We can all use some inspiration every now and then, and hospitality quotes from the industry’s best can be the perfect way to start the day, turn around a bad one or motivate your team.
No one knows more about customer service, guest satisfaction and the important role that hotels play in the world than history’s most legendary hoteliers and current leaders, and fortunately, they’ve got a lot to say about all of it.
Whether you just need a little firing up for yourself or your hotel staff, here are inspiring hospitality quotes from the industry’s best – and from a few extra luminaries as a bonus boost.
‘Three Ingredients for Success’
“Soap, water and elbow grease; those are the three ingredients for success in the hotel business.” – Conrad Hilton, founder of Hilton Hotels
“Only close attention to the fine details of any operation makes the operation first class.” – J. Willard Marriott, founder of the Marriott Corporation
”A hotel should relieve travelers of their insecurity and loneliness. It should make them feel warm and cozy.” – Bill Kimpton, founder of Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group
“You can make a hotel of pure gold, but no-one will visit unless you provide quality service.” – Biki Oberoi, executive chairman of Oberoi Hotels and resorts
“At the end of the day, we are in the business of caring for people. We believe in service. True luxury is the warm and genuine care of our guests, and personalizing the experience is also really important.” – Tina Edmundson, global brand officer for Marriott International
“Start looking outside of the industry for inspiration. The more hoteliers that seek innovation outside of familiar circles, the better it will be not only for business, but also for the consumer.” – Claus Sendlinger, founder of Design Hotels
“If you’re afraid of failure or getting it wrong, you’ll never truly innovate or disrupt the market.” – Gillian Tans, CEO of Booking.com
On Being the Best
“KEEP UP with the procession, is my motto, and head it if you can. I do head it. And I feel that I am where I belong.” Bertha Palmer, social leader and Florida real estate pioneer whose husband Potter Palmer gifted her Chicago’s Palmer House Hotel as a wedding gift
On Treating Employees Well
“My father was a guy who, because of the businesses he was in – the hotel business, the hospitality business – he didn’t differentiate between the waiter serving you dinner, from the maître d’ from the guy who owns a restaurant. Everybody was the same to him. He didn’t look at who you were. He didn’t look at your wallet.” Steve Tisch, whose father Preston Tisch was part owner of the Loews Corporation
“I am strongly convinced that women should be free to realize their career prospects and given the same opportunities as their male peers. As the CEO of AccorHotels, I have the capacity and the duty to push further for real change.” – Sébastien Bazin
Hospitality Wisdom from Non-Hoteliers
“The most important thing you can do is make the distinction between customer service and guest hospitality. You need both things to thrive, but they are completely different.” – Danny Meyer, restaurateur and hospitality guru
“All saints can do miracles, but few of them can keep a hotel.” – Author Mark Twain
“The great advantage of a hotel is that it is a refuge from home life.” – Playwright George Bernard Shaw
“True hospitality consists of giving the best of yourself to your guests.” – First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt
Any That We Missed?
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