It’s a curious thing, staying in a property that seems to have missed the memo on the industry’s collective race toward the bottom. I’m currently hunkered down in a hotel that is staring a brutal market condition right in the face, yet instead of retreating into the hollow safety of “frictionless” automation, they’ve doubled down on the one thing that actually matters: intent.
I haven’t seen this level of customer engagement, service connectivity, and genuine hospitality in this country for quite some time. It’s leadership at its core—a relentless, intentional focus on touching the customer and making sure they feel valued, important, and heard. In an era where “high-tech” often serves as a convenient mask for “no-touch,” this property stands out by doing the exact opposite.
It would be so easy for them to give up. To pull back, slash the payroll, and hide behind a bank of kiosks or a soulless app. But they’ve realized that the real competitive advantage isn’t found in a smoother UI; it’s found in the human condition. They’ve removed the barriers. Nothing is allowed to sit between the opportunity to connect with the guest and the process of serving them.
What’s truly fascinating is that by leaning into this genuine intent to engage, the friction simply evaporates. We’ve been told for a decade that humans are the bottleneck, that people are the source of “friction” in the guest journey. This hotel proves that’s a total fallacy. When there is a real desire to connect, the process becomes invisible. You don’t notice the check-in or the service request because it’s wrapped in a layer of authentic human care.
This is what hospitality is supposed to be about. It’s not about the thread count or the marble; it’s about the spirit of the welcome and the resolve to maintain it when the going gets tough. It’s a masterclass in staying human in a digital world.
Life is so tech. But intent is purely human.
Mark Fancourt
