Meaning of Hospitality and 'Others' in the Hospitality Industry

This essay delves into the multifaceted meaning of hospitality, examining its definition as a relationship between host and guest, and its roots in various religious practices. It explores how different religions, such as Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism, view and practice hospitality. The essay also discusses the hospitality industry's role in providing leisure and comfort to guests, emphasizing the importance of positive guest experiences and their impact on business success. Furthermore, it examines the term "other" in the context of hospitality, including its implications for welcoming strangers and adapting to new environments. The essay touches upon ethical considerations, particularly those of the Confucians, and highlights how religious perspectives influence the treatment of "others," ultimately concluding that proper treatment of strangers is crucial for spreading positive community qualities. The essay also provides an overview of the industry and the importance of maintaining a positive relationship between the host and the guest.

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Hospitality
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Definition of hospitality
Hospitality can be seen as a relationship between a guest and a host. A host would
receive the guest in goodwill and perform activities like entertainment and reception to the guest.
Hospitality can always be taken to be a vast concept. This is because it can be traced back to
different religious practices (Yong, 2015). Different religions have different perspectives on
hospitality. Therefore in the Islam religion, tourism is believed to have a negative outcome
towards the community of the host. Therefore, it is not encouraged. The Muslims usually believe
that the tourists can influence the host into acquiring some queer behaviours which are not
common among their community (Siddiqui, 2015). According to the Christians members,
hospitality is recognized as a medium of spreading the act of Christianity and thus it is usually
encouraged. Through sharing religious ideas the guest will acquire relevant ideas thus sharing to
other people on their return. Within the Arab religion, hospitality is seen as a form of grace and
the Arabs usually believe that they do their Karma in serving the guests well. The Buddhist
religion demands that the guests be treated as God's presence.
What hospitality means to me
The industry of hospitality can be equally taken as one of the biggest industry in the
category of the service industries. The industry performs typically functions like planning,
travelling and even transportation inside the industry of tourism. The industry usually provides
the leisure to its customer at the exchange of a non-refundable fee. The industry ensures that the
guest enjoys themselves during the time at which the industry hosts them. This would mean that

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the guests are well fed, entertained and even provided with a comfortable place to rest during the
period of accommodation (Sheldon & Fesenmaier, 2013).
The main aim of hospitality is characterized by the creation of a positive relationship in
different areas and fields. This would mean that a guest is likely to have a negative opinion
toward the guest if in any case, the guest would feel mistreated or unwelcomed. Failure to create
a positive impression on a guest is also likely to affect the business of hospitality (Gomezelj,
2016). This is because the customer, who is the guest, would feel literally dissatisfied by the
service if the host fails to impress the guest. The chances of the host coming back to the same
business for hospitality services would be limited, and also, the chances of the growth of the
business would be limited as the customer is very unlikely to share a positive experience. This
would also discourage other customers. Therefore, it is usually imperative for the hospitality
business to treat its customers well for them to be able to retain their customers.
Finally, hospitality can be viewed as a concept which explains the religions and beliefs of
various societies. The idea is also seen to extend to the field of business where the industry
should focus on treating the guests well to enhance the growth of the company.
What the term "other" means.
The term other generally means some of the situations where an individual welcomes
others through the use of posts of social media especially after taking a selfie (Chen, Chen &
Luo, 2017). A selfie can be defined as a method of communication which allows one to shape
the public personality. The selfie is usually taken using a camera, usually a phone camera, and

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mostly around beautiful scenes. When the selfie is posted on social media, it will serve as a way
of inviting others to that scene (Adamkolo & Elmi-Nur, 2015).
In hospitality, the term "other" can be taken to refer to the extent to which an individual
or a society could be welcoming and also accepting towards the strangers as well as the guests.
In this case, the term "others" is used to represent a second party. "Other" could be taken to mean
a stranger, and in hospitality, the relationship between the "other" and the relationship between
the "other" and the host should always be good. "Other" can also be used to refer to a situation
which one is used to. For example, in hospitality, the environment of the host could be termed as
"other" in the perspective of the guest. Therefore, service must be offered to the "other" to ensure
that the "other" does not find adapting to a new environment challenging.
According to the ethics of the Confucians, service offered towards the "other" is very
important. This is usually mainly because, offering service, according to the Confucians, is
usually a character to do good for others. Religions like Christianity also treat "others" as guest
or strangers and usually see them as a way of spreading their ways (Molz, 2016). This is because
Christians are usually very welcoming to strangers. Religions like Islam, however, view the
"others" as a threat. This is because they usually see strangers or the guest as people who would
introduce evil deeds to the Muslim community. Therefore, in summary, it can be concluded that
not all religions view “others” as friendly individuals but as threats towards their own religion.
The interaction between the Buddhists and "others" is more profound than the interaction
between the "others" and the Muslim society. This is because the Buddhists usually tend to treat
strangers as if God is present amongst them. Among the Arabs, the strangers are usually

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accepted with grace normally because they too would expect to be accepted with grace when
they become "other" or strangers to another society.
Therefore, the term "others" can be defined as a unique group of people or just an
individual who is not part of society but has joined the community generally for only a period.
They are called others because they are not part of the host society (Oskam & Boswijk, 2016).
The individual or the group of strangers usually must be treated well by the society in which they
are visiting. Proper treatment of the strangers would aid in the spreading of the positive qualities
of the community.

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References
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Siddiqui, M. (2015). Hospitality and Islam: Welcoming in God's Name, 2nd edition. Yale
University Press.
Yong, A. (2015). Hospitality and the Other: Pentecost, Christian practices, and the
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Oskam, J., & Boswijk, A. (2016). Airbnb: the future of networked hospitality
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Molz, J. G. (2016). Cosmopolitans on the Couch: Mobile Hospitality and the Internet 1.
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Gomezelj, D. O. (2016). A systematic review of research on innovation in hospitality and
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Chen, T., Chen, Y., & Luo, J. (2017, April). A selfie is worth a thousand words: Mining personal
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