By Laurent Delporte – Founder of Delporte Hospitality
“Not wanting to go through my daily routine doesn’t make me lazy. This sentence, uttered by Camille, 24, in a France 3 Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur report, resonates deeply in the professional world. It clearly expresses what a whole generation is feeling: a strong desire to regain control of their own time, to find meaning in their work, and not to melt into imposed models.
In the hospitality sector – hotels, catering, reception – this transformation of mentalities is particularly visible. It challenges deeply rooted codes, questions long-standing managerial practices, and calls for a global overhaul of corporate culture.
At DELPORTE HOSPITALITY, we observe these developments on a daily basis. Our consulting, training and coaching missions mean that we can support establishments wishing to understand and integrate the aspirations of the younger generation into their strategy. This evolution is not a crisis. It’s a chance to reinvent hospitality to make it more human, more alive, more in tune with today’s challenges.
The legacy of a demanding model
Hospitality has long been based on a culture of total commitment and a traditional pattern. Know-how is passed down from generation to generation without question. Staggered working hours, unlimited availability, dedication to the customer to the point of self-effacement… This model, built on a passion for service and excellence, has shaped the image of the profession. It has enabled us to pass on a unique know-how, a precious rigor, and a rigor that remains a source of pride in the profession.
But it is now showing its limitations. Many young people no longer aspire to the logic of sacrifice. They’re looking for a balanced life, freedom of action, and recognition that’s not just financial, but also human and symbolic.
The need for meaning and coherence
Younger generations don’t reject the idea of hard work. They want to understand why? For whom? What for? They want to be able to express themselves, to be listened to, to contribute to a project that makes sense. They refuse to “pretend” or play a role in a system that doesn’t respect them.
In the hospitality sector, this is reflected in the rejection of jobs with overly rigid working hours, a decline in the attractiveness of training courses, high staff turnover, and sometimes silent disengagement. It’s imperative to listen to these signals. Create working environments where stated values do not conflict with actual practices.
Generous hospitality: the key to reenchanting the sector
At DELPORTE HOSPITALITY, we’ve been championing the notion ofgenerous hospitality for many years. It’s a vision that goes beyond a simple welcome: it’s about giving of yourself, sincerely, to make the other person’s experience memorable, human, fluid and attentive.
This generous hospitality is an extraordinary strength. It creates authentic relationships with customers, builds a strong brand image, and raises the profile of the establishment through the quality of its teams. It values emotional intelligence, attention to detail and the ability to listen. It gives meaning to the work of those who practice it.
But it also has its limits, if it is not accompanied by inner hospitality, i.e. genuine respect for the giver. You can’t demand constant generosity from your teams if you don’t offer them in return a caring environment, real recognition, and working conditions in line with the demands of the job.
Generous hospitality starts inside the company. Before being offered to the customer, it must be experienced between colleagues, between employees and managers, in the managerial culture and in day-to-day management.
Reinventing corporate culture
To make the sector attractive, we need to focus not only on technical training, but also on human training. Young people want to be understood for who they are. They want to evolve in an environment that respects their rhythm, gives them a voice, and values their uniqueness.
This implies a profound transformation of our corporate culture. It’s no longer up to the employee to fully adapt to the organization, but for the organization to partially adapt to him or her. It requires listening, flexibility and humility.
Managers, in particular, have a fundamental role to play. They are no longer the sole guarantors of productivity or discipline. They become cultural ambassadors, facilitators of commitment and daily companions. This change of attitude is essential to building a climate of trust and professional fulfillment.
New stories to attract talent
The hotel industry needs to tell a different story. It’s no longer enough to boast about an establishment’s prestige or traditional know-how. We need to talk about the wealth of human resources, the diversity of career paths, the value of teamwork, the opportunities for development and the creativity that can be deployed.
At DELPORTE HOSPITALITY, we help a number of establishments to rethink their employer promise, review their induction process, develop mentoring programs, and set up training schemes focusing on relational intelligence and self-awareness.
We deeply believe that hospitality can be a modern school of life, a place for learning about human relations, respect, listening and cooperation. But for this to happen, companies need to give themselves the means to truly embody these values.
A collective challenge
Generation Z isn’t running away from work. She just doesn’t want to be subjected to it anymore. What she’s asking for is actually quite healthy: clarity, consideration, meaning, and consistency between words and deeds. It pushes us to break out of our automatisms, to put people back at the center, to reinvent forms of organization that are more lively, more respectful, more inspiring.
Hospitality has everything it takes to meet these expectations. Provided it starts by being generous… to its own teams.
