Written by Alan Colley, Host2Host Founding Member, former President & co-host of the Summit Prairie Fire Lookout in Tiller, OR

Has the notion of “hospitality” once again been lost in the hustle to maximize our investment? Have we somehow been seduced to believe that hospitality is merely about our winning? Has that one element of what being a host means been lost in the drive to be a “successful business professional”? I don't think so, but I believe it’s important to keep a clear eye on the essence of hosting.

Changes in Short-term Rental Hospitality
Anyone who has been working in this field of short-term rental hospitality for any length of time knows how this segment of the industry has morphed from what I might call the “mom/pop” model to the grand corporate investment model. The primary metrics now seem to be about the number of bookings, maximizing income, and superior reviews.

None of these are bad. In fact, I believe they are essential to being good business people. Yet, I maintain that with all of those skills in your pocket, if you have somehow been seduced to regard them as your primary focus, you miss the most important ingredient - to surround your guests with welcome.

Welcoming and Embracing Hospitality
More than ever I believe that the world still yearns to feel welcomed, to feel that they can “belong anywhere”. In my view, the best hosts lead with caring.

Caring is the secret sauce for being a successful host.

“At its core, hospitality is about receiving guests, making them feel welcome, and providing them with food, shelter, comfort, and safety.”

Given where we are today, how could we do better at shining the light on this core ingredient? What role can those of us with some seasoning share that wisdom? How might we shine more light on what it truly means to embrace hospitality?

Engaging Guests with a Warm, Welcoming Embrace
It occurs to me that the warm embrace of welcome that one feels is a natural result of our caring for the humanity of each guest, no matter who they are. Being a professional business person is just the baseline for meeting a guest’s expectations. 

But, when we reach beyond that to anticipate and answer a particular guest’s unique questions and needs clearly signals our specific attention to them as individuals. How do we do that? By asking, by engaging them in conversation.

In our own hosting business, we make a point of calling each guest before they arrive to be sure they know how to get to our place, to share what they will find when they arrive, and to answer questions they might have. We try to greet them upon arrival and to say goodbye as they depart. And we make a point to do a follow-up call to say thank you for coming.

Appreciating Uniqueness and Variety
Just as the whole short-term rental phenomenon awakened travelers to the richness of meeting real people and experiencing the diversity of those encounters, in contrast to the vanilla sameness of hotels, so too, I believe we need to appreciate that we are not hosting vanilla one-size-fits-all guests. Recognizing and appreciating the uniqueness and variety of our guests, is one way to show attention and to welcome and embrace them.

How can we keep our focus on this essential element of our hosting?

I still enjoy this reminder from esteemed poet and author, Maya Angelou, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”The