The Spiritual Essence of Hospitality Practice

SUMMARY This paper is consciously interdisciplinary. The literature of theology, myth, and folklore is juxtaposed with the literature of family systems, organizational studies, and service management to explore the multifaceted meaning of the term hospitality practice. The related origins of such words as guest, host, and stranger are presented to create a model of possibility capable of imagining how the ancient image of the proverbial stranger at the door remains an apt metaphorical model for hospitality practice to be enacted on both private as well as public levels of social interaction. The interconnectedness derived from such meanings, drawn between older forms of hospitality practice and its contemporary reincarnation in a formalized industry niche, called Hospitality, are intended to articulate how service quality is an attribute that the industry owes as much to its employees as to its customers.