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What is hospitality? The new trend in the hotel sector

Hospitality

What is hospitality? The new trend in the hotel sector

AUGUST 2023 | 4 minutes

Enjoy a pleasant gastronomic evening with exquisite service. Spending your holiday in a hotel with careful attention to detail. Hospitality is consubstantial to establishments used to welcoming people, to generating experiences and pleasant stays. That is why the term hospitality is traditionally associated with sectors such as hotels and restaurants. But it goes much further than that.

Hospitality, the new trend in the hotel sector

But what does hospitality mean? Hospitality means taking care of people. Being aware of their needs and attending to them with kindness, agility and efficiency. It is a concrete aspect related to making customers, visitors and guests feel listened to, cared for and at ease.

What is hospitality?

In short, it means caring about people and doing everything possible to make the customer feel at home. Or even better. And in the tourism and hotel sector, this is essential.

In a restaurant, the culinary proposal may be spectacular, but if the staff is surly, the cleanliness is lacking, the chairs are uncomfortable and the service is slow, the dining experience can be a disaster.

The same is true of hotels. The facilities may convey elegance but if guests with specific requests or special needs are treated condescendingly or stiffly, their stay will be disappointing and, what's more, this can lead to a reputation crisis for the establishment. At a time when online reviews are essential, it is important to consider digital hospitality as well.

How to turn your business into a hospitality space?

To make an establishment a true hospitality business you must put the customer at the centre of everything. Reflect on every detail of their experience: what they expect from our business, what can make their experience more enjoyable, what they may need and how, when and when they may need it.

This way, you can define pleasurable experiences from start to finish throughout the entire stay, regardless of the type of hospitality business. However, regardless of practical issues such as opening hours, facilities, services, it is essential that the motto of hospitality takes precedence over everything else: that the key is the well-being of the users. It is essential that all those involved in customer service are aware that friendliness is crucial to create a good impression and a pleasant experience.

Hospitality in the hotel sector

With the permission of location, architectural design and interior design, hospitality will define what the hotels of the future will be and how they will function. Hotels that offer services 365 days a year, although the high season is concentrated especially in summer, a time for relaxation but which, increasingly, thanks to technology and digitisation, can be combined with periods of work from the holiday destination.

This hybridisation of leisure and professional work is known as workation and hotels must be prepared for it. Actiu has recently contributed to the reinterpretation of the CookBook hotel in Calpe, which has refurbished its entrance and welcome area to create a space where visitors can rest, work or have a drink. Noom armchairs and Noom 50 chairs have been chosen for their versatility and comfort.

The role of hospitality in catering

When setting up a restaurant and café, many factors must be taken into account: the gastronomic proposal - the ingredients and recipes that will be its hallmark -, the technical equipment of the kitchen, the number of diners that can be accommodated and the interior design. This will create a homogenous and pleasurable experience that caters for all five senses.

But there are other issues that cannot be left to chance. From the composition of the team, to customer service, the management of reservations, the agility of the service and the flexibility to adapt to the food requirements of the customers, everything must be taken care of.

At the Astoria Hall in Helsinki, the Wing chair has shown its full potential as a public seating solution, both in the catering area and in the administrative facilities of the complex.

Amro University Residence

Our Hospitality Projects

Halfway between a home and a hotel, student residences are increasingly advocating hospitality and focusing on the shared spaces between users, where the students' common life takes place once they have left their private spaces.

Also in medical centres such as the Cemdoe Hospital in Santo Domingo, which specialises in diabetes and obesity, improving the visitor experience has become a priority.

Waiting areas, reception, consultation rooms and cafeterias respond to the need for wellbeing that is expected of anyone visiting the centre, whether as a patient or as a companion.

CEMDOE PROJECT

In the corporate environment, socialisation is one of the functions that all workspaces must fulfil, in line with Actiu's Cool Working philosophy. A socialisation that connects directly with the concept of hospitality. Generating spaces for relaxation, in which to have a relaxed conversation or take a break from the daily hustle and bustle is possible with the right layout and furniture.

Vikika Team has achieved this with the Badminton and Longo collections. In the case of the offices of the technology company Tpartner Network Services, an island in the shape of a half moon becomes the ideal space to enjoy a moment of relaxation, essential for physical and emotional care.

Two aspects that hospitality takes very much into account and that incite to feel, share and experience.