Why “Vibes” are the key to your business’s success

The world we live in is driven by buzzwords. Synergy, Net-net, Disruptor—you hear them everywhere, from corporate boardrooms to social media feeds. We are constantly chasing the next big trend.

But true hospitality has never been about a single word. Today, however, there's one that stands above the rest: exprience. The younger generation might call it vibes.

In my eyes, the guest experience is like the terroir in a fine wine. It's the unique combination of everything that makes a moment special: the time of day, the specific location, the warmth of the sun, and the attentiveness of the person taking care of you. The list is almost endless.

So, why is this experience so important?

Because getting a new customer is expensive.

It costs far more to attract a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. While there are exceptions, this is a rule that extends far beyond hospitality. Every interaction you have with a guest should serve one ultimate goal: creating an experience they’ll want to return to.

Anything else creates a purely transactional relationship. It's forgettable, it's not repeatable, and it doesn't build a real connection. Sure, a guest might come back, but will they become an evangelist for your business? Will they spread the good news through word-of-mouth (WOM) and advertise your business for free?

This is where the real power lies. A recent Nielsen study found that 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family over all other forms of advertising. And McKinsey's research showed that word-of-mouth is the top factor in up to 50% of all purchase decisions.

This is a clear signal that, despite being difficult to measure, word-of-mouth is not just the most cost-effective but also the most impactful way to find new customers.

Your goal isn’t to be the best. Your goal is to be the only.

As Andrew Zimmern once said, if you're competing to be the best, you have a lot of competition. If you're presenting the only, there is no competition. Guests will have to come to you if they want that unique thing you offer.

The only in this case is the experience. It’s about creating an emotional connection that guests need to return to. If they need to return to it, they will absolutely talk about it. And when they talk about it, people listen.

Why would they talk about it? Because of how it made them feel. The experience was a person who truly understood them, using their knowledge, training, and resources to personalize the moment. They created a unique memory that only they can share.

As a leader, your duty is to prepare your team for success. Listen to their needs because they are the curators of the experience. Equip them to deliver those unique, memorable moments.

At the end of the day, experience is really just a feeling. How did it feel? Was it a good feeling, a bad feeling, or no feeling at all? Would you share how you felt about it? How often are doing a #vibecheck? Are your vibes on point? Would you want to indulge in the experience you offer if you weren’t vested in its success? What about the experience do you need to share?

Are your actions truly in service of that feeling? It’s something different for everyone—and that is the entire point. Your team must be ready to provide those personalized experiences, every time.