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.

Hospitality as a sociological phenomenon

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As hospitality is a sociological phenomenon, and because its norms differ in each society, there might be:

• Christian view of hospitality,
• Middle Eastern(Arab) rules of hospitality,
• Greek hospitality (Xenia is Greek hospitality, but not necessarily norms that Arabs follow),
• and any other hospitality norms that differ in various world cultures,
• and very contemporary, in virtual communities like Wikipedia.

Contemporary Usage

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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 personal duty or responsibility.

Hospitality is a prosaic word, even trivial, that everyone can relate to, perhaps even more concretely so outside of North American culture. It seems perhaps even 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).

The Bible and Middle Eastern conceptions of hospitality

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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: ^*

Cultural value or norm

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

References

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• reference 1
• reference 2

Culture | Ethics | Hospitality companies

Internal References

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Crown Group Hospitality Organisation

Gastfreundschaft | הכנסת אורחים | Gastvrijheid

Virtues