Good hospitality: Small hotel strategies for success

Good hospitality meaning: What is it?

Good hospitality is a commitment by a hotel to enhance the experience of its guests, ensuring comfort, satisfaction and a memorable stay.

People appreciate and remember great hospitality, meaning they’re more likely to return for another stay, and to recommend a hotel to family and friends.

In this guide we’ll take a closer look at good hospitality: what it looks like, how to deliver it, and the differences it can make to your hotel business if you do.

Why good hospitality defines a small hotel’s success

Great hospitality is a means for small, independent hotels to stand out.

When you deliver a memorable guest experience, you inspire that guest to tell other people about it, whether through online reviews or personal recommendations to family and friends. You also make them excited to stay with you again, earning yourself a valuable return customer.

In short, good hospitality is the best marketing strategy there is, earning you more business without spending a cent on advertising or marketing.

In this way, great hospitality is also a means to compete against bigger hotel players. While large chains might have far more resources available to them, a small, independent hotel has the ability to deliver a more unique, personalised and memorable experience to its guests – the type of experience that encourages them to spread the good news about your hotel.

Great hospitality vs. good hospitality

There’s good hospitality, then there’s great hospitality.

Good hospitality is about delivering a smooth, consistent, quality stay to your guests. It’s about establishing key systems and processes that ensure every box is ticked, preventing issues and complaints.

Great hospitality, meanwhile, forms a differentiator, separating your hotel from others. It’s about going over and above, delivering an experience that a guest simply won’t find anywhere else. It’s the welcome note and drink on arrival, the proactive questions about needs and preferences, and the personalised recommendations offered throughout the stay.

Good hospitality services make the guest experience smooth and comfortable. Great hospitality services make the guest experience unique and memorable.

How small hotels can deliver good hospitality services

Good hospitality is about doing the basics right, which begins by equipping your team with good hospitality skills:

Active listening & communication

Good hospitality is built on communication. You need to listen to and ask questions about a guest’s needs, wants and frustrations if you are to gain a clear understanding of how you can make their stay better.

Problem-solving & adaptability

Good hospitality skills include problem solving. Unexpected situations are to be expected, and you need to be able to deal with them calmly, and often creatively when they arise.

Empathy & emotional intelligence

When issues arise, you also need to make the guest feel seen and heard. When a guest feels hard done by, the main thing they’ll want is a fair trial – an opportunity to air their grievances, and for you to empathise with them. Actually solving the problem can ultimately take a back seat in the guest’s eyes.

Efficiency & attention to detail

Good hospitality is built on solid systems and processes. But these procedures don’t complete themselves. Staff still need to tick every box as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Local knowledge & personalisation

Your guests are (usually) visitors to your part of the world and want to maximise their time there. Good hospitality is about offering local recommendations, tailored to every guest, that ensures their stay is memorable.

Examples of good hospitality services in small hotels

What does good hospitality look like in the wild? Examples include:

• A boutique inn remembering a returning guest’s favourite room
• A countryside B&B offering locally sourced and personalised breakfast options
• A small urban hotel providing a digital concierge for seamless check-ins
• A seaside guesthouse leaving beach essentials in each room
• A mountain lodge offering a complimentary campfire and hot drinks in the evening
• A boutique hotel surprising honeymooners with a romantic setup
• A lakeside retreat providing free kayak or bike rentals
• A serviced city apartment offering a personalised loyalty deal to a regular guest

We find the interface of Little Hotelier very intuitive, modern, and aesthetically pleasing. This allows us to streamline daily activities and focus on our guests.

Matteo Marocco,

General Manager

La Dama del Porto

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How to train your staff to deliver great hospitality

You shouldn’t aim to be good – you should aim to be great. And you can do that by helping your team to develop good hospitality skills, then giving them the freedom to improvise and turn a good guest experience into a great one.

• Train your employees on common problems that might arise: Give them the autonomy to solve issues on the fly in whatever way they see fit.
• Use role-playing exercises to simulate guest interactions, to help your staff develop confidence and adaptability. 
• Provide guidance on active listening, empathising and handling complaints professionally.
• Set clear service standards and reward examples of great hospitality, such as offering a weekly prize for the most creative personalisation of a guest experience.
• Offer real-time coaching and feedback sessions straight after a guest interaction

Finally, and potentially most importantly, you need to give your staff time to deliver great hospitality. Offering memorable guest experiences is hard when you’re bogged down in admin.

But with a bit of help from Little Hotelier, your front desk can be freed from the busywork, and get the tools they need to enhance the experience they offer to every guest.