If there’s one word we throw around in marketing, it’s “experience.” A word that’s come to mean everything yet often delivers very little beyond the transactional. But what if we’re not quite grasping the whole of it? Of course, events capture experience well, but marketing isn’t just about events, and true experience isn’t just about clever campaigns or tech-enabled touchpoints. It’s about delivering something meaningful across every interaction, streamlining the customer journey, and making each step feel like an effortless continuation of the last.
Hospitality is a commitment to that—creating a customer journey shaped by attentiveness, relevance, and care. Defined as “the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers,” hospitality is focused on making people feel seen and valued. Add purposeful communication to this mix, and we see that marketing at its best shares this purpose. It’s not only about selling; it’s about sharing information that resonates and delivers exactly what’s needed in a given moment. In both fields, it’s about putting the customer at the forefront of the experience.
The Power of Small, Thoughtful Gestures
Think of hospitality at its finest: in your experience, is it the grand, flashy moment that stands out most, or the quiet, thoughtful touch that went above and beyond? Those are the moments that resonate. They’re not performances; they’re sincere, and as cliché as it sounds, they leave a lasting impression. Imagine if marketing (at every level) embodied this same sense of care—where brands spoke with customers, not at them, offering something meaningful at every touchpoint, no matter how small.
Of course, how brands interpret and deliver this varies. Take Duolingo, for example. They turned what was once an “annoying” notification into a strength, flipping the script and building a brand personality that resonates through humour and playfulness. Or KitKat, which turned “have a break” into a brand experience—bringing the concept of a reprieve to life in ways that go beyond the product itself. Another example is Patagonia, a brand that has committed to environmental responsibility at every level. Patagonia doesn’t just promote sustainability; they embody it, turning a set of values into a movement that resonates deeply with their audience.
When “Delight” Becomes Another Task
In marketing, we often talk about delighting customers. But too often, the expectation is skewed or heavy-handed. Marketers are tasked with building, educating, informing, entertaining, and driving conversions—but all too often, it stops at ticking the basics. Emails are sent out because “we need to promote this,” yet they lack the incentive or value that would make customers genuinely engage. Social posts are published to stay visible, but with little thought to an overarching strategy. Offline, we see this same misstep when brands rely on physical ads or billboards but don’t provide relevance, making them more likely to be glossed over than noticed.
Hospitality, on the other hand, has a different ethos: there’s a baseline expectation of good service, but the standout moments are those that go above and beyond simply because they can, and because it feels right in the moment. From a luxury hotel surprising a guest with a favourite treat to a boutique shop personalising recommendations, each interaction is thoughtfully designed to be meaningful to that moment.
And when we look through this lens, marketing campaigns cease to be a “one-and-done” activity. They’re built up over time, layer by layer. Brands that zoom out to see the bigger picture create an enduring experience, one that isn’t sacrificed for efficiency or fleeting expectations. They create connections that stick because they consistently deliver something of value, something that feels intentional and well-placed.
People naturally align with brands that reflect who they are and what they value, seeking a sense of connection or a form of expression. This is what allows brand marketing to feel personal, not performative. It’s not about crafting an image, but about communicating with authenticity and showing customers who you are as a brand.
One of the most powerful aspects of hospitality is its ability to create memories—not just of what happened, but of how it felt. It’s the feeling when a birthday cake arrives as a surprise, when a local café remembers your regular order, or when you’re dining out with young children, and the staff overhears them mentioning a favourite character and brings over printed drawings for them to colour in. These gestures happen because staff are empowered to act with care and given the resources to support genuine decision-making. Yet in many companies, the emphasis remains on “doing more with less,” often at a cost to the customer experience. Imagine if we flipped that—doing less but with more intention, more thought, more focus on creating impactful moments.
With the rise of AI, efficiency-driven processes are becoming increasingly popular—but we need to remember that scalability often comes at a cost to the customer experience.
Hospitality isn’t about cutting corners for the sake of speed or volume; it’s about creating experiences that feel personal and considered. Hospitality thrives in marketing because it recognises that experience is what drives relationships. When applied with sincerity, it transforms a brand from simply a provider of goods and services to a trusted, reliable part of a person’s life—whether it’s a brand of butter you’re loyal to, a solid restaurant recommendation, or a beauty product that never fails. And this isn’t something that can be faked; it has to be real.
Customers see through brands that “appear” caring but don’t embody it. They’re drawn to brands that invest in their people and genuinely connect with their audience. As Maya Angelou once said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” This crossover isn’t just strategic—it’s essential to creating lasting customer loyalty.
