Hospitality spaces, hospitable moments: consumer encounters and affective experiences in commercial settings

Abstract

This paper examines the production of hospitable experiences within consumer encounters in commercial hospitality spaces. It considers the different dimensions or forms of hospitality and distinguishes between the offer of food, drink, shelter and entertainment within commercial transactions, the offer of hospitality as a means of achieving social or political goals, and meta-hospitality – temporary states of being that are different from the rational manifestations of hospitality. It is argued that meta-hospitality is tied to communitesque moments – short-lived emotional bonds that may be built or experienced through hospitality transactions. A case study is used to identify three factors that shape the development of communitesque experiences – the ecology in which it occurs, the participants' roles and their capabilities.