The Difference between Delivering a Service and Exercising the Role of Host: An Empirical Study

In commercial hospitality, there appear to be two different activities: service delivery and exercising the role of host. Service delivery is about accessibility, interaction, and customer participation. While service delivery is a well-established concept in service theory and the role of host is a well-established concept in hospitality, the difference between service delivery and exercising the role of host is not described in existing research. The aim of this paper is to examine this difference with empirical evidence. Data were gathered through interviews with practitioners in the hospitality industry. The practitioners’ view is that service delivery and exercising the role of host are two distinct phenomena but they are not easy to separate. Exercising the role of host is about developing an emotional bond with guests, and this bond development takes place in face-to-face interaction with guests, that is, in a specific part of the service delivery.