‘Hospitality should be a business without walls’

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By Jennifer Glatt | Mint Pillow

Donte P. Johnson is an accomplished hospitality leader committed to community-centered service. In 2019, he was appointed GM of Hotel Revival in Baltimore's historic Mount Vernon neighborhood. During his tenure, he collaborated with local organizations to support community initiatives, notably orchestrating produce distributions during the pandemic and offering the hotel's restaurant space to local small food businesses for carry-out operations.

Currently the GM at Thompson Atlanta Buckhead, he is active on multiple hospitality and civic boards, championing social impact and inclusive economic development. Here, he shares how you can champion those initiatives, too. -Jennifer Glatt

How do you define great hospitality in a community setting?
We should seek to blur the line between where the hotel ends and where the community begins. Hospitality should be a business without walls, where what’s happening inside the building reflects the best of what’s happening in the community outside the building. This is putting the spirit of hospitality at the core of the business of hospitality. This can be through event and activation curation or even initiatives like intentionally sourcing local small businesses to support hotel and restaurant operations.

What’s the key to building real connections through service?
Authentic care. We must create spaces where people feel seen and cared for. It can be as intentional as a deeply personalized welcome experience or something as passive as a deep cut on the playlist. I’ve had locals become regulars because they felt a deepened sense of connection to the space based on the first song they heard when they entered. The feeling of “someone thought of me when they put this list together” remains at the center of our sonic identity strategy. However, what happens on the other side of that initial moment of belonging must also be thoughtful and substantive.

Where does modern hospitality collide with being hospitable, and what is the result?
As needs and interests amongst customer segments have shifted, we’ve been given an opportunity to recalibrate our offerings. I’ve read a lot of industry trend lists with “the experience economy” and well-being close to or at the top. There’s an opportunity there. Event-led growth (ELG) strategies create space for the true spirit of hospitality to shine through while driving brand awareness, cache and top-line revenue. 

What are three ways hotels can reimagine the way they participate in their communities?
Do a listening tour. Meet with prominent community leaders who aren’t public officials and business leaders. Creatives, activists and non-profit founders all have a lens on community that can help businesses orient programming in ways that best connect with their audiences. We created an advisory board that functions in two critical ways—idea partnership and accountability. The ancillary benefit is that this group is incredibly passionate about our business and sends a steady stream of referrals.

Host community conversations, town hall meetings and coffee talks to create space for meaningful conversations when issues arise that need attention. The building doesn’t need to (and probably should not) have an opinion relative to complex issues. But, the connections created in these moments are often lasting and meaningful. 

Host a fireside chat to discuss The Impact Hospitality Handbook. An informal, conversational event like this is designed to create a more intimate and engaging experience for the audience and allows you to get at the heart of your community. We’ve hosted these conversations, not as much to talk through the content of the book, but to talk through what the evolution of the philosophy might look like. The book is a quick read; you could burn through it in an afternoon in the park. But the concept is meant to stay with you forever.

Above: Donte P. Johnson (left) and The Impact Hospitality Handbook co-author Jason C. Bass (Courtesy Ryan “DJ Impulse” Rhodes)

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