Spot the Difference? Service, Hospitality & Experience

One of my favorite moments on stage is when I deliver a series of stories that highlight the difference between service, hospitality, and experience. The audience usually gasps when they realize they’ve all been using those terms incorrectly all along.

These are not synonyms. They are three very different concepts with their own principles, skills, and delivery models.

They build upon and intersect with one another to deliver experiences that truly matter and move the needle. Most companies deliver some form of service and call it experience or hospitality - when it is neither.

Before you can create something great for customers or employees, you must first be clear on where you are in terms of your service, hospitality, and experience capabilities.

When we execute an audit with a client, these three capabilities are one of the things we examine and score, and executives often have the same reaction as keynote audiences when they see those audit results.

Bottom line: service does not equal hospitality does not equal experience. For our firm, it’s one of our golden rules to excel.