Hotels and Gastronomy: Where Does Hospitality Come From?
When checking into a hotel, the lady at the desk said, "Welcome, Mr. Bornemann. You really liked our corner rooms, so I made sure to reserve one just for you." In the room, there was a small complimentary gift waiting for me. Since then, this hotel has been my favorite in the city.
If you think for a moment, you'll surely recall an experience where you were pleasantly surprised by genuine hospitality in a hotel or restaurant. Right?
We love sharing such experiences with family, friends, colleagues, or during small talk. It's the best advertisement a hotel or restaurant can get. It boosts the image and saves the marketing budget.
However, when we have negative experiences as guests, the effect can backfire. Studies show that we are five times more likely to share our disappointment with those around us or on online platforms. This can lead to significant damage to a business’s reputation.
"Hotel or restaurant businesses that do not have genuine and tangible hospitality in their DNA cannot be successful in the long run."
How is hospitality created?
I’ve pondered the secret of hospitality since long before I knew that the travel and tourism sector would magically attract me throughout my career. My first self-earned money as a dishwasher during my school days was spent on traveling. I partially financed my studies by co-authoring travel guide books. I’ve spent over 15 years of my career more in hotels than in my own bed, and my refrigerator was usually empty. As the GM of a cultural tourism company, I later got a behind-the-scenes look – and as fate would have it, many of my clients today as a personal and organizational coach and advisor to executives come from the hotel and gastronomy industry.
Over more than 30 years, I’ve sharpened my view from all possible perspectives of the structures, processes, lived values, and resulting atmosphere in hotel and restaurant businesses. And I keep asking myself:
When does a guest feel comfortable?
We know the classic comfort criteria: location, architecture, furnishings, amenities, culinary offerings, cleanliness, and, of course, price. I won’t delve into these aspects further here. Today, I’m more interested in the human factor – and how we interact in the environment of a hospitality business. Most hotel or restaurant guests would generally agree with the following statements:
As a guest, I feel comfortable when:
I am welcomed and treated with genuine friendliness,
the staff sees me as an individual,
my needs are addressed,
I am informed about the amenities of the establishment,
I always find a helpful contact for my concerns,
the staff exudes a positive attitude,
the management is approachable but not intrusive.
Now, I’d like to invite you to a small experiment. Let’s take a closer look at the staff of a hotel or restaurant. Let’s replace the term "guest" in the list above with "employee" and consider the points from the perspective of leadership and team interaction:
As an employee, I feel comfortable at my workplace when:
I am welcomed and treated with genuine friendliness,
the leadership and team see me as an individual,
my needs are addressed,
I am informed about the opportunities of the employer,
I always find a helpful contact for my concerns,
the staff exudes a positive attitude,
the management is approachable but not intrusive.
The analogy is striking, isn’t it? This comparison highlights the direct impact of satisfied employees on guests' well-being.
Since guest satisfaction in the hotel and restaurant business is the most crucial prerequisite for business success, founders, owners, operators, or managers must ensure that their employees are happy and content. If they aren’t, the guest will immediately notice.
"Uh-oh, thin ice," some might think now: He's bringing up the much-debated generational topic. Don't worry, I’ll keep it brief. Regardless of your generation or beliefs, attitudes, and demands for meaningfulness and work-life balance are undergoing significant change. To survive as an employer, you must face the zeitgeist. Whether you want to or not.
A Dominant Key to Success
You likely sense where I’m heading: To be sustainably successful, a hotel or restaurant needs leadership skills and the associated soft skills to build an intact, efficient, and engaged team. A team whose members are so balanced that they can be excellent hosts with joy, conviction, and commitment.
Unfortunately, reality often looks different. In the tourism industry, the conscious engagement with leadership is increasingly overshadowed by other challenges. These include burdensome economic issues like rising procurement prices, higher energy costs, increasing regulatory requirements, and growing customer demands for digitalization, flexibility, and short-term availability. Personnel challenges also add to this:
Rising demands from employees,
Decreasing willingness to take responsibility,
Lower stress tolerance,
Lack of trained personnel,
Migration to other sectors.
Breaking the Dilemma
I’ve noticed that the topic of leadership is often underestimated, especially in startups, franchises, or chain businesses. But even in traditional establishments, consciously lived leadership competence is increasingly overshadowed by the aforementioned challenges. And this is especially true in an industry where employee dissatisfaction, dysfunctional teams, or a toxic corporate culture simultaneously and unfilteredly impact the customers. To put it even more bluntly:
"I claim that during a hotel or restaurant visit, I can recognize within a short time whether and how the establishment is managed."
It sounds like a dilemma. But it doesn’t have to be. Well-practiced corporate leadership is the most effective lever to address personnel challenges and pain points.
Remember the mirror reflecting when a guest or employee feels comfortable? For each leadership skill, we can see the impact on employees – with positive effects for the guests. The guests will feel it, and if they appreciate it, it reflects back on the employees. A beautiful cycle. Think it through with the example of the classic leadership skill of 'cognitive empathy.'
Look in the Mirror
Are you a leader in a hotel or restaurant? What’s the atmosphere like in your establishment? Can you, your management, and your employees truly be good hosts?
I strongly urge every hotelier and restaurateur: Invest your time in professional, individual, and consistent employee leadership. It will pay off. Your customers will feel it and, through their loyalty and sharing of experiences, contribute to your business success.
I accompany entrepreneurs, executives, and key individuals individually to find and implement the right leadership concept in everyday life, so that hospitality can truly be lived and experienced.
Feel free to contact me. I look forward to it. If I can contribute to enhancing hospitality and your success with my experience, professionalism, empathy, and passion, I go to bed (hotel bed) happy at night.