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For the Venetian Snares album of the same name, see Hospitality (album).

Hospitality refers to the relationship process between a guest and a host, and it also refers to the act or practice of being hospitable, that is, the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers, with liberality and goodwill. Hospitality frequently refers to the hospitality industry jobs for hotels, restaurants, casinos, catering, resorts, clubs and any other service position that deals with tourists.

Contents 1 Hospitality 2 Contemporary usage 3 The Bible and Middle Eastern conceptions of hospitality 4 Cultural value or norm 5 See also 6 References

For an in depth understanding of the term of hospitality, the starting point is the etymology of the word itself. The word hospitality derives from the Latin hospes, which is formed from hostis, which originally meant a 'stranger' and came to take on the meaning of the enemy or 'hostile stranger' (hostilis) + pets (polis, poles, potentia) to have power. Furthermore, the word hostire means equilize/compensate.

If now you combined the above etymological analysis with the story of Telemachus and Nestos you can start develop in your mind the concept and idea of hospitality.

First of all Telemachus is a complete stranger for Nestor, however he was hosted and treated more than warmly. In the Homeric ages, hospitality was under the protection of Zeus. The God of the Gods. The semantic behind this was to highlight the fact that hospitality for Ancient Greeks was of the utmost importance. A stranger lost in the night could be invited inside the house of a Greek family, been fed, offered wine and only after he/she was feeling at home could be asked to tell his/her name.

After having welcomed Telemachus, Nestor asks his unknown guest to introduce himself to find out that he was the sun of Odysseus. By that time, the man in front of him was a complete stranger, a hostis as described in the etymological analysis of hospitality at the beginning. Nonetheless, Telemachus was equilized with his host. Another meaning that is included in the etymology of hospitality. Note also that one of the Nestor's sons slept on a bed close by Telemachus to take care that he should not suffer any harm. This means that hospitality for Ancient Greeks include also the idea of protection. Lastly, Nestor put a chariot and horses at Telemachus' disposal so that he could travel the land route from Pylos to Sparta in two days, having as charioteer Nestor's son Pisistratus. The last element of hospitality as can be realized is guidance.

To cut a long story short, hospitality is about compensating/equilizing a total stranger with the host, making him feel protected and at the end of his hosting, guiding him to his next destination.

Now bring in mind how many times you have been asked for your passport or credit card before even entering your room after a long and exausting journey. Bring also in mind how many times has a waiter "invaded" your hotel room while having a shower, despite the "do not disturb sign" and lastly remember how many times have you been looking for a TAXI outside the entrance of a hotel in a foreign city while the bellboy or the concierge or whoever responsible was absent...

Contemporary usage seems rather different from historical uses that lend it personal connotations. Today's hospitality conjures images of throwing good parties, gracious hosts entertaining, etiquette, Martha Stewart or even talk shows, or, the hospitality services industry as it relates to the entertainment and tourism business. On the other hand, hospitality used to be, and may still be, a serious duty, responsibility, or ethic. Hospitality ethics is a discipline that studies this usage of hospitality.

Since Hospitality is such a prosaic word, one which every culture and tradition can relate to, in consequence it seems to be a candidate for having something like a universal meaning or agreement, if not positive value.

In the western context, with its dynamic tension between Athens and Jerusalem, two phases can be distinguished with a very progressive transition: a hospitality based on an individually felt sense of duty, and one based on "official" institutions for organized but anonymous social services: special places for particular types of "strangers" such as the poor, orphan, ill, alien, criminal, etc. Perhaps this progressive institutionalization can be aligned to the transition between Middle Ages and Renaissance (Ivan Illich, The Rivers North of the Future). der

In Middle Eastern Culture, it was considered a cultural norm to take care of the strangers and aliens living among you. These norms are reflected in many Biblical commands and examples, for instance: [1]

Perhaps the most extreme example is provided in Genesis. Lot provides hospitality to a group of angels (who he thinks are only men); when a mob tries to rape them, Lot goes so far as to offer his own daughters as a substitute, saying "Don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof." (Genesis 19:8, NIV).

The obligations of both guests and hosts are stern. The bond is formed by eating salt under the roof, and is so strict that an Arab story tells of a thief who tasted something to see if it was sugar, and on realizing it was salt, put back all that he had taken and left.

Author: Raymond Marianito Abrenica

Hospitality as a cultural norm or value is an established sociological phenomenon that people study and write papers about (see references, and Hospitality ethics).

Author:Monville "diego" Duatin -3rd st. mendiola manila -san beda college -1-DCN

Author:Karla Pierce -UNF Masters in Applied Ethics

• Hospitality services, modern day hospitality networks.
• Hospitality ethics, Hospitality as a cultural norm, or behavioral standard.

• muse.jhu.edu
• journals.cambridge.org
• [2]