Definition of hospitality

Hospitality refers to making your clients or customers feel welcome, even if you’ve never met them. When you focus on hospitality, you create a warm and inviting environment. Your service aims to make people feel valued, cared for and comfortable.

Hospitality applies to businesses in every niche, not just the hospitality industry. Integrating hospitality into your organization can help create a memorable experience for your customers.

Examples of good hospitality

For a better understanding of hospitality, consider these examples:

• Greeting guests warmly when they enter your establishment
• Offering alternative food options at a conference to meet diverse dietary needs
• Creating a comfortable space for customers
• Offering free refreshments while clients wait or receive services
• Providing books, toys or entertainment for kids
• Customizing pillow and bedding options for overnight accommodations
• Hiring multilingual employees to make guests who speak various native languages feel comfortable

Common roles in hospitality

Every customer-facing employee can incorporate hospitality into the service they provide. However, some career paths, such as event planning or hotel management, focus heavily on the idea and usually fall within the traditional hospitality industry. Looking for strong hospitality skills in candidates can improve the outcomes for your customers. Examples include:

• Servers: Restaurants, catering services and country clubs are common locations where servers work. They use hospitality skills by greeting diners warmly, offering meal recommendations and checking for dietary restrictions.
• Hotel staff: Front desk personnel typically interact most with customers in hotels and other businesses that offer overnight accommodations. In larger resorts, the staff might also include concierges and baggage porters. They help create a welcoming environment during guests’ stays.
• Event coordinators: From weddings to business conferences, large events require extensive planning. Event coordinators help plan the details for the special day. They extend hospitality to event hosts by being welcoming during the planning phase. The details they plan and coordinate then contribute to a sense of hospitality for guests during the event.
• Hotel and restaurant managers: The management staff of hospitality businesses trains all team members. They help improve the quality of hospitality your business delivers.

Definition of customer service

Customer service refers to providing the services and support your customers want and need. Anticipating and meeting your customers’ needs keeps them satisfied, which encourages word-of-mouth marketing and additional purchases.

Your team should provide exceptional customer service before, during and after the sale. Customer care continues when customers have feedback or questions on how to use the product. Your customer service strategy can also include proactively following up with customers.

Examples of good customer service

The following examples of customer service help you better understand the business concept:

• Demonstrating how a product works
• Offering accurate information about a product or service
• Following up with a customer after delivery to ensure it went smoothly
• Issuing a refund for a defective product
• Creating a ticket system for submitting requests and issues

Common roles in customer service

Many roles within your organization involve customer service. Any employee who interacts with consumers or carries out services can impact it.

Some organizations hire a dedicated customer service team to provide an exceptional customer experience. The specific roles vary based on the type of business. For instance, a brick-and-mortar store provides customer service through its retail associates. Meanwhile, a service-based business might hire call center agents to manage customer service over the phone.

Common customer service roles include:

• Call center representatives: These team members answer calls to handle customer inquiries. Call centers also have supervisors and managers who oversee more complex situations.
• Customer service representatives: This role is similar to call center representatives, but customer service reps help customers directly in business offices or retail settings.
• Account coordinators: When you work with ongoing clients, an account coordinator can help serve them. Account coordinators use a mix of sales and customer service skills to manage clients’ needs and encourage them to add services.
• Support specialists: Some businesses hire support specialists to provide technical support for consumers. This option is popular in the IT industry, where customers might need help troubleshooting products or learning how to use them properly.
• Customer service managers: In this supervisory role, the manager oversees other customer service employees to ensure they provide quality service. The role usually involves supervision, training and policy-setting.

How are hospitality and customer service similar?

Customer service and hospitality involve interactions with customers, clients or guests. When you incorporate customer service and hospitality practices, you make a positive impression on consumers. These practices can earn your company positive reviews and recommendations.

Successful businesses often blend the two concepts. For instance, at a restaurant, examples of hospitality might include playing ambient music, greeting customers warmly, asking about special celebrations and providing customized meal recommendations. The customer service aspects include taking orders correctly, delivering food to the table carefully, refilling beverages consistently, bringing additional requested items and processing the payment quickly.

Differences in customer service vs. hospitality

While both concepts contribute to a positive customer experience, differences exist in hospitality vs. customer service., such as:

• Purpose: Customer service aims to satisfy customers’ needs efficiently. Meanwhile, hospitality focuses on making the experience memorable and building lasting relationships with customers.
• Actions: Your customer service efforts focus on providing information or service. With hospitality, you consider elements beyond the product or service, such as the environment and how you treat each customer.
• Emotions: Fostering emotional connections plays a key role in hospitality. You want to make an emotional impression on your customers so they have a positive experience. On the other hand, customer service usually focuses on taking specific actions to give the customer what they want.

FAQs about hospitality vs. customer service

Customer service vs. hospitality: Which is more important?

Both concepts are important for providing a positive customer experience. You impress your customers when you make them feel welcome and valued while satisfying their needs. If your customer support team provides the assistance your customers need, you might work on adding more hospitality. That can involve taking the time to understand your customers and customizing your services.

Do you need to hire dedicated customer service and hospitality staff members?

The specific hospitality and customer service roles you hire depend on your industry and business model. It’s possible to train your current team members on customer service and hospitality principles to improve the customer experience. Gather feedback from your customers on how well you’re doing in those areas to determine areas for improvement.