What I Learned About Five-Star Service at the Harvard of Hospitality
Today’s hospitality is all about experience and empathy, and the secret to stellar service might just be brewing at your local Starbucks.
Illustration: Lee Kyutae for Bloomberg
At EHL Hospitality Business School, the Harvard of hospitality, students strut the hallways in Brunello Cucinelli and Loro Piana, their laptops tucked into $3,000 Goyard Saint Louis bags. Imagine my delight in realizing I could one-up them with a mere canvas tote.
My bag of choice was no ordinary sack. It was swag from Aman Tokyo, one of the world’s most eminent luxury hotels. And while it may not be as recognizable to mainstream consumers as Goyard’s interlocking Y’s, every single person I met on the Lausanne, Switzerland, campus — whether student or professor — cooed when they clocked it. Because while many luxury logos have become ubiquitous, inspiring countless fakes and dupes, my tote bag represented something truly rarified: an amenity symbolizing high-end, personalized hospitality. (It was waiting with a handwritten note when I checked into my room.)