Hospitality

For other uses, see Hospitality (disambiguation).

This article is about the social concept and practice of hospitality. For the commercial activity of travel services, see Hospitality management studies and Hospitality industry.

Bringing in the boar's head. In heraldry, the boar's head was sometimes used as symbol of hospitality, often seen as representing the host's willingness to feed guests well. It is likewise the symbol of a number of inns and taverns.

Trestles in the medieval De Stratford coat of arms:
The trestle (also tressle, tressel and threstle) in heraldry is also used to mean hospitality, as historically the trestle was a tripod used both as a stool and a table support at banquets.

Hospitality refers to the relationship between a guest and a host, wherein the host receives the guest with goodwill, including the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Louis, chevalier de Jaucourt describes hospitality in the Encyclopédie as the virtue of a great soul that cares for the whole universe through the ties of humanity.

Hospitality ethics is a discipline that studies this usage of hospitality.

Etymology

Derives from the Latin hospes, meaning "host", "guest", or "stranger". Hospes is formed from hostis, which means "stranger" or "enemy" (the latter being where terms like "hostile" derive). By metonymy the Latin word 'Hospital' means a guest-chamber, guest's lodging, an inn. Hospes is thus the root for the English words host (where the p was dropped for convenience of pronunciation), hospitality, hospice, hostel and hotel.

Current usage

In the West today hospitality is rarely a matter of protection and survival and is more associated with etiquette and entertainment. However, it still involves showing respect for one's guests, providing for their needs, and treating them as equals. Cultures and subcultures vary in the extent to which one is expected to show hospitality to strangers, as opposed to personal friends or members of one's ingroup.

Global concepts

Ancient Greece

In Ancient Greece, hospitality was right, with the host being expected to make sure the needs of his guests were met. The ancient Greek term xenia, or theoxenia when a god was involved, expressed this ritualized guest-friendship relation. In Greek society a person's ability to abide by the laws of hospitality determined nobility and social standing. The Stoics regarded hospitality as a duty inspired by Zeus himself.

India

In India hospitality is based on the principle Atithi Devo Bhava, meaning "the guest is God". This principle is shown in a number of stories where a guest is revealed to be a god who rewards the provider of hospitality. From this stems the Indian practice of graciousness towards guests at home and in all social situations.

Judaism

Mosaic at San Vitale, Ravenna, Abraham and the angels, pre-547

Judaism praises hospitality to strangers and guests based largely on the examples of Abraham and Lot in the Book of Genesis (Genesis 18:1–8 and 19:1–8). In Hebrew, the practice is called hachnasat orchim, or "welcoming guests". Besides other expectations, hosts are expected to provide nourishment, comfort, and entertainment to their guests, and at the end of the visit, hosts customarily escort their guests out of their home, wishing them a safe journey.

Pashtun

One of the main principles of Pashtunwali is Melmastia. This is the display of hospitality and profound respect to all visitors (regardless of race, religion, national affiliation or economic status) without any hope of remuneration or favour. Pashtuns will go to great lengths to show their hospitality.

Celtic cultures

Celtic societies also valued the concept of hospitality, especially in terms of protection. A host who granted a person's request for refuge was expected not only to provide food and shelter to his/her guest, but to make sure they did not come to harm while under their care.

See also

• Backpacking (travel)
• CouchSurfing
• Hospitality management studies
• Hospitality services, modern-day hospitality networks
• Hotel manager
• Maître d'hôtel
• Reciprocal altruism
• Reciprocity (social psychology)
• Reciprocity (cultural anthropology)

Further reading

• Danny Meyer (2006) Setting the Table : The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business
• Christine Jaszay (2006). Ethical Decision-Making in the Hospitality Industry
• Karen Lieberman & Bruce Nissen (2006). Ethics in the Hospitality And Tourism Industry
• Rosaleen Duffy and Mick Smith. The Ethics of Tourism Development
• Conrad Lashley and Alison Morrison. In Search of Hospitality
• Hospitality: A Social Lens by Conrad Lashley and Alison Morrison
• The Great Good Place by Ray Oldenburg
• Customer Service and the Luxury Guest by Paul Ruffino
• Fustel de Coulanges. The Ancient City: Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome
• Bolchazy. Hospitality in Antiquity: Livy's Concept of Its Humanizing Force
• Jacques Derrida (2000). Of Hospitality. Trans. Rachel Bowlby. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
• James A. W. Heffernan (2014). Hospitality and Treachery in Western Literature. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
• Steve Reece (1993). The Stranger's Welcome: Oral Theory and the Aesthetics of the Homeric Hospitality Scene. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.
• Mireille Rosello (2001). Postcolonial Hospitality. The Immigrant as Guest. Stanford University Press.
• Clifford J. Routes (1999). Travel and Translation in the Late Twentieth Century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• John B. Switzer (2007). "Hospitality" in Encyclopedia of Love in World Religions. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
• Immanuel Velikovsky (1982). Mankind in Amnesia. Garden City, New York: Doubleday.
• Christian Hänggi (2009). Hospitality in the Age of Media Representation. New York/Dresden: Atropos Press.
• Thomas Claviez, ed. (2013). The Conditions of Hospitality: Ethics, Politics, and Aesthetics on the Threshold of the Possible. Bronx: Fordham University Press.