The Dispatch
Hospitality Vibes
Why hospitality schools should put humans, heart and community front and centre.
By Niamh Ollerton
Where would we, as humans, be without social connection and interaction?
Humans are social creatures, but our need to connect with other people and form relationships isn’t a coincidence, it’s rooted deep within our biology.
There is a growing body of research that demonstrates humans' need to connect socially with others is as basic as our need for food, water and shelter.
Matthew Lieberman, a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral science at UCLA's Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior writes about this in his first book "Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect." He says being socially connected is our brain's lifelong passion: "It's been baked into our operating system for tens of millions of years."
In other words, we need social interaction to thrive and survive. EHL Hospitality Business School is doing just that.
"The importance placed on social interactions, community and experiential learning gives students the opportunity to hit the ground running in their leadership endeavours."
"That whole world of EQ has developed, leaders are changing their ways - the whole book has been thrown out and we are redesigning everything."
“Organisations need to purposefully design a place for people and human interaction."
Jacques Tschumi founded EHL in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1893 as the world's first hospitality management school under “Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne.”
Tschumi felt the hospitality industry - and the people working within it - was missing a world-class hospitality management training hub, but over 130 years later, EHL has grown into more than that, and today is viewed as a leading international hospitality and business education group.
EHL understands the importance of community, for not only the hospitality industry, but across sectors, putting social connection and community front and centre.
Markus Venzin, CEO of the EHL group says the school trains students on hospitality competences, developing skills centred on human interaction including storytelling, communication and customer experience, preparing students for a diverse range of careers.
According to Venzin, more than half of EHL graduates do not go into hospitality; with EHL alumni utilising their transferable and valuable skills to work across sectors in everything from consulting to finance, and luxury to retail.
EHL’s mission is to train young individuals to become responsible professionals and citizens, creative and pragmatic problem solvers, inclusive leaders, tolerant humanists and lifelong learners.
Take EHL’s flagship four-year Bachelor of Science in International Hospitality Management programme which begins with a preparatory year in Lausanne, for example.
The preparatory year sees students undertake two 6-month rotations - with half the year spent in an internship of their choice, but most importantly, six months spent on campus at EHLl, Lausanne, undertaking roles most relevant to the hospitality industry.
First-year students will do everything from cleaning the dormitories of their peers, to taking on roles as servers and chefs at EHL’s restaurants on campus, including EHL’s Michelin star restaurant, Le Berceau des Sens.
EHL prides itself on this unique experiential learning model that exposes students to all aspects of the hospitality industry, giving students the opportunity to be creative, disciplined and confident.
The students at EHL Hospitality Business School see the value in the institution’s learning model.
You feel it when you speak to the first-year students during a cooking prep class, or final year students embarking on their final projects/exams.
The importance placed on social interactions, community and experiential learning gives students the opportunity to hit the ground running in their leadership endeavours.

Future of Business Management and Leadership
In the digital era we live in today, markets and industries change every day, with something new to learn every day.
Venzin tells QS Insights Magazine: “We have more than 120 nationalities on campus. We teach our students the openness to embrace change; to not be afraid of change, but embrace change and see opportunities in change.”
It is an openness to learn, to allow our viewpoints and mindsets to adapt that the leaders of the future will need to see their organisations thrive.
When asked if his mindset had shifted on how he regarded leadership, Pravin Bijmohun, an MBA student at EHL Hospitality Business School says: “Leadership was coined a long time ago, but with time, it has evolved.” He describes COVID-19 as the big reset for the whole hospitality industry, as it “switched to a new perspective of what empathy means in leadership”.
“That whole world of EQ has developed, leaders are changing their ways - the whole book has been thrown out and we are redesigning everything,” he tells QS Insights Magazine. Bijmohun notes that his favourite class during his MBA so far has been ‘The psychology behind strategy and decision making’.
“What attracted me to that, is that in our daily life, there’s biases (heuristics) which dictate what you do and why you do things,” he adds.
In a world where the internet, social media and information providers are all consuming, there is a lot of noise that may shape the way we as individuals may think. ‘What do you distinguish as being the right information or wrong information?’ Bijmohun asks.
“Leadership is no different. You get a lot of first-hand information that you will get from your seniors or people around you, and you will soak that up.
“Eventually, when you have to make a decision, are you being biased from previous experience? What you are hearing on the news or social media? Are you making a sound decision?”

Hospitality Vibes
EHL Hospitality Business School believes in the power of the skills associated with the hospitality industry, and in their ability to prepare students to be both intellectual and empathetic leaders.
Professor Venzin hopes young talent will prioritise a career in hospitality for this reason, as they are given the opportunity to learn leadership skills early in life.
He says: “Hospitality gives young people the possibility to experience leadership very early and to prove themselves as a manager, as a leader. That’s why the industry is attractive.”
However, societal changes, COVID-19, talent shortages and digitalisation have created a perfect storm for the hospitality industry, according to Dr Meng-Mei Maggie Chen, an Assistant Professor of Marketing at EHL.
In her most recent book, ‘Hospitality Vibes,’ Dr Chen suggests creating positive energy through the human skills intrinsic to hospitality should serve as a driving force, not just within the industry, but across all sectors that involve human interaction.
Dr. Chen tells QS Insights Magazine: “Focussing on human interactions between customers and employees is the value proposition the hospitality industry needs.”
In Dr Chen’s ‘Hospitality Vibes’, success is measured by the quality of meaningful exchanges rather than purely transactional ones. Based on Dr Chen’s findings from neuroscientists, anthropologists, psychologists and experts on the experience economy, a few pillar concepts emerge: loneliness is an epidemic on the rise; humans are sociable creatures who thrive on connection and collaboration; good relationships, strong community ties and a sense of belonging are key drivers of human happiness; and, positive relational energy is created from human interaction.
In our increasingly digitised society, alienation, loneliness and depression cannot be ignored – and Dr Chen believes hospitality industry skills can address these societal issues. “Relational energy is part of emotional energy. We get relational energy through social interaction. Whether people are lonely or not lonely, they need social interaction, because our brains are wired for social interactions,” she says.
Hospitality’s DNA is people-centric and driven by human skills, and Dr Chen believes this is the industry’s unique value proposition, which, when used across industries, will act as a catalyst for social connection and human interaction.

The Hospitality Vibes framework is based on three pillars: design, co-creation and technology. Dr Chen says these elements work together to create an environment where human connection can flourish.
“Organisations need to purposefully design a place for people and human interaction,” she says.
“Disney, as an example, said employees could have subtitles on their name tags to describe themselves. This creates a very automatic opportunity for people to interact, and they start to know each other better because you show your true self.”
The co-creation pillar focuses on the co-production of experiences through socialisation. “Co-creation is about the employees. They need to be the ones to create a programme for people to do things together.
“I believe that not only the hospitality industry can use co-creation or community to attract and retain talent, but also other industries facing the challenge of retaining talents.
“If you provide a place where people can show their authenticity, something as simple as showing your true self on the name tag can already bring out the authentic you and people feel more connected because they know you a little bit better.”
And finally, technology isn’t going away - across industries its usage will continue to grow and develop. Dr Chen believes, rather than replacing human interaction, technology should free up employees to focus on relational aspects of hospitality.
Dr Chen hopes while take from her class better understanding of themselves.
“I believe my students need to understand what wellbeing is and what self-actualisation is. They need to be able to understand their strengths and how to lavish their strengths.
“How can we lavish our strengths to make a contribution to society? We need to understand that we are only part of a society. Be humble and be willing to contribute.”
Bijmohun says: “Human centricity is at the cusp of hospitality and everything we do. People are at the centre of what we do, everything else revolves around it.”
From a leadership perspective, Bijmohun notes that trust, not control, is the real currency of leadership today.
“There’s a lot of discussion around that, and I think EHL does that in a great way. Human centricity is key and it doesn’t matter what module you’re doing, you can see EHL has that in such a great way.”
“We are going to do hospitality vibes, not for ourselves. We are doing it for the industry we love, and we devote our career too,” says Dr Chen.
“We need to think about sustainability. When we leave the hospital industry, can we leave a better industry for future generations? That's what I'm trying to do.”