The Hospitality Experience Study Guide Regency and Sydney

Le Cordon Bleu
Bachelor of Business
Hospitality Experience
Unit Code 40014
Study Guide
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T ABLE OF C ONTENTS
HOSPITALITY EXPERIENCE ................................................................................................................................5
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 5
TOPIC 1 - THE HOSPITALITY CONCEPT: AN INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................6
LEARNING OUTCOMES ............................................................................................................................................. 6

Introduction................................................................................................................................................... 6
THE ROOTS OF HOSPITALITY...................................................................................................................................... 6
HOSPITALITY IN ANCIENT TIMES................................................................................................................................. 7
HOSPITALITY, HOSTS AND GUESTS.............................................................................................................................. 8
The Host-Guest Relationship ......................................................................................................................... 9
Hospitality as a Social Institution ................................................................................................................ 10
CONTEMPORARY HOSPITALITY: INDUSTRY APPROACHES ............................................................................................... 10
TOPIC 2 - HOSPITALITY IN CONTEXT ..............................................................................................................12
LEARNING OUTCOME ............................................................................................................................................ 12

Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 13
THE EXPERIENCE ECONOMY .................................................................................................................................... 13
Tutorial Activity 2.1 ..................................................................................................................................... 13
THE CONTEMPORARY EXPERIENCE OF HOSPITALITY ..................................................................................................... 14
CULTURES OF HOSPITALITY ..................................................................................................................................... 15
ELEMENTS OF ISLAMIC HOSPITALITY ......................................................................................................................... 16
TOPIC 3 - THE EXPERIENCE ECONOMY...........................................................................................................19
LEARNING OUTCOME............................................................................................................................................. 19
Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 19
EXPERIENCE: EMOTIONS, SENSATIONS, FEELINGS, WELLBEING ...................................................................................... 21
THE NEW SERVICE EXPERIENCE................................................................................................................................ 22
Context ........................................................................................................................................................ 23
Design.......................................................................................................................................................... 23
TOPIC 4 - CONSUMING HOSPITALITY ............................................................................................................24
Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 24
MATERIAL AND SYMBOLIC USES OF OBJECTS .............................................................................................................. 25
CONSPICUOUS AND CONTEMPORARY CONSUMPTION .................................................................................................. 27
TOPIC 5 - EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ............................................................................................................30
Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 30
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS....................................................................................................................................... 30
Emotional labour ......................................................................................................................................... 31
TOPIC 6 - CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT ...................................................................................34
Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 34
ECRM ................................................................................................................................................................ 37
TOPIC 7 - AESTHETIC LABOUR .......................................................................................................................38
Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 38
AESTHETIC LABOUR (AL) ........................................................................................................................................ 38
AESTHETIC LABOUR BURDEN ................................................................................................................................... 41
TOPIC 8 - CREATING HOSPITALITY EXPERIENCES IN A GLOBAL MARKET .........................................................43
Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 43
GLOBALISATION AND THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY........................................................................................................ 44
Globalisation ............................................................................................................................................... 44
.................................................................................................................................................................... 45
Delivering Global Hospitality ....................................................................................................................... 45
MOBILITIES.......................................................................................................................................................... 47
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE: ‘EMPOWERED RESPONSIBILITY’ ............................................................................................ 48
TOPIC 9 - CREATING THE HOSPITALITY EXPERIENCE: 1 ..................................................................................49
Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 49
THE PHYSICAL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE ..................................................................................................................... 50
Elite Hotels: Sensory Differentiation ........................................................................................................... 50
TOPIC 10 - CREATING THE HOSPITALITY EXPERIENCE: 2 ................................................................................52
Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 52
APPLYING MODELS: HOSPITALITY AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE GLOBAL MARKET ................................................................ 54
The Café Phenomenon: Grass Roots Hospitality ........................................................................................ 54
Internet Hospitality: Websites - Their Role in Providing Seamless Service ................................................. 54
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................................56
HOSPITALITY EXPERIENCE: STUDY GUIDE
H OSPITALITY E XPERIENCE
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the study of The Hospitality Experience.
This unit introduces you to the general concept of hospitality, understood as a core value
upheld by societies the world over. Hospitality is a fundamental principle at the heart of Le
Cordon Bleu’s Bachelor of Business degrees therefore this unit promotes an understanding of
the importance of the concept of hospitality in ethical and philosophical terms, and examines
the everyday practices and business application of hospitality principles in the hospitality
sector.
©L e Co rd on Bl eu 5|P a g e
T OPIC 1 - T HE H OSPITALITY C ONCEPT : A N

I NTRODUCTION
LEARNING OUTCOMES
On completion of this topic you should be able to:
 Express the historical, etymological, and mythological roots of the concept of
hospitality.
 Describe the principles upon which hospitality functions as an important social
institution in a variety of historical and contemporary contexts.
 Articulate one’s own personal hospitality experiences, including cultural and
professional values that influence the roles of hosts and guests.
 Contribute to a discussion on the ways in which hospitality as a concept and practice
has diversified in the current global industry context.
Required Reading
King, CA (1995) ‘What is hospitality?’, International Journal of Hospitality Management, vol.
14, no. 3/4, pp. 219-234.
Additional Resources
O'Gorman, K (2005) ‘Modern hospitality: lessons from the past’, Journal of Hospitality and
Tourism Management, vol. 12, no. 2, p.141(11).
Introduction
Key Concepts
 The historical roots of hospitality.
 The roles of hosts and guests.
 The importance of hospitality as a social institution.
THE ROOTS OF HOSPITALITY

In this first topic of Hospitality Experience we will look closely at the concept of hospitality
and how it has evolved over history. We will discuss the role hospitality plays in forming and
maintaining societies and consider the central place of hosts and guests in hospitality practice.
The concept and application of hospitality is one of the oldest and perhaps one of the most
important of social bonds. Hospitality plays a significant role in creating links and bringing
people together. The word ‘hospitality’ has its roots in a Proto-Indian-European word ‘ghos-
ti’, meaning ‘…stranger, guest, host: properly “someone with whom one has reciprocal duties
of hospitality”’ (American Heritage Dictionary cited in O’Gorman 2005, p. 142).
The important thing to note about the origins of the word hospitality is that our modern
words ‘host’, ‘guest’ and ‘stranger’ originally had meanings that were closely related, even
interchangeable, and from this follows the notion that hospitality 'represents a kind of
guarantee of reciprocity…’ – strangers are protected by hosts and in turn hosts can expect
protection from strangers (O’Gorman 2005, p. 142).
HOSPITALITY IN ANCIENT TIMES

Ancient Societies
There are examples of hospitality to be found in the mythology of our earliest civilisations.
For the ancient Greeks and Romans, to provide hospitality was to honour the gods and to fail
to provide hospitality to someone in need was to violate a sacred hospitality code and moral
obligation (O’Gorman 2005, pp. 142 - 145). Legends of gods disguised as strangers and
seeking hospitality as a kind of moral test of the host, are found in Greek, Roman and Judeo-
Christian traditions (King 1995; O’Gorman 2005). Offering hospitality was also seen as a way
to soothe the tempers of evil spirits, which were thought may have attached themselves to
the stranger at the door (King 1995, p. 222).
Ancient forms of hospitality have existed in most cultures. One of the earliest functions of
hospitality was to offer protection to travellers. Travel in ancient societies could be very
dangerous, and a lack of shelter could have serious consequences for the traveller, including
death by exposure to the elements or falling victim to robbery and violence (King 1005, p.
221).
In order that the business of trade and the state could continue unthreatened, governments
provided and maintained hospitality facilities for their administrators, messengers and
military (King 1995, p. 225); and societies adopted principles and codes of hospitality that
aimed to protect travellers from harm (likewise, guests were obliged not to harm their host)
(King 1995, p. 221).
The Greeks and Romans built thermal baths for the recuperation of travellers, and mansions
for the accommodation of those on government business (Levy-Bonvin 2010, p. 1). Citizens
opened their homes to travellers, often as part of a network of other households on which
hosts could in turn depend on for hospitality (O’Gorman 2005, p. 143, 145). Caravanserais
offered a resting place for caravans on Middle Eastern routes (Levy-Bonvin 2010, p. 1).
Commercial hospitality also existed – in the form of very basic roadside inns for the lower
class of travellers like sailors and merchants, who were too poor or of too low status to have
access to a private hospitality network (O’Gorman 2005, p. 146).
Middle Ages
In Middle Ages Europe, people travelling for religious reasons, pilgrimages or on church
business were accommodated by monasteries which saw giving hospitality as a way of serving
God by meeting a human need (King 1005, p. 225). It was not the goal of the monasteries, or
of the inns that also provided lodging for travellers at this time, to offer comfort and luxury
to their guests. Travel was very much a necessity, not a pleasure, and the entertainment of
the guest was not considered (King 1995, p. 225).
From the private households of Elizabethan England emerged a kind of hospitality more
concerned with the guest’s enjoyment. Palmer (cited in King 1995, p. 223) describes this
brand of hospitality as “…a liberal entertainment of all sorts of men, at one’s house, whether
neighbours or strangers, with kindness, especially with meat, drink and lodgings.”
There was an emphasis on entertaining one’s peers, social betters and rivals in the interests
of personal advancement. In this context hospitality was a way of increasing or maintaining
a person’s status and social power.
Industrial Age (1700 – 1850)

Improvements to roads and transport in the Industrial era allowed people to travel in greater
comfort than before and led to an increase in travel for pleasure by the growing middle class
(King 1995, p. 225). This new class of traveller demanded more comfortable accommodation,
and in response new types of commercial hospitality establishments emerged: spa resorts
such as St Moritz, Switzerland were the forerunners of the European hotel tradition; deposed
French noble men and women (post the French Revolution) turned their stately homes into
accommodation for people who wanted to experience the lifestyles of the nobility; and the
first grand hotels were built in Europe and America (King 1005, p. 226).
These luxurious facilities, once only accessible to the privileged and well-connected in society,
became available on commercial terms to anyone who could afford them. They existed
alongside the minimal accommodation facilities still provided to the lower class of traveller
(King 1995, p. 226).
Private, Public and Commercial Hospitality

Private, public, and commercial forms of hospitality are categories which historically
differentiate the ways in which the concept of hospitality has been integrated into social,
cultural and economic institutions (Elias 1978; Heal 1990; Kerr 2002). Private hospitality refers
to the provision of food, drink and accommodation in domestic settings (Lashley in Lashley &
Morrison 2001, p. 2).
Public hospitality can take the form of, for example, state dinners hosted by governments or
royalty, or the kind of hospitality provided in ancient times by the state or church, to travellers
on state or church business. Commercial hospitality can be fairly simply defined as hospitality
provided to make a financial profit. It is not true to say that commercial hospitality evolved
from public hospitality which in turn evolved from private hospitality – as we have seen all
three forms have existed side by side throughout history.
HOSPITALITY, HOSTS AND GUESTS

The figures of host and guest are central to the concept of hospitality. Hospitality originally
implied that strangers were always welcomed. Those who were strangers when away from
home were hosts when they were at home, and so a system of giving and taking, or
reciprocity, was established - you would be welcomed as a guest just as you offered
hospitality to a stranger.
In ancient cultures “…the guest was the person with whom one had one had mutual
obligations of hospitality; they were also the stranger, and a stranger could well be hostile.
Strangers were feared because their intentions are often unknown, and they can appear as
bearers of magical and/or mystical powers.” (O’Gorman 2005, p. 18)
The role of the host frequently extends beyond the obligation to provide protection and
nourishment to strangers, to ensuring guests are made happy and kept entertained (Tefler in
Lashley & Morrison 2001, p. 40). The words ‘entertain’ and ‘hospitality’ are used
interchangeably in many contexts. The famous eighteenth century gourmand Jean-Anthelme
Brillat-Savarin (cited in Tefler in Lashley & Morrison 2001, p. 40) said: “To entertain a guest is
to make yourself responsible for his happiness so long as he is beneath your roof.”
Tefler (in Lashley & Morrison 2001) discusses the question of what it means to be truly
hospitable and a good host. She says that skilfully providing for the needs of guests and
attending to their happiness and comfort are necessary but not sufficient traits. The
motivation of the host is also critical – she asks if we would consider someone hospitable if
we thought they were only acting out of self-interest or with an ulterior motive? Telfer
concludes that a host is only truly hospitable when he or she acts out of a genuine regard for
the welfare of others or when “…hosts and guests freely exchange hospitality for mutual
enjoyment and benefit.”
How does this understanding of what it means to be truly hospitable and a good host apply
in a commercial context? Some theorists argue that because hosts in commercial settings are
ultimately motivated by profit, that ‘commercial hospitality’ is a contradiction in terms
(O’Gorman 2005, p.42). Others point to a paradox “…between generosity and the
exploitation of the marketplace” (Heal 1990, p. 1).
There is a dissenting point of view which argues that the commercialisation of hospitality has
in fact brought us closer to the fundamentals of true hospitality. Genuine guest/host
relationships and customer/provider relationships which provide an emotional and empathic
sense of wellbeing are today at the forefront of industry practice and business models. Telfer
(in Lashley & Morrison 2001, p. 45) suggests that if commercial hosts are skilful, generous,
look after their guests with genuine concern and do not charge exorbitantly for their services,
then they should be considered truly hospitable hosts. The payment they receive can be seen
in the spirit of reciprocity, which we have seen is a fundamental characteristic of hospitality.
The Host-Guest Relationship

Telfer (in Lashley & Morrison 2001) describes three types of relationships that form between
hosts and guests. There is the relationship between friends, where hospitality represents
“…an invitation to intimacy, an offer of a share in the host’s private life” (p. 47). There is also
the relationship formed when the guest is someone in need of hospitality – for instance the
traveller in need of food and shelter.
There is the host-guest relationship, characterised as existing between people in the same
circle who are not purely friends, such as the chef and customer of a restaurant, a group of
colleagues or an occasion with family friends; where hospitality is often motivated by a sense
of duty or the wish to establish or maintain a social relationship.
King (1995) points out that in a commercial context the relationship between host and guest
is not one between equals: “It is the host who seeks to please, who provides, and who fulfils.
The guest is always free to withdraw patronage if he is not satisfied.” King suggests that
service employees are challenged by the competing demands placed on them to please the
customer, to complete their work tasks efficiently and to maintain their own emotional
balance and feelings of self-worth.
Service employees are often required to be friendly, convivial and to establish a rapport with
customers in a relationship characterised by informality. King argues that a more formal
relationship between customer and provider may “…be a way of managing the host-guest
relationship to reduce role stress.” (King 1995, p. 228).
Hospitality as a Social Institution

The concept and application of hospitality is one of the oldest and perhaps one of the most
important of social bonds. Hospitality plays a significant mediating (ie creating links and
bringing together) role in communication and in relationships between cultures.
The simple act of giving food and shelter to others allows for human beings to cross the ‘us’
and ‘them’ divide which separates many social spheres (Book IX, Homer’s Odyssey). The
mutual enjoyment of the pleasures of eating and drinking further strengthens the social bond
and potentially serves to ease any hostilities which might exist outside the dining room. We
have already seen that the word ‘entertain’ shares meanings in common with ‘hospitality’.
The roots of the word ‘entertain’ mean a holding together, …as in “the human glue” holding
together the social order (King 1995, p. 223) – which further emphasises the importance of
hospitality (entertaining guests) as a social institution.
We can understand this process more easily if we consider the world of international politics
and diplomacy. State dinners, banquets and other important occasions at which
representative members and leaders of different, perhaps even opposing nations, dine
together, provide the context in which friendly relations can be actively developed and
understandings reached.
Overall, hospitality has historically acted to smooth over hostilities, reinforce social ties,
introduce ‘strangers’ to the social lives and customs of others, and on a daily basis reinforce
fundamental ethical values of what it means to think of others and so lead an ethical life.
Acts of hospitality encourage us to remember how the sharing of food and the provision of
shelter are symbolic of human community itself, because they emphasise how we can all
make mistakes and we all live on the same planet together, relying on the same natural
resources for shelter, food and drink, and for our very survival. The cross-cultural role played
by hospitality makes it an important part of a global socialisation and a historical foundation
of contemporary multiculturalism.
Sharing a Meal
Sharing a meal, is an important feature of hospitality, it is also a fundamental political act and
a model of social equality. The act of commensality, or eating together, provides the basis for
socialisation, if only for the duration of a single meal.
The manners and etiquette associated with dining are fundamental to what has been
described as the civilising process (Elias 1978, 1982) and are very important in terms of
creating and reinforcing the norms and values of a culture.
CONTEMPORARY HOSPITALITY: INDUSTRY APPROACHES

In the post-modern context (Williams 2000), the contemporary hospitality industry has been
forced to recognise the need to re-evaluate its role and function as a service provider in a
rapidly changing marketplace. It has had to reassess its role in terms of globalisation,
consumerism and the broad range of new business management systems, theories and
applications which have developed together with global forces.
©L e Co rd on Bl eu 10 | P a g e
These changes have naturally complicated any simple meaning attributed to hospitality and
are typified by the complex and diversified nature of the hospitality industry today. Affected
as it is by changes to consumer culture (Williams 2000), levels of affluence, (ie wealth) host-
guest relationships and the range of products and services now available, hospitality
increasingly develops more of the personal quality of the well-meaning and generous act
performed “out of motives appropriate to hospitality” (see Telfer 1996: 101).
As theorists argue about the fate of ‘true hospitality’ in a globally commercialised
environment, others have developed ways of offering and understanding experiences of
hospitality in a wider, sociological context (Andrews 2000; Williams 2000). This comes
primarily as a reaction to globalisation and the changes which it has made to business and
culture more generally.
Theorists and practitioners have recognised that relationships are a key aspect of global
trends in business and in product and service marketing. Therefore, they argue, the host/
guest relationship is important to the success of the industry as a whole. Although there is an
exchange of goods and services for money, the experience of customer/ consumer and guest/
host/ provider are potentially enriching in ways that have always been unique to the
hospitality experience. These include often intangible (ie can’t see touch or taste) but
nonetheless invaluable benefits in the form of emotional wellbeing, surprise, self-esteem,
sense of identity and cultural pride.
The current challenge for hospitality industry employees is to respond to these new demands
and adapt to the changing needs and desires of an equally adaptive customer base. Sensitivity
to cultural, ethical, aesthetic and behavioural elements implicit in the customer/provider
relationship requires the ongoing development and conscious application of self-knowledge
and understanding, social awareness and ethical concern, as core components of professional
practice.
The ability to reflect, adapt and to make decisions accordingly, requires communication skills
and empathy which need to be spread across the whole range of hospitality operations. These
represent the vital skills for fostering rewarding, enriching and memorable hospitality
experiences.
T OPIC 2 - H OSPITALITY I N C ONTEXT

LEARNING OUTCOME
 Make clear cross-cultural evaluations of hospitality practices.
 Identify differences between hospitality-based practices in different cultures.
 Describe principles of hospitality and how they can be appropriately applied in
professional practice
 Understand commercial application of Islamic and Western forms of hospitality.
Key concepts:
 The Experience Economy

 Islamic Hospitality
 The Contemporary Experience of Hospitality
 Cultures of Hospitality
Readings
Baum, T (2006) ‘Reflections on the nature of skills in the experience economy: challenging
traditional skills models in hospitality’, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism
Management, vol. 13, no. 2, p.124(12).
Gilbert, D and Tsao, J (2000) ‘Exploring Chinese cultural influences and hospitality marketing
relationships’, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol.
12, no. 1, pp. 45-54.
Gillespie, C (2002) European Gastronomy into the 21st Century, Butterworth-Heinemann,

London. pp. 21-27.
Lashley, C., Morrison, A. and Randall, S. (2005) ‘More than a service encounter? Insights
into the emotions of hospitality through special meal occasions’, Journal of
Hospitality and Tourism Management, vol. 12, no. 1, p.80(13).
Lockwood, A and Jones, P (2000) ‘Managing hospitality operations’, in C. Lashley and A.

Morrison (eds.), In search of hospitality: theoretical perspectives and debates,
Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.
Stephenson, Marcus L. (2014) Deciphering ‘Islamic Hospitality’: Development, challenges

and opportunities.’ In Tourism Management. Vol 40, pgs 155-164.
Introduction
What are the different contexts that apply to hospitality? Domestic, commercial, religious,
secular, Eastern, Western: how hospitality translates into different cultural and commercial
settings is something we need to think about as hospitality managers and employees. Eastern
and Western countries have different perspectives on domestic, public and commercial forms
of hospitality.
A comparative appraisal of different traditions, like meal events, for example ―a Japanese
Tea Ceremony, an everyday meal at McDonalds, a traditional Pacific Island feast, or a 3-Star
Michelin restaurant experience― would show that each has its own ‘rules’ pertaining to the
order or sequence of events, who should be seated where, what is expected on diners. Even
at a McDonald’s, although it’s designed for customer convenience, there are still socially-
accepted rules that need to be observed. All these forms have meanings associated with
them. The meaning of an act of hospitality can also reflect broader differences in commercial
and related practices of hospitality that can have an impact on the industry as a whole. Let’s
explore some of these.
THE EXPERIENCE ECONOMY

Theorists have for some time referred to something called the ‘experience economy’. While
hospitality has always been focussed on experience (principally, the aesthetic experience of
food, drink, the comfort of the accommodation, and the pleasure of being treated well by
staff) the term ‘experience economy’ actually refers to a shift in consumer attitudes. As a
major driving force of the economy, consumers are seeking more than ‘products and
services.’ They want meaningful experiences.
‘The experience economy’ is a term used to express the wider shift to ‘a lifestyle economy’
that the West, in particular has undergone in the last 50-60 years. Lifestyle is the term we
currently use to describe how we live, but the fact that the term has only been current for a
few decades shows that that there is now a greater emphasis on the pleasures of living, which
has flowed from greater affluence (wealth) linked to consumerism: a term that implies both
a huge increase in goods themselves and the capacity to better merge work and leisure.
People are spending more time socialising, whether this means more time online using
Facebook, dining out, working, or studying. Our networks are growing, and inter-cultural
exchange continues to diversify. This all has an impact on the hospitality industry, which
always needs to adapt to ‘changing times.’
In the context of hospitality, the quality of an experience even as simple as asking for
information at a hotel counter has become the customer’s measure of value and ultimate
satisfaction in all business and service provision.
Tutorial Activity 2.1

What aspects of your own life can you distinguish as being focused on the quality of the
experience?
Elements that have contributed to the emergence of the experience economy include:
 Growing levels of affluence (i.e., wealth)

 The breakdown of traditional divisions between work and leisure
 The emergence of ‘lifestyle’ and the expanded range of choices which this implies
 Growing consumerism, fuelled by more choice of consumer goods Globalisation of
culture (products and services): the spread of commercialisation
 The ‘commodification’ (i.e., something that becomes a saleable product) of aesthetic
experience (sensory branding is an aspect of this).
 Increasing sophistication of products in terms of value-adding so that consuming
becomes more than merely buying something one needs and is replaced by an
attitude typified by emotional demands on how one feels about a product or service
 The consumer has become the driving force in product and service development.
Perhaps the last factor is the most significant. Consumers wield more power in the economy
than ever before so their experience suddenly matters more. This also explains why the
contemporary hospitality industry seeks to understand the processes at work by returning to
the original concept of hospitality because hospitality was always about providing a
physically, emotionally and spiritually rewarding experience in the company of others. In the
words of Tom Baum, “consumers are seeking an integrated bundling of products and services
in a way that generates responses across a range of their intellectual, emotional and aesthetic
senses.” (Baum 2006).
We might simply say that the emphasis is again on ‘having a good time.’ How ‘good times’ are
created and managed has of course caught the attention and interest of industry managers
and employees who now realise the importance of the experience economy.

Find evidence of innovative ways hotels and resorts are appealing the customers sense of
‘experience’ in the hospitality context.
THE CONTEMPORARY EXPERIENCE OF HOSPITALITY

Taking into account that although people from many and varied backgrounds in recent years
hotels have had to adapt to the growing demand for ‘experiences’, by providing services and
products that facilitate emotional and aesthetic engagement. In simple terms this can mean
just feeling good and experiencing a full range of sensory and sensual experiences (the
meaning of aesthetic). While we all enjoy ourselves and try to feel good more and more of
travellers’ engagement with goods and services are being designed to deliver experience
(sensual, sensory, and emotionally engaging).
One’s sense of self and self-image therefore play a major role in the hospitality context,
because so many of the experiences within that context are designed to give individuals a
good feeling about themselves. Offering organic produce in a restaurant makes some
customers feel good about where their food has come from and that nothing unhealthy has
been used to produce it (pesticides, growth hormones, artificial fertilizers). Importantly,
giving customers the option to use less water or not have their towels laundered everyday
helps to make customers feel like they are doing something positive for the environment even
though the effect of their choice may have very little or no real effect.
Humans are and have always been social animals, but in the lifestyle and experience
economies our options have increased. When a customer pays for an experience it is ‘the
experience’ that the customer pays attention to. In other words, services and products are
quantifiable and can be readily identified in terms of what the customer pays for.
Hospitality, on the other hand, while being a service which is paid for, is now widely regarded
as an experience which can deliver benefits that are not quantifiable in the same way as a
material or service product can be (in monetary terms). One buys a meal in a restaurant and
receives something called ‘service,’ but the overall experience is made memorable, or not, by
the relationship that develops between the wait staff and the customers, between the
customers themselves, and between then and any other ‘actors’ who enter the ‘scene.’ As
the great English playwright, William Shakespeare famously said,
“All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have
their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts”
Using this analogy from the theatre highlights the way in which (all) social life is performative.
We are acting ourselves (well or badly?) in the company of others, most of the time.
This underlines how important maintaining relationships is in hospitality. People serve and
are served by others, transactions take place, items are bought and sold: all imply
communication and performance, a focus on presenting oneself well to others, and of course
on hospitality and all the factors that contribute to the expression and experience of one’s
identity - or sense of self – in that context.
CULTURES OF HOSPITALITY
The fact that hospitality can adapt to varying contexts is testament to its continued and long-
lasting significance. The meal is an event, whereas the hotel is an environment. These
different elements provide the context in which human beings relate and ‘get on.’ Naturally,
cultural determinants influence behaviour and must be considered as an important factor in
in the exercise of a professional role.
Confucian cultures, for example, stress a different set of social values through personal
relationships. The expression of those values and feelings also take different forms from those
used in the West. Concepts such as kuan-his (networks) and of ‘face’ have behavioural
consequences which are quite different from Western modes of communication. ‘Face’
involves two aspects, mien-tsu (personal behaviour) and lien (something to be achieved). Jen-
chin refers to personal obligation which flows through in relationships and communication.
“The Chinese interact with each other to protect, give, add, exchange or even borrow mien-
tsu; it enters much more into everyday transactions as a form of social currency” (Gilbert and
Tsao, 2000).
In short, culture-specific behavioural modes, which further differentiate between the
generalities of East and West, serve to constitute social capital for individual actors and must
be recognised and respected in a global culture. To some extent, the Chinese style of
interpersonal relationship has a great deal to recommend it in the current climate because it
is predictable, controllable and consistent (Gilbert and Tsao, 2000). Understanding how to
behave in culturally specific as well as global contexts is now fundamental to the reflective
practice demanded of hospitality personnel.

How do concepts of hospitality, as one would experience at home or at the home of
another, compare to the experience of hospitality at a fast food restaurant or a five-star
hotel?
Given this broader context, let’s return to question of the hospitality experience and to the
experience of Islamic hospitality in particular. This will help us to see the issues from both
sides: from the global consumer driven growth of the experience economy, on one hand, to
the culturally specific traditions of hospitality on the other. Bringing the two together
provides for an understanding grounded in commercial and cultural realities.
The global Muslim population accounts for nearly 25% of the global population, let’s reflect
on the nature of Islamic hospitality. “Muslim consumers are one of the fastest growing market
segments… the under 30s segment representing 42% of the Muslim population” (Stephenson,
2014). This potential market not only presents an interesting case study, but is suggestive of
the kind of opportunities that exist in the industry to develop hospitality in innovative ways,
particularly as (non-Muslim) tourists and travellers are also now likely to be looking for
authentic experiences including of course those linked to other cultures. Looking more
closely at Islamic (and other forms of) hospitality provides insights into creating innovative
hospitality experiences in a global context.

Identify some specifically Islamic hotels and focus on any elements of hospitality (products
and services) that differ from western offerings.
ELEMENTS OF ISLAMIC HOSPITALITY

Conceived in relation to others and relative to the roles of hosts and guest, mode of welcome,
physical contact or proximity, appropriateness of gesture, eye contact, tone of voice, mode
of address, presentation: all these can also express culturally specific values and ideas. Islamic
hospitality presents an opportunity to examine how underlying principles of hospitality can
express different values and provides a context within which to examine the potential for
Islamic hospitality as a commercial function of the industry.
Islamic hospitality is rooted to the idea of travel, but not an individual’s travel so much as
group travel as in the case of a pilgrimage (typically, the Hajj). In this context Islamic
perceptions of hospitality are linked to education and spiritual well-being and the acquisition
of wisdom, travelling as a group, conviviality, congeniality and reverence (Stephenson, 2014:
156).
This contrasts markedly with some typically Western motivations to travel: hedonism, the
search for pseudo-experiences’ (one’s created especially for the travel, like historical re-
enactments etc.) and ego-enhancement. These self-centric forms of tourism suggest

“conspicuous consumption” (Stephenson, 2014: 156).
In contrast then Islamic forms of travel can promote cross-cultural communication, mutual
understanding and a sense of unity. They can also “secure familial relations, sustain kinship
membership and enable individuals to reaffirm their religious responsibilities” (Stephenson,
2014: 157).
Within different Islamic states other differences emerge. Iranian Muslims abide by ta’arof
which underlines deference to others and shyness, ceremoniousness, humility, and the need
on the part of the host to be accepted by the guest. The offering of elaborate meal is a feature
of ta’arof. Such an emphasis on hospitality and generosity has been underlined with the
spread of Islamic peoples around the world, because migration and reception are managed
within the context of hospitality (Stephenson, 2014: 157).
From Marcus L. Stephenson, ‘Deciphering ‘Islamic hospitality’: Developments, challenges
and opportunities’ in Tourism Management Volume 40, February 2014, Pages 155–164
For a hotel to be classified as Shari’a-compliant it would normally have to contain the
following features associated with five key components:
1. Human Resources: traditional uniforms for hotel staff; dress code for female staff; prayer
time provision for Muslim employees; restricted working hours for Muslim staff during
Ramadan; staff (and guest) adherence to moral codes of conduct; and guest-centric
strategies underpinning service delivery.
2. Private Rooms (bedrooms and bathrooms): separate floors with rooms allocated to
women and families; markers (i.e., Qibla stickers) indicating the direction of Mecca; prayer
mats and copies of the Qur'an; conservative television channels; geometric and non-
figurative patterns of decoration (e.g., calligraphy); beds and toilets positioned away from
facing Mecca; toilets fitted with a bidet shower or health faucet; and halal-friendly
complementary toiletries.
3. Dining and Banqueting Facilities: halal food with no pork; soft beverages only (i.e., no
provision or consumption of alcohol); dining quarter provision for women and families, in
addition to communal area provision; art that does not depict human and animal form; and
no music expressing seductive and controversial messages.
4. Other Public Facilities: no casino or gambling machines; separate leisure facilities
(including swimming pools and spas) for both sexes; female and male prayer rooms
equipped with the Qur'an (also available at the front desk); built-in wudhu facilities located
outside prayer rooms; toilets facing away from Mecca; and art that does not depict human
and animal form.
5. Business Operation: ethical marketing and promotion; corporate social responsibility
strategies (linked to Islamic values) and philanthropic donations; and transactions and
investments in accordance to principles and practices associated with Islamic banking,
accounting and finance.
Considerable scope for the development of Islamic hospitality exists in the Middle East and
elsewhere, but elements of Islamic hospitality have broader implications. ‘Halal food
production is no longer a regional practice but an international requirement,’ and worth an
estimated $US635 billion dollars, 16% of the global food industry. Interesting also is the fact
than 85% of halal food produced is produced in non-Muslim countries.
Halal products clearly have a wider attraction to consumers on the basis of their safety and
sanitary quality. Domino Pizza opened its first halal-only outlet in Birmingham in 2010
(Stephenson, 2014: 157).
Muslim-centric produce is another area of interest. Go to the following website for further
information on Evoca Drinks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evoca_Cola
Eco-halal food is also developing and widening the appeal of products that retain elements
of the Islamic code of hospitality.

What other evidence can you find for the influence of Islamic hospitality in the West or
globally?
T OPIC 3 - T HE E XPERIENCE E CONOMY

LEARNING OUTCOME
 Understand the function of experience in terms of both hospitality customers
(psychological modelling, perception of value) and providers (design, aesthetics,
interpersonal communication).
 Recognize and identify different elements and functions of the experience economy
in a range of contexts.
 Articulate some of the key ways in which management and hospitality industry
workers might implement contemporary experience economy principles using both
existing and hypothetical examples.
Apply experience economy theory to culturally diverse contexts.
 Articulate the benefits and drawbacks faced by ‘experience providers’ in the
hospitality industry.
Readings
Brotherton, B and Wood, RC (2000) ‘Hospitality and Hospitality Management’, in C Lashley
and A Morrison (eds), In Search of Hospitality: Theoretical Perspectives and Debates,
Butterworth –Heinemann, London.
Lashley, C, Morrison, A and Randall, S (2005) ‘More than a service encounter? Insights into
the emotions of hospitality through special meal occasions’, Journal of Hospitality and
Tourism Management, vol. 12, no. 1, p. 80(13).
Pine, J and Gilmore, J (1999) The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre and Every Business a
Stage, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.
Pullman, ME and Gross, MA (2004) ‘Ability of experience design elements to elicit emotions
and loyalty behaviors’, Decision Sciences, vol. 35, no. 3, p. 551(28).
Shaw, S and Ivens, J (2002) Building Great Customer Experiences, Palgrave Macmillan,
Houndmills.
Introduction
The Experience Economy can be defined as:
“The most important part of the service is providing a good service.”
Traditional hotel hospitality has always focussed on experiences: dining, enjoying a drink at
the bar, relaxing in the hotel lobby or one’s room, swimming in the pool, etc. But there are
important reasons why the experience economy has become a buzz word in contemporary
business management circles, taking it beyond the conventionally accepted sense of
experience.
The current commercial emphasis on experience puts the spotlight on the wellbeing of the
customer in all facets of commercial transactions, from web-site bookings to treks in the
Andes. It represents the recognition of the customer as being instrumental to market

development. This demonstrates a marked shift away from conventional thinking about
services and customers, of products and consumers as discreet elements in a greater
economic system.
While it is true that hotels and other hospitality establishments have always provided
experiences, the current importance given to experience has never been factored into
management practice or theory until quite recently. The paradigm shift has thus occurred due
to the failure of traditional economics to take much notice of consumption as a cultural
process.
What makes this new concept of the economy experience different?
The ‘experience economy’, a term brought to notice by theorists Pine and Gilmore (1999) It
recognises differences in the ‘post-modern’ marketplace in particular. It recognises:
 that consumer culture is an enormously important element in global culture
 that the success of commercial ventures of all kinds depends on the experience of
consumers
 that the global marketplace in which the now rapid cultural exchange of ideas and
products, values, desires and emotions takes place has radically altered any simple
understanding of ‘goods and services’ and of ‘producers and consumers’.
The new economy is explained to an extent in this way:
“a ‘dramatic increase in the commoditisation of products across all markets,
driven by the advent (introduction)of the Internet’ has coincided with ‘an
increasingly affluent (wealthy) society which craves (wants) more and more
stimuli as it develops and self-actualises (reaches their personal goals).” (Shaw and
Ivens 2002: 1).
The world has now reached a point where product range and quality has risen greatly, as has
choice, and, therefore, when you have a large range of choices between goods and services
which are all of a similar quality and price, another means of differentiating between these
products and services needs to be identified so that providers and retailers can drive
competition rather than simply hope for the best.
Producing a good product is not enough in a world where all products are relatively good.
This is why the experience of the customer involved in or leading up to the purchase process
has become the new differentiator. Shaw and Ivens go as far as to describe this new
phenomenon as “the customer experience tsunami.” The experience of consumers is a
phenomenon that, once in the spotlight, will provide endless opportunities for product and
service differentiation.
The IT revolution has been of great significance in this process of change, which, importantly,
has shortened the time lag between product innovation and its imitation. This is another
reason why the goal posts of product differentiation (what makes one product appeal more
than another) have had to shift:
Business leaders agree that differentiating solely on the traditional elements such as price,
delivery and lead times is no longer a sustainable business strategy. A new differentiator
needs to be found. The customer experience is that differentiator (emphasis added; Shaw and
Ivens 2002: 2).
EXPERIENCE: EMOTIONS, SENSATIONS, FEELINGS, WELLBEING

We now understand more about the importance of the customer experience being an
emotional one instead of it being based on the notion of buying a product based on value,
the need for it or its function, as it used to be in the past.
In the hospitality industry, like other areas of commercial enterprise, experience is now
considered all-important because adding emotionally-charged, memorable experiences as an
aspect of a customer’s shopping transaction means adding value. Crucially, it adds value
because it adds something meaningful to that person’s life.
Consider the following example:
If I visit a website and enjoy the experience of browsing through a range of goods or services
for sale, and find meaning in the way the information (sound, image, text) is presented to me
then it is this experience that may be the main factor which makes me purchase an item, say
a mobile phone, from among thousands of possible items – even though they all perform
essentially the same function. The product differentiation here now implies the customer
experience.
To take an example from hospitality, although a hotel may be providing a service, for a cost,
how that service is engineered in terms of a customer’s experience (and so measured in terms
of concepts like wellbeing, rather than of monetary value) may be the crucial, if somewhat
intangible, factor which makes that hotel a successful competitor in the hospitality industry.
Experience is defined by Joseph Pine as:”‘the feeling of emotions and sensations as opposed
to thinking; the involvement in what is happening rather than an abstract reflection on an
event.”
When looking at this in terms of hospitality it reveals interesting results, and the so-called
‘soft’ skills, like:
 attention to detail
 attentiveness and warmth (adding something extra ‘not on the menu’ to the
customer’s experience) are proving crucial in the experience economy.
Traditional hospitality is also built on these genuinely human skills (and the ethical desire to
please, to help, to comfort). Modern management practice, however, has until recently
focused more on finance and economic models and technical skills which excluded
recognition of the true value of soft, people skills.
While the technical management skills are important, increasingly it is the soft people skills
which are now making the difference in the marketplace. It is these skills which represent real
investment in the experience economy. A waiter may be trained to carry five plates but how
those five plates are placed on the table and the conversation which the waiter engages in
while doing so puts more emphasis on the relationship with the guest, and it this notion of
relationship which is to the fore in the ever-expanding experience economy. (Lashley,
Morrison and Randall 2005)
Relationships can usefully be broken down into components:
 Communication: speech and action

 Empathy: genuine feeling for the wellbeing of others
 Emotion: ability to actively engage in the present moment, thoughtfully, reflectively,
with feeling; to employ emotional intelligence (EQ) as distinct from IQ (intelligence).
THE NEW SERVICE EXPERIENCE

Typical examples of where the new experience economy is taking root is the boutique hotel,
“try and buy” retail concepts, theme park retail (Toys R Us) and “full experience portfolios”
like that provided by Lego International in their theme parks, websites and user groups
(Pullman and Gross 2004). Other instances in the hospitality context are the Hard Rock Café
franchise, Starbucks, or Planet Hollywood.
These enterprises add experience to what in the case of Starbucks is a customer seeking
coffee. But coffee, as characters in the American sitcom Seinfeld (1992) once debated, is
never “just coffee.” Meeting a friend for a coffee tends to mean at least conversation, often
business, but also perhaps gossip, romance or deeper emotional communication. Starbucks
provide a context in which experience can thrive. The coffee is almost secondary.
This is the logic which governs the customer experience economy. It explains to some extent
why many product advertisements no longer even refer directly to the actual product on sale.
This disconnection between product and advertising image makes sense in the context of the
experience economy because making a connection between meaning and emotion of one
sort or another is more important than providing information about the product on sale.
Brand loyalty, and branding itself, operates in a similar manner in the experience economy.
Designer culture fuelled the branding boom of the late 20th century, but the quality of the
individual brand, designer or label, was in fact less important than:
 the experience of the consumer who bought the product
 the fact that the experience was meaningful.
The relationships which were being developed between customers and brand image at this
time (whether brands made an emotional connection with customers or not) mattered most
because this was what was adding product differentiation, which in turn gave competitive
advantage and marketing edge.
Many factors shape the way in which a customer experiences a given situation, but there are
some key points that form the parameters for more detailed study:
 Experiences are essentially emotional and personal
 Individuals interpret a situation differently based on cultural background
 Mood, sensation and prior experience affect the particular individual’s experience
 Overall context (physical and relational setting) has a defining role. (Adapted from
Pullman and Gross 2004)
Successful experiences are those that the customer finds unique, memorable and sustainable
over time, would want to repeat and build upon and enthusiastically promotes via word of
mouth (Pullman and Gross 2004: 553).
Context
If we consider the individual who does the experiencing, we must equally regard context (ie
where something happens) as the other half of the equation. Pine and Gilmore, pioneer
theorists of the experience economy, suggest that context should be “mutable (ie liable to
change) so each customer can choose the extent of participation and connection with people,
physical objects and technology … [and experience] … a consistent theme and engage all
senses.”
(That is, so that customers can decide how involved they want to be with the experience that
is available to them). This has led theorists to conceive of the “servicescape”, a term used to
describe the environmental/spatial, individual responses (emotional, physiological, cognitive
(ie what a person knows)) and customer to customer and customer to employee interaction
(adapted from Pullman and Gross 2004).
Design
Understanding the dynamic, interrelated elements of the experience economy is the first step
towards engineering customer experiences. Various design factors must be taken into
account when approaching the task of creating and maintaining the quality of the customer
experience.
Engineering is a term suggestive of a comprehensive ‘ground up’ approach to creating, in this
case, an experience, something which we tend to think just happens, but which when we
think consciously about it, never really does. Personal, cultural, physiological and
environmental elements come together to create an experience and recognising this fact is
an important first step toward reflective (ie to consider thoughtfully) professional practice.
The term engineering also suggests that there are tools, plans, methods and applications to
be mastered in order to produce the desired kinds of experience. It implies psychological
models, economic factors, emotional states, management techniques, the understanding of
aesthetics and the ability to interpret these elements in customer behaviour. Engineering also
implies that experiences can be manufactured, that is, created through the application of
methods and techniques.
Importantly, however, such application is thought up in terms of interpersonal performance:
principally as the actions, intentions and emotions which communicate and connect the
industry employee and customer relationship. Experience aptly emphasises the consumer,
whose experience of hospitality is now of central concern to industry engineers. But
experience on the part of the employee, and their ability to adapt and to read a situation is
also integral (ie very important) to the success of the new approach.
T OPIC 4 - C ONSUMING H OSPITALITY

LEARNING OUTCOME
 Articulate and understand the concept of status as it applies to human relationships
in the context of communication and symbolic exchange.
 Explain how and why status is fundamental to consumer culture and the hospitality
industry.
 Contextualise the concept of status, power and the economy of material and
symbolic exchange with reference to a range of different cultural backgrounds and
experiences.
 Understand, articulate and apply theoretical approaches to conspicuous
consumption and status with reference to branding, using examples from a range of
cultural and industry contexts.
Readings
Bourdieu, P (1984) Distinction, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Miller, D (1987) Material Culture and Mass Consumption, Blackwell, Oxford.
Introduction
This Topic presents a number of important terms which will help us to frame the experience
of consumption (as distinct from the consumption of experience, another way of referring to
‘the experience economy’ - see Topic 5).
Consumption is a word used to describe a process whereby goods and services are exchanged
for money. This economic description is useful since much depends on the offsetting of costs
of production against the cost of consumption. Indeed, consumption often appears in the
same context as production, as in economics. However when we consider the cultural
economy of production and consumption, we discover that all production involves
consumption. Goods which are manufactured ‘consume’ resources (to consume literally
means to use up or destroy). Furthermore, and importantly for our purposes, consumption
also involves production.
Consumption is an act of objectification through the medium of goods. When we buy
something we appropriate it as an object which has meaning for us personally. Consuming is
an extremely important mode because through it we objectify ourselves and our world. We
create images of ourselves and of the world through what and how we consume.
Economists have traditionally paid little or no attention to this aspect, but today it has become
essential to recognize that the production of cultural and symbolic values and meaning is itself
a significant economic driver in the contemporary marketplace, fundamental to
communication, and creating “… a dynamic interplay between the worlds of business and
consumption [which] results in a plethora of relationships …” (Miller 1987).
Contemporary consumers are sophisticated manipulators of cultural signs who now ‘call the
shots’ with respect to production, product innovation and service provision. The fact that
consumption now drives the experience economy highlights the role of meaning and meaning
construction because both are absolutely vital in the establishment of those relationships
which sustain this new business ethos.
This distinction between the symbolic and material function of objects is therefore a key
factor in understanding contemporary consumption practices, and the global hospitality
industry as a part of it. Understanding something of the way in which we, as social beings,
‘read’ the cultures in which we act is essential for anyone entering into reflective professional
practice in the field of hospitality. It makes the personal public in ways which emphasise
people skills, life skills and personal experience, as well as a ‘streetwise’ sensibility which can
draw on that experience to initiate, encourage and maintain meaningful relationships in the
business environment.
Since hospitality is based on relationships, an understanding of how communication takes
place on a number of levels is important in the customer/service provider relationship. It now
outweighs any simple rendering of hospitality as the provision of a service for a cost.
Hospitality provides consumers with a quality experience, which includes the provision of
goods and services, but which is fundamentally about symbolic interaction, communication
and relationships:
Goods and
services
Symbolic
interaction,
communication
and relationships
The hospitality
experience
MATERIAL AND SYMBOLIC USES OF OBJECTS

Social power, wealth and status are all accorded by means of everyday consumption practices
which incorporate both symbolic communication and material transactions. This has been the
case for a very long time. The power of kings was invested symbolically in the crown they
wore. Their wealth was represented by their clothes and castles and by the rare and expensive
foods they often ate. Today status and prestige are still communicated through the clothes
we wear, the foods we eat, the cars we drive, the houses we live in, the books we read -
almost everything has a cultural meaning which can add to our own personal cultural capital.
To have something called style means that someone is essentially very good at
communicating a particular sense of style. Style cannot, however, exist without an audience
to confer judgments related to the worth or validity of a particular style. To say ‘that is stylish’
implies there are already existing social judgements about what is and isn’t stylish. Fashion,
in this context, is the engine room of change in the style market.
The fact that fashions change (rather often it seems in the contemporary world) tells us that
clothes or cars or dishes do not inherently possess a style that somehow remains in vogue for
all time, but that it competes with numerous other styles which are being invented all the
time, the relative value of which is conferred upon them by human beings.
Historically, the world of objects - or, to put that another way, all the products which humans
create to use and enjoy, to own and display - play two essential roles, a material one, and a
symbolic one.
We know this is true when we look, for example, at acts of hospitality in the pre-modern
world. ‘The standing salt’, an often gilded or solid silver container for salt, made in the shape
of a tower or other architectural form, was in a material sense simply a receptacle for the salt.
But the symbolic power of the standing salt was to act as a social marker of rank (only those
above the salt had the right to use it, those below could only hope it may be offered to them)
and to express the status and social power of its owner, probably a king or nobleman at least.
Even the actual salt itself, a condiment (its material function), was also, more significantly, a
powerful symbol of hospitality. To be offered salt at the table was a symbolic gesture of
hospitality which indicated friendship and acceptance.
Specific foods are also often symbols. Bread or rice are good examples. The word ‘companion’
literally means to share bread, and while bread is clearly a food, ‘companion’ expresses how
bread has an equally important social meaning: sharing bread symbolizes a basic act of
hospitality. Rice, milk, fruit, fish or game: if we think about these items, we automatically
ascribe some meaning and significance to them. Each may also serve to symbolize something
different in the context of hospitality. To offer someone rice is symbolically different to
offering them game. The cultural significance of food items therefore potentially adds great
complexity to any symbolic map of meanings we might decide to construct.
The history of how goods and objects and the things which people acquire confer status - be
it clothes, houses, foods, just about anything and everything - is an old story, common to all
cultures although vastly different in terms of each particular culture’s own history. It is
however always similar in that it is a story of wealth and power and of humanity’s ability to
transform the natural world into objects which confer status. Extravagance, ostentatious
displays of wealth, and even the squandering of wealth (sometimes called potlatch - the
wanton destruction of goods as a public demonstration of one’s power and wealth) also takes
many forms in different cultures.
In general, when one has the power to accrue a mass of objects, man-made or natural, and
does so, this tends to communicate a sense of that person’s power and wealth and establish
their status. This then is an essential element of building social distinctions.
All societies require order. The symbolic power of objects, the status they confer, and the
manner in which they are able to publicly communicate shared social meanings both serve to
establish and maintain order in any given culture.
Kings and queens, emperors and empresses, statesmen and the nobility, lords, governors, all
those who held positions of power in the past, also used the wealth which often went with
elevated social position to confirm their status by acts of hospitality, and to keep those
‘below’ them ‘in their place’. Huge parties, for example, which included elaborate displays of
food and wine on a vast scale, were designed to impress as well as feed. Such feasts had the
symbolic power to dazzle the guests with the display of wealth, reminding them of how much
less power they themselves had.
When communicating with each other, whether by reference to objects like food, or
expressed by the clothes we wear, we are always dealing with symbolic meanings: both
objects and ideas. The symbolic power of an Armani suit, a Mercedes Benz, a way of speaking,
a gesture, manners during a meal, or the aesthetic detail of a hotel interior, potentially
communicate a wealth of information which may equally influence an act of consumption (at
point of purchase) or shape one’s opinion of another.
We can understand this in the contemporary context when we consider the concept of
branding and the power of the brand. Clothes which have so-called designer labels can sell
for significantly higher prices simply because the items are identified with the brand, not so
much with the actual quality of the garment itself (its material quality).
Copies of an original brand item are certainly more plentiful than the real thing, and ‘knock-
offs’ of Gucci, Levis, Prada, Rolex or almost any other big name items you care to mention are
copied and on-sold for a fraction of the original’s value. Yet what they deliver, in addition, is
significant status to their owners. Brands are nothing but signs. The McDonalds’ arches, the
Nike swoosh, the Hilton’s logo: all communicate a sense of status and quality. They say to the
customer, when you see this sign, expect this - or that.
In the contemporary hospitality context it is very important to consider that when we
consume, we enter into relationships which serve to frame the experience of consumption.
Increasingly, it has been recognised that the contemporary consumer makes choices with
regard to products and services based on a range of criteria related to their perceived or
expected relationship with the thing(s) they are purchasing and with those they interact with
when purchasing or enjoying a service, like a stay in a designer hotel, for example.
To consume is not merely to buy. Whether or not a consumer actually purchases a product
or service may be uppermost in the minds of producers or retailers. To consumers, however,
what matters most is how the product or service becomes part of their lives and their
experience, during and after that point of sale. Consuming is less about objects and amounts,
and more about subjective lives, and the negotiation of meaning.
CONSPICUOUS AND CONTEMPORARY CONSUMPTION

The modern Western world was the first to industrialise and by so doing made many more
goods (from everyday foods to exotic foreign imports) available to many more people. This
naturally had an enormous impact not only on the material aspect of life but also on the
symbolic role of objects.
The rise of the middle classes, which occurred with growing force from the 18th through the
19th centuries in Europe and America, and which now continues apace today in countries like
China and India, is a process whereby a whole new strata of society emerges.
Hard-working, well-educated, urban-based business people, by definition the middle class,

have become the dominant social class all over the world. With a new ‘class’ (a word we also
use to describe status itself, as in, someone looking classy) came new styles and taste, and
active participation in what became known by the end of the 19th century as conspicuous
consumption: buying goods which conferred prestige upon their owner, became a new way
of life.
At first the middle classes wished to emulate the styles of royalty, who for centuries had set
the fashions. Gradually, but with gathering pace as the middle class emerged, styles and
fashions were increasingly invented. Where fashion had been set ‘from above,’ it gradually
emerged as an industry in its own right. Hospitality would follow suit. By the end of the 19th
century the first big international hotel chains were established.
It was now industry and never again nobility that would set the standards in taste, hospitality,
fashion and food. Staying in a grand hotel is of course an experience on a par with what royalty
might expect. But instead of waiting to be invited by a wealthy host, hospitality can now be
bought.
Much has been written about the ways in which people confer status or class upon
themselves. The French theorist Pierre Bourdieu wrote an influential book on the subject
which he called Distinction. This was an apt title since we might think of the ways in which
people construct themselves as social beings as a process whereby they distinguish
themselves from others. When we stay in a hotel one of the things which we like to
experience is to feel special; to feel different; to arrive at the idea that we are experiencing
something unique from everyone else and even that the memory of the stay will provide an
ongoing means of distinction since, in the future, recalling that experience will continue to
distinguish us and the experience we have had.
The hospitality industry is in the business of making people feel special, at the very least
looked after, pampered, and taken notice of. Status is thus automatically conferred on
someone who stays in an expensive hotel, since having the money to afford such an
establishment confers its own status.
But today we need to remember that globalising forces have altered the cultural landscape
somewhat so that status and the way in which it is conferred have also altered. No objective
value can be placed on objects because symbolically they all have equal power to signify.
By massively increasing the production of goods on one hand and the conspicuous
consumption of them on the other, consumer culture has levelled the playing field to an
extent, facilitating access to status once privileged to a relatively small number of social elites.
In the global context, status has become a concept which, like many others, has to be
rethought because there is no longer a single process which determines status, certainly not
one that applies cross-culturally.
McDonalds is low status in the US, UK and in Australia, but relatively high status in China.
Interestingly, this has less to do with the foods themselves on offer - the burgers are pretty
much the same - and more to with the symbolic role of McDonalds. Because McDonalds
symbolizes American culture in different ways, eating McDonalds in China, if you are Chinese,
can confer a type of status quite different from that of other cultural contexts.
Style can therefore often be reactive and controversial in so far as it challenges the cultural
capital invested in established styles and fashions by representing something different or
even rebellious. Wearing blue jeans in the 1960s was an act of cultural defiance which
transgressed the established codes of good taste in dress, for example. To many young people
jeans were the height of good taste, simply because they were not what ‘the older generation’
chose to wear.
A levelling of the cultural power of individual styles has taken place in the contemporary
context. Social sanctions and judgements as to the ‘correct’ way to dress, or eat, or behave in
public, for example, have softened to the extent that a new tolerance has emerged. One’s
own personal style can be quite different from others (it can speak a different language in
terms of what it communicates) without jeopardising the power of the symbolic capital it
expresses to others. The personal ability to communicate status, or positive self-image,
typically expressed by the clothes one wears, has become far more individualised, and no
longer conforms to broad cultural tastes.
In the 19th century, Western middle class men wore hats. To not wear a hat (or to not take
your hat off in the presence of a woman) was socially unacceptable. Today such rules no
longer apply in such a generalised way.
We can see this reflected in the use of the popular expression “whatever”, a term which
expresses neutrality or indifference to what another may express in terms of preference, or
style, or in status-seeking behaviour.
Today there is less to prove in this sense than in the days when the middle classes strove to
establish their social status. Today anyone with the money can buy a fancy watch or a nice
meal, or a deluxe hotel room. The social language of status is somewhat muted in this context.
Of primary importance in the hospitality industry context is the quality of the individual’s
experience. Today, style is relative, context-determined and not in any way fixed to
unchanging standards. The emphasis is far less on social rules and standards of behaviour or
dress, which in the past conferred status. Now the emphasis is on the self, the individual, and
their personal demands.
Encouraging individualisation in terms of making more choice available represents the
greatest potential differentiation of products and services in the hospitality industry today.
T OPIC 5 - E MOTIONAL I NTELLIGENCE

LEARNING OUTCOME
 Understand Emotional Intelligence as an important element of hospitality
management and employee satisfaction
Key concepts:
 Using EI to improve manager/employee relationships/job satisfaction
Introduction
None mentioned
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
Relationships can usefully be described in terms of key components:
 Communication: speech and action Empathy: genuine feeling for the wellbeing of
others
 Emotion: ability to actively engage in the present moment, thoughtfully, reflectively,
with feeling.
Communication means all speech acts but of course also ‘body language’ and attitudes to
others as expressed through all facets of one’s bodily and verbal responses, attitudes, moods,
feelings, etc. In the experience economy, this broader definition of ‘communication’ takes on
particular importance because all aspects of how we communicate add or detract from the
customer’s perceived value of hospitality experiences.
In the past, management placed most of the emphasis on rational models of management,
which tended to rely on abstract data like statistics, to help ‘paint a picture’ of the realities of
doing business in a particular market and context. Far less emphasis was placed on the
relationships, both between customers and organisations and between employees and
management within the organisation, which helped support that business. In this sense
business had two faces, one public, the other essentially private, that is, one visible the other
not visible. Today, the trend is not only toward ‘transparency’ but toward creating closer links
between employees, managers, and customers.
These changes, which have come into effect in recent years, flow of course from the
recognition that the customer/consumer now has a preeminent place as a driver of the
market.
Emotional labour
‘Emotional labour is closely associated with the delivery of services, most notably
perhaps those in which service encompasses a commercial transaction. The link is
so close that the quality of the service delivery, of which the display of positive
emotions is an important component, is increasingly being associated with the
transaction … [t]his is especially likely to be the case as services assume greater
prominence in the economy and as customer expectations of service quality and
delivery are ratcheted upwards.’ (Bryman, 2004) pg 105
Emotional labour describes a type of behaviour which is proving popular in the public domain
and in commercial contexts. Emotional labour adds a valuable component of differentiation
to goods and services. As a result it has had a positive impact in service industries (including
hospitality) and the business community at large.
Investing in the emotional economy also means creating an emotional bond between an
organisation and an employee. This potentially delivers strong secure commitment, a good
work ethic and an emotionally rewarding experience for employees, employers and
customers alike. A strong secure commitment based on real emotions ensures business
success in the new experience economy.

Reflect on the increasing power of the customer by considering how social networking, for
example, potentially affects business success. If too many poor reviews for a business
appear on a site like www.TripAdvisor.com for example, hotel bookings can slump and
restaurants can get less custom.
Adding value to products and services, wherever possible, builds an emotional connection
with customers and is something that is fast becoming basic to doing business in the
contemporary world. Building strong bonds has also flowed through to management and how
it manages relationships internally as much as externally.
Among the theories that have approached new ways to build better relationships is the
theory of Emotional Intelligence (EI), as distinct from Intelligence, measured by the IQ
(Intelligence Quotient) test.
“Traditionally, the understanding of intelligence, relative to human beings’ life and
work outcomes, largely used to focus on the adoptive use of cognition [reasoning
power, ‘logical thinking’]. Recently however, researchers have expanded the
boundary of intelligence to include not only cognitive abilities but also experience
and expression of emotions” (Cichy, Cha, & Kim, 2007: 40).
EI has gained importance in terms of the emphasis now being given to customer service and
relationship building, and importantly, has been linked to leadership and management:
“Many empirical studies show that the individual’s EI is what makes the difference
in academic success, job satisfaction and work commitment, management
performance and, even, quality of customer service experience. Most noticeably,
researchers have emphasised the role of individuals’ EI in the organisational
workplace. In particular, the research has highlighted the importance of EI in
organisations, especially for leaders. For example, previous research has shown
that components of EI have contributed to effective leadership. It has been argued
that emotional intelligence quotient (EQ) is a better predictor of leadership success
than traditional measures of cognitive intelligence, such as intellectual intelligence
quotient (IQ)… EI plays an important role in leadership effectiveness in multiple
ways…a leader high in EI is able to evaluate accurately how his or her employees
feel, and to utilize this information to influence employees’ emotions, so that they
can be supportive of organisational goals” (Cichy, Cha, & Kim, 2007: 40).
EI’s importance with regard to the management of hospitality employees is worth noting:
“Leaders must be connected with other people in the organisation, not only
regarding technical matters but also on an emotional basis. Leaders who do not
recognize this are not emotionally connected with the people. In fact, effective
leaders are expected to coach their staff members in enhancing their level of EI, in
contributing increased job performance, and in adding to their psychological well-
being in the organisation. Presumably when the internal customers are satisfied,
the external customers will not be far behind” (Cichy et al., 2007: 51).
Measuring EI has been an important means to determine how management can adapt its
leadership style and how employees can be reviewed in terms of the benefits EI can produce.
The four basic dimensions of EI are:
1. The ability to perceive accurately, appraise, and express emotion;
2. The ability to access and/or generate feelings when they facilitate thought;
3. The ability to understand emotions and emotional knowledge;
4. The ability to regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth

(Wolfe & Kim, 2013: 42)
EI tests can be run to ascertain the level of emotional engagement among management and
employees. Questionnaire items, for example, utilize categories such as:
‘Self-Awareness, Self-Leadership, and Self-Actualisation are “I am able to keep

in touch with my own feelings as they take place,” “I am able to use awareness
of my feelings to positively influence my behavior,” and “I focus on what is
practical and avoid unrealistic expectations,” respectively… Empathy and the
Awareness of Others are “I am sensitive to other people’s emotions,” and “I can
read the feelings of other people,” respectively. An example for the
Relationships construct is “I am effective in dealing with conflict in relationships
with others.”’ (Cichy et al., 2007: 45)

Consider the fact that ‘hospitality organisations suffer from high employee turnover.’
(Wolfe & Kim, 2013: 179). Make suggestions about how managers can better connect with
employees on the emotional level and how this can beneficially flow through to customers.
You might like to develop your own questionnaire aimed at staff and/or management.
Research this exercise by finding out more about EI (online / reference books / texts /
journals) and how it is tested.
T OPIC 6 - C USTOMER R ELATIONSHIP M ANAGEMENT

LEARNING OUTCOME
 Understand and apply principles of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and
eCRM within the context of customer focus responsibilities.
Key concepts:
 Professional skills and knowledge requirements (customer focus, CRM)
Introduction
Moving on from EI, we also need to consider CRM, which is the term used to describe the
technologies and systems used to manage the relationships organisations build with their
customers.
“CRM is a comprehensive business and marketing strategy that integrates
technology, process and business activities around the customer” (Ordóñez de
Pablos, Tennyson, & Zhao, 2012: 28).
“The goal of CRM is to optimize revenue, profitability, and customer satisfaction
by organising the business’s processes toward providing high quality service to the
customer” (Ordóñez de Pablos et al., 2012: 29).
Hospitality employees can be involved in many levels of customer engagement, from face to
face to providing call centre advice. With the emphasis now being on the customer, retaining
those customers also relies more and more on the extras that a business can provide. These
extra components of the overall product or service profile are often referred to in general as
added values.
At the centre of CRM practices, therefore, is the imperative to choose added values related
to products and services, which build, retain and maintain customer relationships that are
already based on customer insight (gained via feedback). Communicating with customers and
receiving their feedback also guides customisation of products and services and provides new
opportunities for service distribution.
The key objectives of CRM are to shape customers’ perceptions of the organisation and its
products through:
 identifying customers
 creating customer knowledge
 building committed customer relationships
The ultimate aim is to create loyal customers based on relationships that flourish over a long
period. CRM can refer to the technologies used to create better relationships (ICT), but in
general to any system that facilitate higher retention rates, better marketing, facilitated
transactions and lower transaction and service costs. Optimising contact with customers by
assisting them to easily provide feedback information about their experience of services is
obviously an important foundation for effective CRM.

Read the two ‘spiels’ (above and below) from a brand building marketing business,
advertising its ‘relationship management software’ clientele.
(Source:http://www.brandintegrity.com/customer-experience-management-solutions.aspx)
There are some differences depending on whether it’s large or small hotels or businesses.
‘CRM in small hotels frequently adopts the owner’s/manager’s personal style and flair,
whereas in large properties CRM is usually viewed as a way for formalising processes,
enhancing customer service and reducing costs.’ (Sigala, 2005: 409)

Put yourself in the position of a regional hotel/tourism business that might need to employ
a company such as this. Describe what your particular needs are and why the customer
engagement program seems like a good idea.
ECRM
eCRM is essentially the database technologies that offer opportunities for interaction with
the customer. With eCRM the organisation can learn more about the customer, through its
own systems but also third party platforms like social media (Facebook pages, etc.). eCRM fall
into three main categories:
 operational (automated sales)
 analytical (analysis of large amounts of customer related data)
 collaborative (reducing complexities to collect better customer data)
All components aim to increase customer satisfaction and the quality of customer service.
The most popular eCRM applications include:
 database marketing
 telephone call centres
 web marketing
Email, websites containing product reviews, data mining are also implied. The total cost of
implementing a eCRM process can be substantial and while the promise for increasing sales
and customer-brand loyalty has potential there are also risks. The process needs to managed
carefully and the data interpreted in ways that recognise potential business solutions to
customer needs without losing sight of the bottom line capacity of the business to sustain
CRM and eCRM processes. (Ordóñez de Pablos et al., 2012)

Research CRM and eCRM online and in relevant texts. Map what you think should be
included in the process of managing customer relations. Use examples from hospitality to
make suggestions about improving systems and processes.
T OPIC 7 - A ESTHETIC L ABOUR

LEARNING OUTCOME
 Understand the meaning and application of aesthetic labour in the hospitality
workplace
Key concepts:
 Nature of aesthetic literacy

 Aesthetic labour burden
Introduction
‘Aesthetic labour’ as a concept can be traced back to ‘dress for success’ manuals and job
advertisements that stipulate attractiveness as a selection criterion for service jobs in the
retail and hospitality industry’ (Sheane, 2012: 150).
“Aesthetic labour is essential to the hospitality industry. Whether in restaurants, hotels, or
cafes, customers can experience the aesthetic expression of the service organisation” (Tsaur
& Tang, 2013: 19) “…it is increasingly recognised that control of employees’ attitudes and
appearance are seen as legitimate managerial strategies for service companies in the name
of customer care and service quality.”
AESTHETIC LABOUR (AL)

Aesthetic Labour (AL) describes the physical attributes of an employee within the context of
a ‘look’ which suits the image of the company, product, service, or all three and is another
important component of the contemporary hospitality industry’s labour economy.
AL is very much aligned with conventional priorities set by the hospitality industry and that
meet widely accepted professional standards: ‘a study of almost 100 hospitality industry
human resource professionals in the USA reveals that their two top hiring criteria are pride
in appearance and good attitude’ (Nickson et al., 2005, cited in Sheane, 2012: 150).
AL is a process involving front-line employees in the hospitality industry being regarded as
the medium through which companies interact with customers and as a source of service
differentiation. Managers increasingly depend on employees to maintain high quality of
service in terms of aesthetic labour.
But aesthetic labour implies a conscious recognition of the value of appearance and attitude
as work role attributes. It is therefore a performative aspect of the role an employee takes
responsibility for. When serving customers, the appearance and the speaking voice of front-
line employees, for example, conveys an aesthetic expression that can be beneficial to the
corporate image. The hospitality business sector thus relies on the pleasing appearances and
cheerful voices of its front-line employees to:
 provide customers with the experience of quality service to create a unique
corporate image
 enhance its competitive advantage
Organisations can use various measures or methods such as dress code, grooming
specifications, adjustment of tone or aesthetic training to create a pleasing service experience
for customers.
Style, behaviour, as well as appearance, can also be understood as being broader components
of aesthetic labour. In retail, hospitality and banking, to cite typical examples, a service-led
orientation has become a major emphasis and a prospective employee’s dress, body-type or
shape, attitude or personal style are therefore important ‘aesthetic’ considerations that are
being taken seriously by managers and business leaders (adapted from Tsaur & Tang, 2013).
While this does seem to suggest, potentially at least, an element of discrimination (see
Nickson, Warhurst and Watt 2000: 41) the importance of these attributes cannot be
underestimated in the experience economy.
The image and style-conscious Western world, in particular, is driving demand for aesthetic
labour which is expected to grow considerably in coming years. Appearance should not simply
be seen as a ‘superficial’ component of an employee’s profile and while aesthetic labour
seems to distinguish perhaps unfairly between the worker who looks ‘right’ and the one who
doesn’t, there is also a general and far less discriminatory emphasis on looking your best and
tailoring your skills and performance to the given context.
Training in aesthetic labour skills is now on the higher education and vocational learning
agenda and potentially should be a means of making access to jobs more equitable for
disparate social groups such as college students or inner city unemployed young people, for
example (Nickson, Warhurst and Watt 2000).
Theorist Tom Baum describes aesthetic labour as follows:
‘To the requirements of emotional labour and emotional intelligence in hospitality

can be added the skills demands of … aesthetic labour, the skills required to look,
sound and behave in a manner that is compatible with the requirements of the job
and with the expectations of your customers. In many cases, aesthetic labour
involves staff demonstrating the ability to respond to fashion and trend
imperatives in the consumer marketplace in a way that is socially exclusive of
many groups and cultures within society. Aesthetic labour is about appearance,
but can also be underpinned by cultural cache, the ability of front-line staff to
understand and engage culturally with their customers on terms dictated by the
latter. Thus, service staff in some hospitality contexts (luxury hotels, style bars and
nightclubs) need to be able to make informed conversation with their guests or
clients about politics, music, sport and almost any other imaginable topic, often
from an international perspective. This requirement presupposes a certain level of
prior education and cultural exposure as well as a commitment to remain up-to-
date in these areas’ (Baum, 2006: 128).
Considered as an aspect of the hospitality experience, AL is positioned with EL at a core level.
For employees, it is crucial then to consider emotional and aesthetic literacies that are
essential to their performance in maintaining an enjoyably close and personal relationship
with their clients and managers.
“…to intuit the client’s desires by both monitoring the body and face of the client for signs of
approval, satisfaction, trust and excitement – or not – and monitoring their own expressions
of enthusiasm and confidence accordingly. The ability to read these emotional signs and
respond effectively and appropriately is emotional literacy” (Sheane, 2012) 155.
Social stereotypes are constantly to be negotiated and in some instance overcome in order
to be able to confidently, convincingly and empathetically bond with customers and
managers. Ultimately, aesthetic labour is one that invests in identity, shaping and adjusting
one’s own presentation of self to meet the needs of their professional role in a service
industry. Who one ‘is’ is no longer as important as who one can fashion oneself to be. There
is a responsibility to perform oneself and remain authentically an individual, but a
professional as well.

“…there is active debate in the USA and other countries such as Australia, as to whether
“lookism” should take its place along with sexism, racism and ageism as one of the
potentially discriminatory aspects of the contemporary workplace” (Nickson, Warhurst, &
Dutton, 2005) 206.
Read the above quote and then take a point of view either in agreement, or disagreement,
with the notion that ‘lookism’ should take its place along with sexism, racism and ageism
as one of the potentially discriminatory aspects of the contemporary workplace.
Use the hospitality industry as the professional setting. Explain what you understand
‘lookism’ to be and provide evidence to support your viewpoint. You can use images if you
wish.
AESTHETIC LABOUR BURDEN
The burden of aesthetic labour mode (Tsaur & Tang, 2013) 23.

The burden of aesthetic labour refers to the various stresses and strains that employees
face when engaging in aesthetic labour as required by the organisation.
Answer the following questions as if you were doing so for an employer.
 In your previous experience with aesthetic recruitment and selection, what kind
of situations related to aesthetic labour caused you to feel stressed or burdened?
Please an example in in detail.
 In your previous experience with training, what kind of situations related to
aesthetic labour caused you to feel stressed or burdened? Please describe an
example in detail.
 In your previous experience with service encounter, what kind of situations
related to aesthetic labour caused you to feel stressed or burdened? Please
describe an example in detail.
 In your previous experience with off-work hours, what kind of situations related
to aesthetic labour caused you to feel stressed or burdened? Please describe an
example in detail. (Adapted from Tsaur & Tang, 2013: 26)
T OPIC 8 - C REATING H OSPITALITY E XPERIENCES I N A

G LOBAL M ARKET
LEARNING OUTCOME
 Understand ‘the hospitality experience’ in the global context
Key concepts:
 Globalisation
 Employee Adaptability
Introduction
Contemporary hospitality is affected by the cultural context in which services are provided
and that impact on industry and customers differently. The perspectives of hospitality
providers must take into account ‘host values, attitudes and beliefs towards space, privacy
and acceptable guest behaviours which differ between cultures, like Western and Middle
Eastern forms of hospitality, for example. (Lynch 2005: 13). Contexts are different but so are
customers’ cultural attitudes, and personal behaviour and character.
Creating successful hospitality experiences requires the integration of theoretical
understanding, life knowledge and reflective practice in a versatile, adaptable performance
of hospitality. The growing complexity of inter-cultural relations within a broader context of
globalised commercial culture has made negotiation, one-to-one relationships and the
friendly smile of understanding, remarkably powerful forces for successful business
operations. The ability to create hospitality experiences or to be part of their delivery now
involves more ‘soft’ skills and the conscious management of one’s self as ‘a citizen of the
world.’
Meaningful relationships are still the basis of hospitality but meaning can only be shared and
enjoyed when communication works on a number of levels:
 aesthetic
 emotional
 intellectual
 material (body language)
 contextual (places and spaces: restaurants/hotels/cafes, inside/outside/refined ‘high
end’/ ‘rustic’ or ‘easy-going’/formal/informal).
An integrated conceptual, practical, ethical and economic understanding is required for the
different kinds of performative labour addressed in earlier topics, including emotional and
aesthetic labour.
CRM and the management of customer-employee relationships also act as powerful product
and service differentiators within the experience economy.
GLOBALISATION AND THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

Globalisation
Globalisation is a term which has been used in recent decades to describe the rapid changes
to society, culture and the economy. Certainly the ‘global’ in global-isation refers to the world
as a whole (a globe), but more to the fact that ‘the world’ as such has become newly
interconnected by means of powerful telecommunication and distribution technologies.
Skype (video-call) a friend on the other side of the world in an instant, buy a book online in
Australia and have the book arrive from the US only days later, or book a hotel room that you
can preview on a website and book and pay for from virtually anywhere in the world using a
mobile phone – this is globalisation: a technology-enhanced process that better connects
people, increases distribution, and provides virtually instantaneous communication and
exchange of data. Globalisation always implies the use of technology to communicate and to
move goods and people around.
Global business would be impossible without the ability to process financial transactions
online (including the management of the electronic exchange of different currencies).
Millions of daily business transactions could not take place without the globalisation of
business culture and the common understanding of practices and the sharing of common
language that this demands.
As never before on the same scale, globalisation also implies the mixing of cultures
(behaviours, attitudes, values). With all the business being done, all those goods being
shipped, and all those tourists and travellers moving around the globe, the ideas and values
of one group of people are readily exchanged, shared, or at times, also resisted.
Critics of globalisation, as a process that has been spearheaded by business interests, say that
it is of most benefit only to ‘globalised corporations’ because as it draws profit from ‘the
global market’ but detrimentally effects the systems it depends on.
Local supply of resources and ‘free trade agreements,’ for example, can cause problems for
local economies and cultures and for the environment. ‘Global giants’ like McDonalds, Nike,
Samsung or Walmart, for example, can sometimes support unsustainable practices including
poor treatment of employees. Allegations against Samsung, for example, have recently
highlighted the treatment of workers at its huge Amazon-based plant in Brazil.
Currently, China is the world’s largest producer of consumer goods, but this global hub of
production is ‘out of sight and out of mind’ for the billions of consumers around the world
who enjoy the products but do not always consider the workplace conditions and treatment
of the employees who create them or the environmental cost of production.
Another alleged detrimental effect of globalisation is identified as ‘standardisation.’
Globalised products (hotel chains could be an example) are often seen as standardised
products that reduce difference in the market, compete with and often drive out local
business that do have the same ‘cultural cache’ or economic capacity to compete with ‘the
big players’ in the market. In the context cultural diversity, which is an asset in the tourism
and hospitality market, is not necessarily helped by globalisation.

Research online for stories and other evidence highlighting problems with the effects of
globalisation in the hospitality industry. You might consider issues like local resistance to
the development of new resorts or hotel complexes, for example. What arguments are
being used to resist globalisation?

1. Describe a culture you know (your own would be fine) in terms of how it has been
affected by ‘global culture.’ This could be done by looking at food and diet, for
example. How much has American fast food made an impact?
2. Find other examples from the hospitality industry of ‘standardisation’ and suggest
whether you think this is desirable or detrimental to the brand or business you
are considering.
3. What measures could a global hotel or restaurant chain do to maintain a balance
between standardized offerings of products and services and others that reflect
local culture, products and services?
Delivering Global Hospitality

Understanding globalisation and what it means provides a background for considering how
hospitality can best be delivered in this context. Consumer experiences now drive business,
in part because customer opinions, desires and needs are more accessible more easily
expressed and shared by potentially many more people as a result of social networking. The
ability of businesses to react to customer preferences has as a result of this globalisation of
communication, as has the ability of customers to demand greater levels of service and quality
of experience.
Hospitality managers and employees in new locations need to plan in order to respond,
quickly, to major and often rapid change that can affect global markets and global culture. In
this context, hospitality is not only an industry, but also a highly mobile, marketable concept
that can be operationalised in different ways to meet the needs of an evolving market.
What sort of employee are you or will you be?
Characteristics of Generation Y Employees
“An employee’s commitment to any industry will be determined by their perceptions and
attitudes towards working in the industry as well as the types of jobs available in the
industry” (Both from Richardson, 2010: 183 & 181).

Visit the website: http://www.globalhospitality.com/
Search through the various tabs and familiarise yourself with the job offerings in the
industry. Find a management position that you aspire to.
What skills, experience and knowledge, in particular, do you think you will need in order
to achieve that employment goal?
Employers
Generation Y: Echo Boomers or Millenniums
Born: 1977-2000
Consider the following report based on surveys of Gen Y hospitality students:
“When it comes to relationships with their managers as almost two-thirds of

respondents (60.7%) claim there is not a good relationship between managers and
staff in the industry. More than half of the respondents believed that managers
did not act in a fair manner when dealing with staff (56.5%), and that managers
did not reward staff for doing a good job (50.6%). Similarly, just under half
declared that managers do not act respectfully towards employees (46.7%) and
that managers did not put great effort into ensuring employees were satisfied with
their jobs (48.2%). When assessing their manager’s level of education, again more
than half of the respondents (54.6%) state that most managers do not have an
academic background in tourism or hospitality, while almost two thirds (60.1%)
state that managers are jealous of graduates with academic qualifications”
(Richardson, 2010: 190).
The hospitality industry is one of the world’s largest employers and a significant global trader
in foreign currency, yet at the same time, hotel and restaurant culture is also often a focal
point of local culture and local hospitality, personal service, relationship building and one-on-
one communication.
Hospitality can therefore play a key role in cultural exchange on a global scale, mixing
elements of the local and global to the benefit of customers, making hospitality an exciting
but challenging industry in which to work. From the employee perspective, mobility is a key
term that describes globalisation (the rapid exchange of information, peoples and goods) but
also the ability of individual employees (in the hospitality industry) to react and change in
ways that can deliver outcomes for themselves and their employer.
MOBILITIES
Over the last ten to fifteen years, there has been significant movement away from seeing the
world “as a cultural mosaic, of separate pieces with hard, well-defined edges” towards
acknowledging a world which is more appropriately concerned with “the diverse mobilities
of peoples, objects, images, information and wastes: and of the complex interdependencies
between, and social consequences of, these diverse mobilities” (Duncan, Scott, & Baum,
2013: 4).
The hospitality sector is involved directly in the global flow and exchange of both material
objects (things), services, and also of intangible elements like emotional and personal
investment in relationships, for example, understanding the needs of others of all ages, from
all walks of life and from many different cultures.
These new demands pose issues for employees who are charged with the task of dealing with
customers within the complex context of globalised business and culture:
‘from an industry perspective [there are] difficulties in attracting and retaining
suitable employees to work in tourism and hospitality, where consumer
expectations are evolving, complex and demanding’ (Duncan et al., 2013: 2)
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE: ‘EMPOWERED RESPONSIBILITY’

How employees meet the needs of this demanding context (global hospitality) is not solely
up to them. Empowering employees is a role of management:
“In recent years, scholars … have written about the benefits to hospitality
organisations of empowering employees... the idea of empowering employees is
to encourage them to be responsible for their own performance and its
development…and to believe that empowerment will also encourage staff to best
utilize their skills and strive to increase their skill set. It is apparent… [however]
…that tourism and hospitality managers are not empowering their staff to make
decisions relating to their jobs” (Richardson, 2010: 191).
In this context, ‘empowered responsibility’ is a concept used to describe an ideal for
employees in the hospitality industry. It implies the fundamental ethos of hospitality and its
roots in empathy for others, ethical conduct, understanding and goodwill. It brings together
an overarching personal motivation with emotional input, personality, cultural knowledge,
psychological orientation, taste, personal experience, ethical values and sense of belonging.
All of these can be integrated into ongoing daily communication and reflective practice.
But there does need to be a support network: ‘unlike in previous generations where it was
the responsibility of the organisation to provide training, education, and planning for the
individual, currently these responsibilities [now] lie with the individual’(Richardson, 2010:
183)
T OPIC 9 - C REATING THE H OSPITALITY E XPERIENCE : 1

LEARNING OUTCOME
 Identify, describe, integrate and apply concepts associated with the hospitality
experience in a range of contexts
 Consider the physical, social and cultural determinants of the hospitality experience
and apply them using a range of examples
 Demonstrate flexibility of approach when assessing context-specific examples (eg
restaurant, hotel, tourism operation)
 Provide evidence of a rounded, personal approach to hospitality which spans
industry imperatives and the individualised needs and preferences of customers.
Reading
Lindstrom, M (2005) Brand Sense: Build Powerful Brands through Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight
and Sound, Free Press, New York.
Houndmills.
Introduction
Creating or engineering hospitality experiences potentially covers an extremely broad range
of services and products which, given current trends, appears to be occurring at an ever
increasing rate. We now understand that the main causes of this expansion and diversification
lie with the power of the global consumer, their affluence, as well as their influence, in terms
of dictating individualised needs and desires which can be transformed into products and
services with much greater speed than ever before.
As a consequence, within hospitality as a whole, we have seen great expansion and
diversification in tourism packages, hotel styles and services, restaurant and dining
environments and services, retailing and travel; the range of services which these examples
imply, number in the thousands, perhaps millions. There is a potentially endless range of
products and services that can be linked to the customer’s welfare, enjoyment and education.
All this serves to illustrate that the customer is still ‘always right’ insofar as he or she now
demands more and more from each experience. Indeed, the fundamental idea of lifestyle is
that one should expect ‘hospitality’ wherever one goes, whether it is to the supermarket,
online, to a café, department store, hotel or even the workplace. The expectation is that the
customer can get whatever they want, whenever they want it. This expectation is increasingly
being met by the hospitality industry in its efforts to match customer desires with what it has
to offer.
Recognising that the consumer holds the key is the first step in ‘building great consumer
experiences’ (Shaw and Ivens 2002). We have already noted that emotions, meaning and
communication are vital aspects of the customer-provider relationship and these must be
further examined in order to form a basis for creating hospitality experiences.
THE PHYSICAL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Hospitality implies physical comforts and pleasures, and traditionally this has always included
comfortable rooms or sleeping quarters, good food and drink. But increasingly, it is sensory
(ie smell, taste, sight, touch) experiences themselves which are being focused on in order to
create experiences which meet specific aesthetic demands.
Branding has also become sensory (see Lindstrom 2005). “Stimulate, enhance, bond’”,
suggests Lindstrom in his discussion of using the senses to brand effectively. He particularly
stresses “sensory consistency” of tactile, (touch) aroma (smell) and visual (see) expressions
through the brand image.
The physical/sensory aspects of experience should not be taken for granted particularly in the
context of adding sensory or experiential value to products and services. Naturally, there also
needs to be an understanding of what culturally specific aesthetic experiences can be
included and those which should be excluded. Each culture will have a different sense of
beauty – what is a pleasurable sensory experience for one culture may not necessarily be the
same for another culture.
A good example is smell. In Western society unwanted smells have largely been eliminated
from public space and while this might appear to be a good thing in relation to public health
and wellbeing the fact remains that smells are strongly linked to emotional experiences and
responses. More frequently, public or semi-public spaces like the supermarket or arcade or
mall are being given an olfactory (ie smelling) profile: made to smell nice as a way of creating
a better customer experience.
Touch is another sense which has been undervalued, although product designers have been
aware that the ‘feel’ of a product is all important in terms of creating a sale.
Products are designed to fit, to be soft, or both, while the ‘look’ can also be designed to give
the same soft effect. BMW have recently ‘feminised’ their range of cars by creating ‘softer’
more flowing lines and curves, creating an appeal among customers who are now responding
to this type of aesthetic dimension. Style, interior design, room facilities and other options all
have a physical dimension which is now shaped by an appeal to all the senses. This will
continue as another means of product differentiation that strengthens relationships through
emotional connection.
Elite Hotels: Sensory Differentiation

One niche market where developments have taken place which confirms the interplay of
experience, sensibility, emotion and aesthetics is that of the elite hotel (Gillespie and
Morrison 2000).
‘Semiotic carriers’ is a term used to describe the range of symbolic modes (in the sense that
something can be the sign for something else) which can be used to create the hospitality
experience. Gillespie and Morrison create a list of such semiotic carriers. ‘Consciously or
unconsciously design and fashion’ elements ‘marry and result in a range of semiotic carriers
being communicated’. These include:
 Symbolically resonating objects [perhaps paintings or designer ware]
 Colours [which can create emotional responses]
 Emotional connectivity [between customers and staff]
 Aspiration [the way in which the hotel creates a space ‘to be seen’].
Potentially, there are many factors to consider (perhaps too many to be aware of at all times!)
But we should remember that cultural communication already takes place on various levels
(aesthetic, physical, conceptual, ethical) and that we all naturally take part in this kind of
exchange of information which takes place consciously and to some extent unconsciously.
By concentrating on what is actually taking place, hospitality industry managers and
personnel could become better reflective practitioners if they were prepared to take note of:
 cultural specificity
 symbolic representation
 mood, temperament, personality type
 emotional connection.
T OPIC 10 - C REATING THE H OSPITALITY E XPERIENCE : 2

LEARNING OUTCOME
 Identify discreet approaches to the hospitality experience in terms of customers,
managers, operators, hosts and guests
 Use and incorporate concepts from earlier topics to describe and create design
parameters
 Integrate the various theoretical and practical approaches required in the design
process relating to the hospitality experience in a range of contexts.
Introduction
Creating a hospitality experience clearly requires thinking and acting adaptively in a range of
contexts. Applying theoretical models where needed and drawing on personal knowledge and
experience are obviously important. We can usefully break down the areas which need to be
addressed into a graphic form (see diagram next page).
Hospitality
Experience
Aesthetics of Other
Management Customer
Built Environmental
Operations Character
Environment Factors
Continuity of
Customer Staff Commodity Personal Geography, Location: Urban,
Experience Furnishings Sense of space Personal style
Relations Aesthetics Background weather, season Regional, Rural
Components
Customs,
Cultural Sensory Qualities, Wealth and Customer
Adaptivity Accessories manners,
Sensitivities Feel, Shape, etc status Psychology
conventions
Performative Sense of overall Perception of

Range of Context User-friendliness Mood
Roles value economic value
Philosophical or Customer well

religious beliefs being
Customs,
manners,
conventions
Previous
Hospitality
Experiences
APPLYING MODELS: HOSPITALITY AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE GLOBAL MARKET

Diversification now typifies much of what globalisation has come to stand for. Initially
associated with ‘homogenisation’,(ie being of the same kind) global economic drivers have in
fact opened up markets and allowed many more products to be distributed and sold in many
more countries.
Ironically, globalisation has also been a force in raising the profile of the local market. We see
this in the hospitality context in the form of the boutique hotel, a niche marketing success,
which has developed in conjunction with the rise of the experience economy. Boutique hotels
provide in some instances what larger hotels do not: personalised service, emotional security,
local differences and some of those intangibles which typify the experience economy and
have added real wealth to the hospitality industry as a whole (Freund de Klumbis 2003).
The Café Phenomenon: Grass Roots Hospitality

In Australia, during the early 1990s, an explosion of cafés started a major new trend in dining
patterns. High end restaurants which traded on culinary art and reputation - French or
otherwise European traditions of haute cuisine, offering silver service and fine wines and
charging comparatively high prices - went into a decline, due in part to the swing toward
‘casual dining’.
Economic factors were partly responsible as a recession made conspicuous consumption
something of a taboo. But apart from these obvious broader elements, the switch to café fare
and atmosphere reflected the growing influence of the experience economy. Cafés allow
people to be themselves, to relate one-to-one with staff and fellow patrons alike, as well as
enjoy a good meal, good wine or beverages, in an environment which is still tastefully
designed if not quite to the standard of fine dining establishments.
Contemporary cafés (including internet cafés) provide much more than just coffee. They oil
the wheels of everyday consumption by providing a space for consumers to take a break
before moving on. The very existence of cafés marks the shift to lifestyle living whereby
customers see shopping as a form of recreation, and spending time in the city as essentially a
relaxing pastime.
The café is the primary institution of contemporary consumer culture. Studies provide
analyses of the rise of the café as a cultural phenomenon which goes to the heart of the
experience economy (Scott 2006). In this sense the café can serve as a model of
customer/provider relationships and sets the scene for relationship management in other
sectors of the industry.
Internet Hospitality: Websites - Their Role in Providing Seamless Service

The internet has emerged as an important technological feature of the hospitality industry. It
is not only in its role as a tool of trade, however, that internet deserves our attention. The
fact that news travels fast can also profoundly affect tourism and hospitality trade.
Perceptions can be altered considerably, and, as a consequence, patterns of behaviour can
also change.
In the 1970s a popular film called Midnight Express featured a Turkish prison, including
scenes of cruelty, and subsequently the numbers of Western tourists to Turkey slowed
significantly because it altered perceptions about what that country would be like to visit.
Safety and health are perceived as being of particularly importance today with ‘global’
diseases like SARS and BSE, for example, impacting on tourism. Political instability (Thailand,
Fiji, the Middle East), crime (Russia), terrorism (Indonesia) and almost any other factor which
becomes ‘world news’ can potentially impact on hospitality. Post September 11, Americans
have travelled less to the Middle East. Fears, whether real or imagined, perceptions and
misperceptions must be seen as part of our information-rich world which the internet, among
other means, maintains.
It is important to remember the cultural role the internet plays, as well as developing ways to
use it as a means of doing business and adding value to the customer experience.
Business success in terms of website use (in small operations, in particular) depends on:
 the online experience itself
 ease of navigation
 interactive elements such as reservation and booking features
 volume of textual and graphical information
 number of available languages
 the textual diversity of documents.
 the perception of website efficiency
 ease of customer reservation
 feedback
 extent of customer relationships.
Studies of internet use have also provided useful cross-cultural reference points: see for
example Zafiropoulos, Vrana and Paschaloudis, 2006. Other studies from an information
science perspective have also shed light on the ways in which internet operations can add
value to the customer experience of hospitality (Scharlr1, Wöber and Bauer 2003).
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WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 5

TOPIC 1 - THE HOSPITALITY CONCEPT: AN INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................6

LEARNING OUTCOMES ............................................................................................................................................. 6

TOPIC 2 - HOSPITALITY IN CONTEXT ..............................................................................................................12

LEARNING OUTCOME ............................................................................................................................................ 12

TOPIC 3 - THE EXPERIENCE ECONOMY...........................................................................................................19

TOPIC 4 - CONSUMING HOSPITALITY ............................................................................................................24

TOPIC 5 - EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ............................................................................................................30

TOPIC 7 - AESTHETIC LABOUR .......................................................................................................................38

TOPIC 8 - CREATING HOSPITALITY EXPERIENCES IN A GLOBAL MARKET .........................................................43

TOPIC 9 - CREATING THE HOSPITALITY EXPERIENCE: 1 ..................................................................................49

TOPIC 10 - CREATING THE HOSPITALITY EXPERIENCE: 2 ................................................................................52

T OPIC 1 - T HE H OSPITALITY C ONCEPT : A N

THE ROOTS OF HOSPITALITY

HOSPITALITY IN ANCIENT TIMES

Industrial Age (1700 – 1850)

Private, Public and Commercial Hospitality

HOSPITALITY, HOSTS AND GUESTS

The Host-Guest Relationship

Hospitality as a Social Institution

CONTEMPORARY HOSPITALITY: INDUSTRY APPROACHES

T OPIC 2 - H OSPITALITY I N C ONTEXT

 The Experience Economy

Gillespie, C (2002) European Gastronomy into the 21st Century, Butterworth-Heinemann,

Lockwood, A and Jones, P (2000) ‘Managing hospitality operations’, in C. Lashley and A.

Stephenson, Marcus L. (2014) Deciphering ‘Islamic Hospitality’: Development, challenges

THE EXPERIENCE ECONOMY

Tutorial Activity 2.1

 Growing levels of affluence (i.e., wealth)

Tutorial Activity 2.2

THE CONTEMPORARY EXPERIENCE OF HOSPITALITY

Tutorial Activity 2.3

Tutorial Activity 2.4

ELEMENTS OF ISLAMIC HOSPITALITY

enactments etc.) and ego-enhancement. These self-centric forms of tourism suggest

Tutorial Activity 2.5

T OPIC 3 - T HE E XPERIENCE E CONOMY

Andes. It represents the recognition of the customer as being instrumental to market

EXPERIENCE: EMOTIONS, SENSATIONS, FEELINGS, WELLBEING

 Communication: speech and action

THE NEW SERVICE EXPERIENCE

T OPIC 4 - C ONSUMING H OSPITALITY

MATERIAL AND SYMBOLIC USES OF OBJECTS

CONSPICUOUS AND CONTEMPORARY CONSUMPTION

Hard-working, well-educated, urban-based business people, by definition the middle class,

T OPIC 5 - E MOTIONAL I NTELLIGENCE

 Using EI to improve manager/employee relationships/job satisfaction

Tutorial Activity 5.1

3. The ability to understand emotions and emotional knowledge;

4. The ability to regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth

‘Self-Awareness, Self-Leadership, and Self-Actualisation are “I am able to keep

Tutorial Activity 5.2

T OPIC 6 - C USTOMER R ELATIONSHIP M ANAGEMENT

 Professional skills and knowledge requirements (customer focus, CRM)

Tutorial Activity 6.1

Tutorial Activity 6.2

Tutorial Activity 6.3

T OPIC 7 - A ESTHETIC L ABOUR

 Nature of aesthetic literacy

AESTHETIC LABOUR (AL)

‘To the requirements of emotional labour and emotional intelligence in hospitality