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The Fourth Win
The following story is from best-selling author and famous restaurateur Will Guadara.
Every now and then, I come across a story that reminds me why I believe so deeply in the power of hospitality.
Back in 2014, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines set up shop in the Amsterdam airport for one week with a mission: search social media for travelers in need, and help them.
They didn’t just help their own customers. They helped everyone.
They delivered forgotten passports by motorbike. Got one guy across the Hudson by speedboat so he wouldn’t miss his flight sitting in Manhattan traffic. Sang lullabies to people who couldn’t sleep, gave wake-up calls to those afraid they’d miss theirs, even set up a real bed in the terminal for a traveler stuck overnight. A couple on their honeymoon got a lift to their gate with “Just Married!” cans tied to their transport cart, and a nervous young man was handed a single rose to greet his girlfriend when she landed.
I often say that Unreasonable Hospitality is a win-win-win: a win for your guest, your team, and your business.
In this case, the win for the customer is obvious — can you imagine if an airline got you a FaceTime with your favorite boy-band member? The business win is clear, too: 3.6 million people have watched the video KLM made about that week. Watch it, and you’ll see the joy on the faces of the KLM team members, many of whom were thanked with tears and hugs. For that week, they weren’t just employees doing a job, but angels.
Which reminds me there’s always a fourth win, too: a win for the world.
Generosity is contagious. What percentage of the three million people who watched that video were inspired to commit their own acts of radical big-heartedness? How many of the people they helped paid it forward — and how many of you will, now that you’ve read about it?
This is how hospitality becomes a movement. It’s how we make the world a better place, one caring and creative moment at a time.
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