Hospitality Tips: How To Be More Hospital For Your Guests? [8 Tips]

What are useful things you can think of to become more hospitable, for example for friends and family, in a company, in healthcare or at home for guests? Here you will find the best tips, ideas and principles and examples for your personal hospitality.

The meaning of hospitality

Hospitality is friendliness towards guests. You are welcoming, warm and generous. There are not really synonyms for hospitality, but cordiality comes close.

Tip 1 – Ask interested questions to the other person in a thoughtful manner

Being hospitable means showing interest in the other. How do you do that? It’s very simple: ask questions.

• Ask how the other person is doing.
• Ask the other person how he / she feels.
• Ask what the other experienced.
• Ask what motivates and inspires the other.

Read this article about being considerate and read this article about customer satisfaction.

Tip 2 – Provide plenty of food and drinks

Whether you’re running a restaurant or hosting guests at home, make sure there’s plenty of food and drink available.

• Are they on tea? Provide large drinking glasses and lots of cakes and biscuits.
• Do they come for dinner? Then make up for double the number of people.
• Are you going out? Bring enough water and snacks. Not just for yourself.

Hospitality in two words? Great drinking glasses!

Tip 3 – Be prepared, unless you wanted to cook together

Do you know what is not hospitable? If your guests arrive while you still have to do some shopping, cleaning up and cooking. At the very least, make sure it is all almost settled.

Tip 4 – Guide (command) people to eat and drink

Do you have guests at your home? Then don’t ask if they want to drink, but guide them.

• “You have to help make it up.”
• “It all has to be done seriously today. I don’t want to be left with leftovers.”
• “Taking a cake is not optional.”
• “There are all kinds of water-like things on the table and it has to be finished.”

Tip 5 – Let everyone be welcome in your house (also to sleep over)

Invite lots of people and always make them welcome in your home. Offer them a place to sleep as standard. In Eastern countries, they even provide the largest breakfast ever when they receive visitors – even if they don’t have it very well themselves.

Also reassure people immediately if they have not brought a gift and express their regret about it. “You are the present yourself!”

Tip 6 – Don’t be nitpicky about small things when there are guests

When there are guests, it’s not the time to nitpick about the evening’s planning, choices about what to do with the food or fuss about money … Go with the vibe, don’t worry about money and possibly pay everything. See next tip …

Tip 7 – Pay for people – or at least don’t be fussy about money

Have you invited a group of people to your home? Do they spontaneously decide to stay for dinner and do you decide to have it delivered to your home? It’s okay to solve it with a Tikkie, but who cares that not everyone pays their Tikkie! Don’t send them a reminder. Convert it into a gift and pay nicely for people. That act of friendship is worth a lot more than nagging for a little bit.

Tip 8 – Throw a lot of parties for family and friends

Sinterklaas, Christmas, New Years, birthdays … take every opportunity to invite your family and friends over to your home. Invite a nice big group. The more the merrier.

On your luck!