Hospitality it should not be a trick

Hospitality. In every facilities magazine or on the website of any professional medium you will read about this theme. For years now, as facility professionals, we have tried to put our finger on the question: what is hospitality? One thing is certain. Hospitality only works when it is real. Sounds like an open door? Yet it’s no less true. It’s not self-evident for everyone. You can organize a lot of hospitality as an organisation. Training for staff. Provide sufficient parking space. Someone knows their name when they visit your organisation. A friendly mail in advance, of course a message afterwards. But if all this is not sincere, it won’t work. Intermediate judgment is so very important. Find out what the actual wishes, needs and expectations of your guest are. What drives him/her? What is his/her background? And then try to exceed the expectation. That’s what it’s all about.

Hospitality as a 'trick' does not provide a connection. Think of that receptionist with the fake smile, of which you know will turn into a grumpy grimace as soon as he/she turns around. Or as I have recently experienced myself, being received by no less than 4 Hospitality Hosts who complete their regular ritual without really paying attention to me and my expectations. I was kindly received and offered a delicious smoothie. In itself well thought out by the organisation, but the next step was not made. The explanation of what kind of smoothie they offered was missing, did I need a smoothie or did I prefer a bottle of water or a cup of coffee after a long drive? For the Wifi code I had to ask myself, which by the way was handed over by another colleague on a note. Another colleague told me that my appointment was too late and a fourth colleague finally informed me that my appointment was there. How beautiful it would have been if one of the Hospitality Hosts had taken care of me, been one step ahead of me and combined all these tasks.

This experience makes it clear to me once again that hospitality really has to come from the heart. In a way, it has to be in someone's DNA. Not because it is learned, but because this person is genuinely interested in the other person. For me, ultimate hospitality is the guest meeting a need that he himself did not even know he had. If you manage to do this out of genuine interest, then you have the definition of hospitality.