OPERATING MANAGEMENT
Chapter 1: The concept of hospitality
The hospitality industry is our shared reference point, the characteristics that distinguishes us from other.
- Many associates it with particular emotions.
Willingness to pay is determined by something more than just objective facts & figures about that room
or the food.
- That something is usually related with hospitality
Also represents a concept -> something intangible that exists only in our minds.
- Cannot point to or touch or take into your hands.
- Generalized idea that relates to the characteristics of a particular object of thought.
Do not describe just one instance of something, but rather what various instances have in common.
- A same concept is applied in very different contexts.
o Context is the same but the situations and the actions where it refers to are different.
Hospitality is a mystifying concept -> not clear or straight forward.
- Can be used in various contexts, to describe what is happening does seem to help us to interpret the
situation.
- Can refer to highly dissimilar emotions.
Hotels or the industry offer a unique hospitality experience and here the mystifying or confusing side of
the concept hospitality comes in.
The same word can be used in very different contexts to describe very dissimilar experiences and it still
makes sense.
Ratings: outside building based on an objective facilities and services provided assessment and are not in
any way related to ambience, charm or other subjective criteria.
Origins and history
There are two perspectives:
1. Hospitality as behavior
Not a recent trend and unlike the internet, it’s clearly not an invention of current era.
o Homo sapiens: can be seen as a key concept in the way a newcomer tried to claim membership
of a group.
▪ Often closely related to it’s opposite -> hostility
Can see both as the extremes of a continuum that represents all possible expressions of a relationship.
- Now linked with pleasant emotions or to the institution of war.
So, not just a one-dimensional, happy-go-lucky concept (this is about hospitality).
, o Medieval times: matter of honour and morality
▪ Was guided by strict procedures for both host + guest
To demonstrate their courtliness, improve relationship and for the host to exhibit his
generosity and largesse of spirit.
o Travelers: refers to unselfish commitment and altruism.
▪ i.o.w. to behavior that shows someone’s good intentions & willingness to help others
without expecting anything in return.
For many centuries hospitality is linked to cultural & religious norms for offering a needy stranger a place
to stay, and food + drink, without ulterior motive or expecting a reward.
Appropriate behavior, but nowadays that behavior is different.
Concluded -> hospitality behavior can be found everywhere and is far from restricted to the hospitality
industry.
1. Hospitality as industry
Contains far more important lessons for interpreting, assessing and managing hospitality in today’s
world.
o Commercial hospitality: 400 BC or at least 4,000 Y. -> examples:
▪ Women to strangers, providing food and drinks + accommodation, had evolved into a
distinct separate sector of the economy and a key source of revenue.
▪ Roman city of Pompeii, various types hospitality establishments.
Hospitium Popina caupona Taberna thermopolia ganae
offering rooms for rent, mostly public eating house. a simple counter for selling
businesspeople. F&B.
Various combinations are possible between those three.
▪ Caravanserais, hostels for travelers.
Seems that traveling businesspeople created a demand for lodging, foods & drinks, which an
extensive systems of hospitality establishments accommodated.
The debate
Hospitality can be linked to:
- Cultural and religious norms,
- Virtues and morality,
- Unselfishness and altruism,
- An industry that mostly consists of businesses that provide accommodation, food and drink in
exchange for money.
,In terms of norms that were As inextricably linked to Other side how best to More interested in revenue
based on biblical texts, the human behavior, regardless manage hospitality management to maximize
world of the ancient Greeks & of the context in which the products and services. profits based on selling those
strict behavior rules for behavior takes place. products & services in a fiercely
knights in medieval times. competitive global market.
O’connors’ O’ Gormans’
Only advance if it focuses on genuine Mostly made up of commercial enterprises.
hospitableness (refers to service with a smile), - Key in the concept of hospitality
also in recruiting new employees. management.
- Closely related to regarding hospitality as a - Need not feel uncomfortable about it being
virtue. an economic transaction.
- Minimize customer feeling betrated. - Focus on the things that lie at the core of
- Acknowledge it’s closely linked to human their discipline, what hey have trained to.
nature + what people feel is acceptable
behavior.
The hospitality industry consists of various establishments and activities with clearly distinct
characteristics -> there is more than one way to interpret and assess hospitality in relation to all these
establishments & activities.
1. Combination of elements in the ‘holy trinity’ of accommodation, food & drink should be regarded as
engaging in an act of hospitality or not.
2. The relationship between host & guests lies at the core of the concept.
o No matter the circumstances, hospitality acts cannot exist without the involvement of people.
o Host-guest relationships in commercial hospitality industry.
▪ Instances that do not involve exchange of money -> this is called domestic hospitality.
Three different domains
Conclude already:
1. Hospitality is provision of (a combination of) accommodation, food and drink and involves a host
& guest.
2. Various kinds of hospitality & depending on the context, there are different ways to interpret and
assess it.
Social + cultural level -> provides the context of studying and interpreting.
- Cultural + religious norms,
- Rules + obligations connected to eras and societies,
- For instance, relationship between host nation and guest in the form of
asylum seekers and migrants.
Domestic or private level -> deals with it in home setting.
- Linked to hospitality management and the hospitality industry.
Commercial level
- Industrialized hospitality and mass tourism cannot be interpreted +
assessed in complete isolation from the other two domains.
- Should benefit if we also address other two domains.
, As hospitality venues develop in size and complexity, they include commonplace activities that do not fit
with the three domainer’s conception.
- Example: mid-market, up-market & luxury hotels have facilities to meet demand for conferences and
health clubs.
Managing hospitality experiences
The way we experience a service, or a product influences the value we attach to it.
Also affects how much money we are willing to spend on it -> critical element is interaction with the
service or product provides.
Experience had become a key concept in today’s society and economy.
Personal interactions can be different from other forms of interaction.
- Hospitality interactions involve a relationship between a host and a guest in a specific context and
entail the provision of accommodation and / or food and / or drink.
Hospitality experience:
1. Related to the interaction between a host and a guest.
2. Crucial that these two parties engage voluntary in the interaction for an experience to quality as
hospitality.
3. Interaction needs to involve the host providing either one or a combination of accommodation, food
and drink to the guest to qualify hospitality experience.
4. Interaction context determines the rules and norms of appropriate behavior for the parties involved.
Means = a voluntary interaction between host and guest in which host provides accommodation and / or
food and / or drink to the guest and the context determines the applicable rules and norms for the
behavior of both parties.
Multidisciplinary approach because the context determines the rules and norms that apply interaction, 3
domains help explain this.
- Focus on management issues and insights from other fields & professions.
Hospitality management is not the combination of management & hospitality but the existance of a
hospitality management profession, and all this applies.
