In this article, I’d like to share the conviction that drives me deeply: true luxury is no longer measured by ostentation, but by the quality of presence, the appropriateness of the experience, and the inner freedom that a place or service can offer.
In a world where everything is speeding up, where standardization threatens the singularity of places, I believe it’s time to give new meaning to hospitality. Not by adding more and more, but by going back to basics: to what touches, soothes and connects. This article provides a space for collective reflection, a moment of hindsight that enables us to re-examine our practices with lucidity and humanity.
In a world saturated with images, offers and standards, true luxury is no longer what shines, but what liberates. It lies in the freedom to choose what resonates deeply with you, at a time when personal alignment is becoming essential.
Today, luxury is no longer measured solely by the rarity or price of an object. It is measured by the ability to live an experience that makes sense, that respects our rhythm, our needs, our inner truth. It’s the possibility of not getting lost in the injunction to perform or appear, but of daring to return to the essential: what I feel, what nourishes me, what soothes me.
In the world of service and hospitality, this freedom of choice translates into places and experiences that don’t impose anything, but open up. Places that offer a framework, an intention, an attention, and let everyone put down what they are. It’s this subtle freedom that creates a real sense of well-being and confidence.
I find this quest for freedom at the heart of hospitality. It has guided me for many years in my work supporting sites and teams. Because welcoming others always begins with an often-forgotten step: learning to welcome ourselves.
Hospitality begins on the inside
How can we be truly present to each other if we don’t know each other, if we don’t listen to each other, if we’re on automatic pilot?
Learning to welcome yourself means recognizing your emotions, your limits and your own energy. It’s becoming aware of what we give off, of the quality of attention we’re capable of offering.
This path towards the self is often neglected in professional environments, and yet it conditions everything. A forced smile can never replace a sincere presence. A well-rehearsed speech will never have the same power as the right word, expressed from the heart. Hospitality can only be authentic if it is rooted in a peaceful inner space.
Learning to welcome yourself also means cultivating a form of personal ecology: respecting yourself, preserving your energy, listening to your inner signals. It means understanding that you can’t give without first giving yourself. And that the demands we make of ourselves must never overshadow our benevolence.
This inner hospitality gives rise to the ability to welcome others without filters, without posturing, without imposed roles. This is where hospitality comes alive, sincere and generous. It is no longer a learned gesture, but an inhabited posture.
Relational luxury: freedom, presence and precision
Contemporary luxury can no longer be defined by material excellence alone. It must be anchored in a quality of connection.
And this quality is born of the freedom to be fully oneself, in a place or service that doesn’t dictate, but proposes and invites.
Customers are no longer just looking for a beautiful place: they’re looking for a feeling. An atmosphere. A welcome that is not formatted but embodied. They feel everything: stress, pressure, disconnection. Conversely, they open up when they perceive authenticity, presence and human warmth.
Creating a quality bond means offering a flexible, lively framework that adapts to the person in front of you and their current state of mind. It means knowing how to modulate your speech, your energy and your rhythm. It’s about developing fine-tuned listening skills, fluid attention and the ability to feel what’s right… without overacting, without performing.
Offering choice – in rhythm, in silence, in interaction – becomes an act of hospitality. It means respecting others in their uniqueness. It means making room for what’s right, here and now. This is where service becomes experience. And experience becomes transformation.
Towards hospitality that uplifts
The generous hospitality I advocate is both sensitive and strategic. It feeds the customer experience, but it starts with a keen awareness of the human being, his energies, his blockages and his impulses.
In my work with people, I see that the attitude of welcome depends profoundly on what each person carries within them. Quite often, it’s not the technical skills that are lacking, but a difficulty in connecting fully with oneself – through lack of confidence, fear of judgment, or simply emotional fatigue. Behind automatisms, there are sometimes tensions, shells, or unheeded desires.
Learning to welcome ourselves also means daring to look at our limiting thoughts, those beliefs that we have integrated from a very early age (“I’m not this enough”, “I have to control everything”, “I’m not legitimate…”) and that influence our everyday behavior.
It also means becoming aware of the wounds (rejection, abandonment, injustice, humiliation…) that affect the way we relate to others, including in professional contexts. These wounds act like invisible filters: they condition our reactions, our communication, our posture.
👉 This work of introspection is fundamental to the hospitality profession. For how can we offer a warm, serene and fair presence to a customer if we ourselves are in tension, in resistance, or in a constant quest for validation?
It is precisely to support this inner transformation that I have developed, with Delporte Hospitality, coaching programs dedicated to the service, luxury, hospitality and relationship professions. These courses combine emotional intelligence, self-awareness, exploration of relational posture, and realignment with the deepest values of both the individual and the company.
They enable everyone – executives, managers, employees – to :
- Understand your invisible obstacles and overcome them,
- Regain energy for your mission,
- Deploy a more embodied, authentic and impactful form of hospitality.
Because true luxury today also means evolving in an environment where you feel recognized, aligned and free to be yourself – the better to welcome others into this same energy.
📣 Does this message speak to you? So don’t hesitate to share it with your colleagues, your customers, young people looking for a vocation, or anyone else who might be inspired by the challenges of transmission and excellence. Together, we can get these ideas circulating, give new meaning to manual and hospitality professions, and create real vocations.
💡 If you have ideas, needs, or want to go further, I’m here to listen. I offer hospitality audits, hospitality strategies, inspiring conferences, bespoke training, as well as coaching for managers and teams in the hospitality, luxury and exceptional venues sectors.📬 To make sure you don’t miss a thing, you can subscribe to my newsletter and receive monthly reflections, resources and concrete initiatives around generous hospitality and French savoir-faire.
