospitality
If one were to brand hospitality, what would be its ‘pillars?’ Firstly, let’s get a handle on ‘brand pillars’. We define brand pillars as the most important attributes and principles that you want communicated through your brand. Examples of brand pillars are Quality, Expertise, Passion, Organic, Community Involvement and Integrity. One can use as many brand pillars as one likes, but eventually  you will need  to narrow them down to those most important to your business’ image and values. 

So, what are the attributes that mirror hospitality? Hospitality is about smiles, being courteous and attentive, always caring and truly welcoming – regardless of rank or title. True hospitality triggers an emotional response that is hard to forget. What do you really recall, long after your holiday? Is it the special travel deal that took you to that hotel or the smiling housekeeper who always remembered your name, and, one evening left a surprise, personalised gift on the bedside table, after the ‘turndown’ service? For me it would be the latter. 

Thailand is often referred to as “The Land of Smiles”, and fully deserves this honour…no matter what. Enter any retail shop, bank, travel agency or service industry in that country and even if you do not come away with anything; you still get to take away something – the memory of the graciously smilingly staff. It is the same in many hotels and restaurants over there, where hospitality is deeply embedded in their culture. 

Most service-related operations in Sri Lanka have not heard of the Chinese proverb ‘A man without a smiling face must not open a shop’. Regrettably, we, Sri Lankans, who were once famed for big smiles and a bigger heart, are fast losing it. We are here for ‘us’ not for ‘others’ and the danger is that in this highly materialistic world we live in, the younger generation will dismiss hospitality as a lost art.


High tech with little touch
In a culture where hospitality knows no boundaries and pride is placed on personal service, will technology replace the human factor? Memorable customer service can only take place in a human-to-human situation. Dr. John Hogan claims, “Hospitality is much more than a word today. It has become an industry that runs the danger of becoming too high tech, with too little high touch.” How true. 

Last year, social networking reportedly ate up more than 1.72 hours of the average person’s day. Google logs more than one billion searches each day. On YouTube, 60 hours of content gets uploaded every minute and over at Facebook, more than 800 million updates are recorded daily. We are becoming so wired technologically 24/7 that before we know it we’ve lost track of time and, sadly for many of us, we learn we’ve lost touch with some of our most important relationships both personally and professionally. 

For instance, using iPads as menus may be passable in some of the “middle of the road” restaurants; they just aren’t suitable for those that specialise in fine dining. When people go out to eat, they are looking for a human experience. They like that someone is taking the time to cater to their needs. The majority of discerning diners would agree that human interaction is very important. A machine can’t replace that. A good waiter brings what a machine can’t. Having a server is part of the experience. You just can’t take that away. Regrettably, most waiters behave like dysfunctional machines. I guess that’s when it’s time to bring in the real machines. How sad!


Hospitality in the name of service
John Hogan said, “Hospitality means providing service to others, yet not being cast as a servant.” This explains why Ritz Carlton describes its employees as “Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen” thus taking the role of servitude out of the equation. No small wonder then why the Ritz Carlton hotels are fabled for delivering legendry service! Service must not be viewed as a job nor should it be monitised. 

Another good example is Japan where service is an expression of a profoundly different understanding of what we consider “work”. Hospitality is deeply integrated in Japanese culture and their service, which mainly seeks to over-deliver, is an emotional commitment. It’s not viewed as a job, it’s not an extra, it’s valued and it isn’t monitised. 

However big or small the gesture or the task, true hospitality, especially in the hospitality industry has to be extended with the utmost sincerity, decorum and respect, unlike the more commonly experienced version of service, which is glib, delivered grudgingly as a chore and with an expectation of monetary reward. The test of hospitality is being real: there should be no mask, no placating and no question of pretending or forcing oneself to go through the motions. 

(Shafeek Wahab has an extensive background in hospitality management spanning over 30 years. He is a customer experience transformist, helping organisations improve business results by changing how they deal with customers. Whilst focusing on corporate education, training, consulting and coaching, he is passionate about identifying emerging best practices and helping companies become more customer-centric. He can be contacted at shafeekwahab@in2ition.biz. Website: www.in2ition.biz)