Bring the Power of Hospitality to Your Teams and Industry

    What if your teams could think and act with the same level of care, precision, and emotional intelligence as the world’s top hospitality professionals?

    Art of Welcoming helps organizations build a shared approach to welcoming, human connection and service, translating hospitality principles into behaviors that employees can understand, practice and apply in their own professional environment.

    Developed by EHL School of Practical Arts, the program is delivered as a scalable blended learning journey, combining digital foundations, practical application and internal capability building.

    From mindset to behavior to culture.

    VET by EHL_training across every hospitality role

    Who is Art of Welcoming for?

    Art of Welcoming is designed for organizations that want to strengthen the human dimension of their customer, guest or employee experience.

    It is particularly relevant when you want to:

    • Create a shared hospitality mindset and language across teams
    • Move beyond transactional service toward more human, attentive and personalized interactions
    • Strengthen consistency across teams, departments or locations
    • Help employees better observe, understand and respond to people
    • Translate your brand promise into everyday behaviors
    • Equip ambassadors or managers to reinforce the mindset internally
    • Build long-term internal capability rather than relying only on one-off training
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    What Is the Art of Welcoming?

    Welcoming is more than saying hello. Exceptional welcoming begins before the first interaction and continues long after it.

    Art of Welcoming explores how mindset, emotional intelligence, observation, communication and attention to detail shape the way people experience an organization.

    Welcoming, Done Properly

    There is a method behind a great welcome. Participants learn it, built on EHL's own concepts and frameworks. 
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     The 5Cs of Welcoming

    A framework following the guest journey from preparation and first contact through connection, continuity and farewell. 

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     The CARE Framework

    Consideration, Attention, Responsiveness and Empathy as principles guiding professional behavior throughout an interaction. 

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     Interaction Zones

    Understanding how to observe, approach, connect with and respond to people appropriately. 

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     The M.I.N.D. model

    Developing the professional mindset required before welcoming even begins. 

    A Learning Journey From Understanding to Action

    Art of Welcoming is a 8-week program that combines self-paced digital learning with expert-led practical application.
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    1 — Digital Learning

    Know & Understand

    12 hours interactive self-paced learning

    Participants discover the principles, mindset and frameworks behind the Art of Welcoming, including:

    • Origins, gestures and cultural rituals of welcoming
    • Emotional intention and emotional intelligence
    • The 5Cs of Welcoming
    • Interaction Zones
    • The CARE Framework
    • Professional mindset and the M.I.N.D. model
    • Professional image and communication
    • Operational preparation
    • Sensory experience
    • The welcoming journey from first observation through farewell and future recognition

    Self-paced, interactive, reflection, practical examples.

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    2 — Face-to-Face Learning

    Practice & Embody

    8 hours interactive self-paced work
    2 days practical session led by an EHL expert

    Participants to apply the Art of Welcoming to their own professional reality through:

    • Practical application of the 5Cs and CARE
    • Observation and adaptation to different guests or clients
    • Authentic human connection
    • Anticipation and personalization
    • Real client situations and scenarios
    • Role play and practical exercises
    • Peer learning and feedback
    • Reflection on individual and collective behaviors
    • Connection to the organization's own brand experience
    • The Facilitation Mindset for effective instruction, feedback and everyday learning

    Experiential, facilitator-led, scenarios, practice, peer learning, feedback.

    VET by EHL_F&B and hospitality industry

    From Targeted Training to Organization-Wide Culture

    A hospitality mindset becomes meaningful when it is deployed across different levels of the organization, creating a consistent approach that moves from individual learning to organizational culture. Art of Welcoming can be adapted to your scale, from a single cohort to larger populations across multiple locations.

    • All Employees – Build the foundation: Develop a shared understanding of hospitality, a common language and clarity around what welcoming means in your organization.
    • Ambassadors & Managers – Activate and embed: Role-model expected behaviors, provide feedback, coach teams and reinforce the hospitality mindset in everyday interactions.
    • Leaders – Model and reinforce: Embed hospitality principles into routines, touchpoints, standards and ways of working to create lasting organizational impact.

    Capability Architecture: Two Packages

    Art of Welcoming can be deployed at different levels depending on the population you want to reach and the internal capability you want to build, and can be combined with Trainer in Practical Arts programs to support reinforcement and long-term internal ownership.

    Signature Experience

     A unified welcoming culture 

    The complete Art of Welcoming journey delivered to all employees by EHL experts.

     

     

    12 hours self-paced learning

    All Employees

     
    +


    8     hours self-paced work
    2 days face-to-face training

    All Employees


    Best for:     targeted populations where EHL can directly deliver the practical component.

    You gain:

    The same complete learning journey for everyone
    Direct access to EHL expertise
    High consistency in learning and application

    Ambassador Impact

     A unified welcoming culture 

    All employees complete the digital foundation, with ambassadors completing the entire course.

     

     

    12 hours self-paced learning

    All Employees

     
    +


    8     hours self-paced work
    2 days face-to-face training

    Selected Ambassadors


    Best for:     targeted populations where EHL can directly deliver the practical component.

    You gain:

    The same complete learning journey for everyone
    Direct access to EHL expertise
    High consistency in learning and application

    Every Partnership Starts With a Conversation.

    Talk to our expert Benjamin Robert-Charrue

    Whether you have a fully formed project, an operation that needs fixing, or simply a question you haven't found the answer to yet.

    Benjamin-ROBERT-CHARRUE

    The EHL Difference

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    World #1 in hospitality education

    Consistently ranked #1 globally, EHL sets the benchmark for service excellence.

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    Business meets hospitality

    A unique blend of business expertise and hands-on service culture rooted in over 130 years of tradition.

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    World-class practitioners

    Learn from the best. Trainers include Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (MOFs), renowned faculty and industry experienced leaders.

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    Learning that sticks

    Cutting-edge teaching methods designed by education experts ensure practical, real-world application.

    Meet Our Experts

    Good Questions. Honest Answers.

    The questions we hear most, answered as clearly as we can.
    Art of Welcoming is designed for organizations that want to strengthen the human dimension of their customer, guest or employee experience. It can be relevant across departments and functions, particularly for employees whose roles involve interacting with customers, guests, colleagues or other stakeholders.

    The program can be deployed at different organizational levels, from all employees, to ambassadors and managers who reinforce the approach internally, to leaders who help embed hospitality principles into the organization's culture and ways of working.
    The program is designed for customer-facing employees, supervisors, managers and other professionals whose interactions influence the customer, guest or employee experience. It can be applied across hospitality as well as other service- and experience-driven industries.
    No. While Art of Welcoming draws on EHL's expertise and heritage in hospitality, its principles can be applied to any environment where human interaction, service and experience matter.

    The program can be adapted to your industry, brand, audience and organizational context, helping participants translate hospitality principles into behaviors that are relevant to their everyday work.

    Art of Welcoming can be delivered in two main formats:

    • Blended learning journey: self-paced digital learning builds a common foundation, followed by face-to-face learning with an EHL expert focused on practice, application and feedback.
    • Fully face-to-face experience: an intensive 1.5- to 2-day program combining hospitality mindset, human interaction, service culture and practical application.

    Face-to-face sessions can be delivered at your organization or at EHL Campus Lausanne, depending on your needs.

    The blended journey consists of two complementary parts.

    Part 1 – Digital Learning builds the foundations through self-paced learning around the principles, mindset and frameworks behind welcoming.

    Part 2 – Digital & Face-to-Face Learning focuses on application, enabling participants to practice, contextualize and translate these principles into everyday behaviors.

    Participants explore the origins and principles of welcoming, emotional intelligence, the 5Cs of Welcoming, Interaction Zones, the CARE Framework and the welcoming journey.

    They also consider professional mindset, communication, operational preparation, brand image and the sensory dimensions of an experience.

    The face-to-face component moves from understanding to application.

    Participants work with practical exercises, scenarios, role plays, peer learning, feedback and reflection to apply welcoming principles to real situations and their own professional environment.

    Art of Welcoming is designed as a blended learning journey, combining digital learning with face-to-face application and practice.

    If your organization requires a fully face-to-face format, we can adapt the program to your needs. An intensive 1.5- to 2-day experience can be designed around your audience, industry and objectives, combining hospitality mindset, human interaction, service culture and practical application.

    The detailed agenda can include facilitated discussions, demonstrations, real-life scenarios, practical exercises and applied reflection.

    Contact us to explore the format that best fits your organization.

    Yes. The program can be adapted to your organization's industry, culture, brand experience and specific objectives.

    The face-to-face component provides an opportunity to connect EHL's Art of Welcoming frameworks with your own customer or employee journey, using relevant situations, scenarios and examples to help participants translate the principles into their professional reality.

    Not necessarily.

    Depending on your objectives, the digital foundation can be deployed broadly while the face-to-face component is delivered to selected employees or ambassadors.

    This enables organizations to create a common language at scale while investing more deeply in selected people who will help reinforce the mindset internally.

    Yes. Art of Welcoming can be deployed from a single cohort to larger populations across multiple locations.

    For broader deployments, digital learning can establish a common foundation across the organization, while selected ambassadors or managers can receive additional development to help reinforce the approach locally.

    Art of Welcoming can also be combined with EHL's Trainer in Practical Arts programs to build internal capability and support long-term deployment.

    Art of Welcoming can be coupled with EHL's Trainer in Practical Arts programs.

    Selected ambassadors can be equipped to role-model behaviors, provide feedback and reinforce the mindset within their teams, while organizations seeking greater autonomy can develop internal trainers capable of supporting longer-term deployment.

    Yes. Managers and leaders play an important role in making the mindset stick.

    Their involvement can focus on role-modelling, coaching and reinforcement, and on integrating hospitality principles into relevant routines, standards, touchpoints and ways of working.

     The program can be delivered at EHL Campus Lausanne or at the client's location, depending on the selected format and project requirements. 

    Cohort size depends on the selected format and learning objectives.

    The Signature Experience package is recommended for smaller groups with 8-15 participants.

    The Ambassador Impact package is recommended for a large company roll-out.

    Language availability depends on the selected format, facilitators and deployment requirements.

    EHL will assess language needs when designing the program with your organization.

    The program typically takes place over 8 weeks. The duration can be adjusted  depending on the selected learning journey.

    EHL works with you to understand the population you want to reach, the behaviors you want to develop, your organizational context and how you want the learning to be reinforced afterwards.

    Based on these objectives, the journey can range from a targeted face-to-face intervention to a broader blended deployment supported by ambassadors or internal trainers.

    As a general guideline, we recommend at least one ambassador for every 50 employees to ensure sufficient proximity and regular reinforcement within teams. The appropriate ratio may vary depending on your organizational structure, locations and deployment model.

    The Art of Welcoming certificate does not have a fixed expiry date. However, building a lasting hospitality mindset requires ongoing reinforcement. We recommend regular refreshers and learning touchpoints to revisit key principles, reinforce behaviors and keep the Art of Welcoming alive within the organization.