Automated transcript 

## Teaser

Even when you do war, you need hospitality. 

Information system is all about the human. It's not only the system, it is us with the system. 

When we collect information about that business, we put all the information on the same level of importance, everything. There's no minor and major. 

The shift toward AI is also creating another wave towards more authentic experiences. 

We cannot send a robot to help a senior. If there's no human to talk with.

You are accelerating the end of the life instead of helping. 

It's not AI. It's not an idea. It's an action. So we need always action. And this is the stamp of higher hospitality 

## Introduction

Before we go into that conversation, I want to introduce our guest. Mario is a professor and service design lover with a passion for hospitality. Mario is a professor of information systems in multiple institutions in Switzerland and around the world. Mario founded the Higher Hospitality Academy of Switzerland, where he blends together His love for service design and his expertise in the hospitality industry.

And definitely Mario is really a great guy to have here for us today to explore, this questions of why, how, what, and where. we can use hospitality and how we can blend hospitality with information systems and services. 

Again, a big thank you to Mario for joining us tonight. 

## Mario Saba's Journey into Hospitality

And without further ado, I'd like to directly go into it with you, Mario, and ask you where did come this love for these kind of three disciplines and blending them together?

Because you're a very smart guy, you could have just go super deep in hospitality or super deep in information system or super deep in service design. Why blend these things together? So hi again, everyone. The question the answer to this question is easy because everything is blended in my mind.

It all began when I was too young and where I could hospitality for me, it was only about hotel. Going to somewhere exquisite, living luxury, going to rare destinations. And the only rapport to hospitality was like this. It was the dream, of hospitality. But when we compare the ideals of hospitality with what do you live.

I was saying that hospitality is much more basic. So hospitality for me, it is trying to removing mediocrity from an experience. So this is the basics. This is the foundation of hospitality, if you want, from my perspective. Hospitality, and that perspective came from the fact that at the beginning of my study, I didn't know exactly what, which path I should take, like there were a lot of information in front of me and a lot of options. And so it, like I didn't knew exactly what I should be maybe 10 years ago. Now I'm 42, so at 32, 33 I say, I can say that I know who am I and where I'm going, and why should I do this. 

## The Essence of Hospitality

So hospitality for me, it's just the openness to experience.

This is the higher level frame of hospitality is just to be open and see what will come within that frame, I can I can make a parallel with the journey of someone I think everybody knows, which is Christopher Columbus, he's an explorer. And however, in order to to sail, the highest difficulty for him was to go out of the port.

not to go and find what we call today America. So he didn't know what he is seeking for if you want from the beginning. So the first objective is to go and explore and be open to that experience. And this is hospitality for me. Is that openness? Is that mindset? It is that disposition to receive life experience as it come, and then it's the accumulation of all these experiences that made the idea of the Higher Hospitality Academy of Switzerland, which is the network, open network of people who have the same beliefs That hospitality are is not only made for hotel.

Hotel is a narrow frame where we tend to put hospitality. But after Covey time. We have seen a lot of mediocrity in experiences and the services across a lot of industries. We have seen that in hospitals, we have seen that in administration, we have seen that in a lot of other services, in shopping malls, in destinations, like destinations were cut off.

So the whole tourism, the whole activity of the world, Stop for the moment. And for me, it was the opportunity to think and to gather different things I have acquired. From the university, from who I am, and from the hospitality because I have also background of hospitality in terms of studies.

And I have created something was vague at the beginning. It was back into 2019. The idea wasn't stable as today, so I was going up to the mountains. We are lucky to live in Switzerland surrounded by mountains and we were lucky not to be in prison without within houses in COVID time. So I was going up alone with the PC and I was writing down a lot of ideas and I was open to that experience being stuck in the nature.

And then thinking about, yeah why people in this time of period of time cannot access to quality service? across all the touch points that they meet in their life. 

## Hospitality Beyond Hotels

And this is where we the puzzle of hospitality for me was crystallizing, and I broke within it three dimensions.

First, the information, because I'm specialized in information systems. And second, hospitality. And third, which is like bridging us together, which is process or process optimization. So this is what I can say about hospitality is far more broad than we can imagine today to put it in a hotel, a frame.

There is a beauty in what you say, especially for maybe the younger generation, where there are a few quotes that I'm going to say back in a bit of other words, but this idea of at 42, I'm slowly knowing what I'm doing. I think this is always something that is quite reassuring. This idea of, Hey, a path is building, and it takes time to to mature.

And, it's then suddenly at 40 something that we know, Oh, this is actually what I'm trying to achieve in life. This is the impact that I'm trying to have. So I think this is something quite reassuring for a lot of us, also being able to say, Oh, I'm around 40 and it's okay.

If Mario Because that's now he slowly figures out and I'm okay if I'm in that same aspect. That's one idea that I'd like to give back, I think here, which I think is very lovely. And the second one that, that really resonates is. In what you said at the start it's all blending.

That's a beautiful idea. If it's hospitality, service design, philosophy, whatever, whatever your practice, this idea of blending it with something else. And again, this, I think is a very beautiful thing where we can say we all come from different passes of life. And instead of saying, Oh, I'm transitioning to service design from this.

And now I have to forget about all that, see, how can I blend these aspects of my past career? How can I blend these aspects of my culture and history and family side and blend that all to all together which is, I think, something very important because I hear a lot of the question, of people, what is a service designer?

And then. And I believe in your answer, there is something quite beautiful, which is, I don't know, depends on you, you are a different blend than another one. And so that's that's definitely two things that I just wanted to put back here for the community to not think into these boxes but also to, to have a bit of a wider view, which makes a good transition to my next question, which is.

Why do we need this hospitality thing? everywhere. And why not just, making beautiful hotels as we know how to do in Switzerland, and then keeping it there. Why, should a bakery think about hospitality? Why should my dentist think about that? Why should my lawyer think about it?

Because, if I go to a lawyer, it's not for him to be hospitable with me. It's for him to do lawyer stuff for me. So why would they need that too? This is a very good question to ask, and the answer would be really simple. It would be, why not? But who said that hospitality is something narrow?

The original the first question, the first answer to that question is, originally, historically, hospitality was not born in a hotel. It was born in a hospital. So it was born in a hospital more than 3, 000 years ago, and the hospital at that time was like a blend of a place where we can sleep, eat, drink, and also if you are sick, someone can take care of us.

The origin of hospitality is not hotel. So this is if you want to be on the historical basis. Then more concrete answer will be that. Hospitality is not luxury, it is convenience, and it is so contextual, so that's why when you go to a hospital, you have expectation.

And the unique common thing that we experience in the hospital is the expectation to be treated as a human and knowing that in the hospital, the stake is very high. That mean we can die in a hospital, a lot of people end by dying in a hospital, and we can heal in a hospital. And the first objective is that you heal and to go out from it.

In the best that we can and there lies a lot of experiences, there is a medical experience in the hospital, which I don't want to touch because it's not my field. However, there is a relational experience in the hospital, which is based on hospitality, based on what we call in French the bienveillance.

And based on. On the way we do the act, not only what act should be done the way we do the act. One part of the answer would be also we need it in a hospital or in a shopping mall because we have seen and we are seeing how people need Normal people like you and me and all the people are getting used to indifference.

Like it is okay today that a supplier or a dentist or a whatever or a restaurant manager or someone who is serving you in a shopping mall, it is okay if he is indifferent. Towards us. So we are accepting mediocrity and this is degrading. Our nature as humans, because as a human, we are, we all tend to quality relationship, to quality experience.

And I found that this is a big opportunity. From my level or scope of impact and action that I know, or I created that that method, which is so scientific, so concrete, and to level up these expectations, these experience. So everyone has the same right to have a convenient service.

I'm not talking about high level of service, convenient service as much as we can. And this will turn. And this is what I like to say. higher hospitality. It's not higher because it's more luxurious. It is higher because it's the most adapted to the situation. So that's why everywhere we need hospitality, even military need hospitality today.

Even when you do war, you need hospitality. And if you if you look at the news today, it's all black across the globe, all pessimistic, but you can still search for hidden, small items of relationship where we can see hospitality acts between two enemies. And that makes the difference.

And I'm talking about specific video I saw between one Russian soldier and one Ukrainian. The Russian ended by killing the Ukrainian. But before that, the Ukrainian said to him please, before you kill me, okay, you won, but before you kill me, let me die slowly. Let me think about why I was existing, et cetera.

And that person let him, him die with dignity, even though they are doing war. So for me, there's no excuse not to spread hospitality across everywhere. Even in words, because it gives sense to something, to existence, and it gives sense to business, because we are in a business, we're in business most, all of us, and it break, it brings back every action that we do in order to enhance business settings to to measurable outcomes.

Because if we can do it in a war setting, then it will be easy. There's no reason that we cannot do it in a service setting everywhere. This is a bold thought, if we can be hospitable at war, we can be hospitable. In every service and every situation it's definitely a bold statement and very inspiring that there is a quality, again, in what you say, which is so strong to me, this notion of the need comes from the fact that.

There should be a base level relation, respect for the human side, and all of these services, we are humans, we interact with other humans. And so there, there needs to be a bit of a hospital, a relationship and hospitality brings a few rules, guidelines, tips that can help us to design this hospitality.

And so you spoke about that. methods, that's maybe scientific approach. And so how, can we apply this hospitality mindset in every situation the worst, the simplest, the ones where, we don't have. Money, budgets to make it happen situations where there is emergencies, where there is stress, etc.

And situations where we have the luxury to invest in it. How, are there kind of principles that work across these very diverse situations? Yes, of course. The method or this approach like I don't like to call it method. It's an approach to problem solving. Okay, because in a business setting, we are here to solve the problems.

## The Importance of Information Systems

And it's about a tripod. The first element in that tripod is information. Why information? Because before I solve a problem related to customer experience, to simplify, I need to have sufficient information for understanding The content of that business, the context of that business, what is happening in that business?

And most of the time, the clients come to us

as they know what is their problem. And this is a very natural we think we know what is the problem so information, it is the first phase in which we. Do what I call informational audit on the business. And by information and audit, I collect all type of information, not only financial, because we tend to think audit is only financial.

No, financial is only the mirror that will explain why we are doing well or not. I will not act on finance. I will act of how people, do they people in that business. Know who they are, for example. And this is the first question I asked on that informational level. Please show me who you are. Do you have do you have a mission?

Do you have vision? Do you have what are your broad objectives? How many you are? Do you know all your employees? Do you know all your employees? Problems. Do you know how employees your employees feel when they come and work? And then I dig inside a lot of details which they will that like micro scanning of the whole context of business will allow me.

To understand better what is the problem and here when I compare with the initial problem that came from the client, that's why he want our help and what we discover while we audit sometimes there are matching and this is a perfect scenario, but in a lot of times, there's no matching and. That mean the problem is not where the client is thinking, and here, let me tell something very important.

When we collect information about that business, we put all the information on the same level of importance, everything. There's no minor and major. There's no, ah, this is very important. And that's less important. Everything is important. Like when you enter the business the physical place.

What are the colors? This is the good information for me, all small details are at the same level of information. So we take all, we collect all type of documentation, procedures rules, if they have, because sometimes they don't have anything. And we we do qualitative or Yeah, talks like informal discussion, and we read between the lines.

When people speak, how they speak, what, where they highlight things, what is hidden, where they don't want to go when they talk to you, and we tend to collect all that. And since I deal with information and I know how to process that information, I put them in such a way to categorize them.

And to typologize them and to visualize them in such a way, the client will see exactly where are possibilities where are the origins of the problems, not only the facets of the problem. To give you a concrete example, if you are in a hospital. And in that hospital there are satisfaction questionnaires and we are seeing that patients or families of patients are not happy with with reactivity in term of response to any question.

They're not happy in, in. And retards of anything like the answer to a question we may think that the problem is with the contact person that we have asked, but if you collect all the contextual information about the business and you talk, typologize them, like you classify them by type.

And you visualize them, you will see that there would be root problems, root to the problems, and then it will show us like in a high precision way that the problem is rooted beneath that facet problem. And we take the client there, and then we show him, ah, you say, the problem, it is before.

The client or the patient is arriving to that hospital. It is somewhere else. We tend to discover or to reveal those problems and to orient all the efforts to where they should be oriented instead of just saying, okay, we will tell that person to make things very fastly. No the problem can be.

It can be technical, it can be relational, it can be procedural, like the process is old, is outfashioned, and we should reshape it. 

## Applying Hospitality in Various Contexts

That takes us to process optimization. Once we know exactly the root of the problem, we draw it. And I think here we are similar with service design because also we like to draw to visualize everything.

Sometimes we use the large wall in order to draw the problem. And then we make sure that. We see the problem as our client is seeing it, and then we optimize it by redrawing it. And here it can be a small optimization. It can be creating shortcuts. It can be removing unnecessary practices. or redundant practices, things that we do twice, three times, four times.

And this is very like usual in a hospital setting because as a patient, you may be asked the same question every day from different persons, knowing that all of them have this tablet on which there is everything already. Put in the database. We remove all unnecessary things. And then we add.

And here comes the hospitality touch points at the end, which is the third level of the tripod. And here we add some quality practices. And I say practices. It's not ideas. It's not invitation to think. It is real practice. It can be by a statement. It can be by doing something concrete. It can be by not doing something we have, like we used to do, and it is not for the interest of the quality of service.

So this is why I say it's a blend. It's the blend of information systems. And when I say information systems, it's not technology alone, because, information system is all about the human. Also, it's not only the system. It is us with the system. And then. Process engineering, re optimizing and hospitality touch points.

## Optimizing Processes for Better Service

Yes I will leave you asking me more questions because I can speak two hours. Which is very good because, it's it makes my life easy when when I guess I can ask one question and they reveal all the other questions that I will have asked. without without me having to do it.

Which is a beautiful quality. 

## Leveraging Information Systems in Service Design

I'm I'd like to zoom in maybe in the information system bit. I feel that this community is quite aware, about the side of. Quality and, how we create the emotion side and things. I think that's something that, that, that community knows quite a bit about.

The process side is also something that in service design with the backstage work we're quite familiar with, but I think where you bring something, which is quite. What's new to me is really this information system lens. Can you maybe share, a few practices that you do with this information systems lens?

How can that, how can we steal from you? Maybe that's a better framing of the question is how as a service design practitioner and I steal stuff from the Mario's toolbox. Yes. So first of all, it is not a black box, so it is explainable, and I'm happy to explain. So the first part of it was that, yeah, we need to document and to collect every information we can collect from a business.

It can be through documentation. It can be through discussions. It can be through observation you go and you observe what is happening and you describe actually what is happening and then and it can be like from reading all the internal documentation, the, all the history of, for example, client satisfaction, if they have had.

Done surveys about client satisfaction about all the essays that they have done in terms of enhancing any practice. So we take them and now Daniel, it is so easy today to analyze. Information. Will ask you the question. How do you analyze a big number of documents?

I imagine there is something with an acronym. With? With an acronym. Which might have an A and an E. Ah. Yes. Yes. So it can be as simple as this. Let me tell you ChatGPT, I have no filters here, because it is the foundation of everything that we can call AI. Okay. And

it is, if it's used very well, you can accelerate the pace of any analysis. Okay. 

## Human-Centered AI: Analyzing Patterns and Sentiments

But however, I'm talking about human centered AI, not about AI in a absolute way. No. If you want to analyze patterns, you have a lot of software that are based on Chatship IT. I'm not telling you should go and upload everything on Chatship IT.

No. There are specific softwares which are paid, we pay for them. And that will analyze every aspect. that you want to dig in. So if you want to analyze sentiment, you are collecting like the sentiment of clients. There are specific apps that are experts in doing this. 

## The Role of AI in Decision Making and Process Optimization

For us, it is only for analyzing them, not for taking decision.

We will never let An app or software take a decision and something qualitative. So we analyze. We take it as a fact as like observable situation. In that case, if you are in a hospital or shopping mall and you see that. 50 percent of the visitors to that shopping mall are repeating when they, when you are asking them in a survey open question are repeating the same word like big queuing lines.

Okay, you can analyze all that and you can extract what is the sentiment of that situation and you can quantify it in such a way the solution will be qualitative. You can heal that problem or solve that problem with process optimization and this is not related to A. I. This is related to the context.

To the people, to the who are those people, where they are, the location, because they have a specific culture and and to the rules, business rules, and to ethics to a panel of variables, and here you should do it with them, you should enroll all the teams, in optimizing that situation by drawing them.

So the information system is only to understand what is not easy to understand if we don't have process power. 

## The Power and Limitations of AI in Relational Settings

Because let me tell you, since four years A. I. Is stronger than all the addition off human brains. We are maybe nine billion persons in this world. So if you add the power of calculation off nine billion brain.

Okay. A small a I based software is surpassing already us and the power of calculation. So this is Okay. Where we need a I, but a I will never prevail, especially in relational or experience settings. And I am from the school of salt that say I will help human and will not replace a human.

To answer your question. Information system is only to facilitate the understanding of complex situation from informational perspective. Thanks so much. 

## Double Intelligence: Balancing Automated and Emotional Insights

I think there is a a good piece of advice here, a double piece of advice, which is. For services, I'm doing analysis, looking at what are the tools, the apps, the frameworks used in information systems, because there is maybe tools that we are not aware of, which can, accelerate things.

I think that's a beautiful thoughts. That, that we definitely should remember. And the second thought that I'd like to put here again is this thought that there's this double intelligence, there is the speed analysis of data and their computer is really strong and can help us.

And then there is the emotional intelligence, the context intelligence, the human intelligence. And we need we to use that and to not get lost into the beauty of the automated intelligence And to know that hospitality is Basing our thoughts on what is happening on observations, but then also entering an empathy with what is made there.

## Audience Q&A: Hospitality and Regenerative Tourism

I'd like to transition to the questions of the audience because I know they have a lot of questions. I saw a lot of nodding faces at moments. I know a few people in the room who are working on hospitality related projects and might have a few questions for you. So I'd like to open the room for the questions.

As I said in the introduction if you speak up on camera, you will be in the recording. And if you wish to not be in the recording, you can either just cut out your camera once you ask a question, or you can put it in the chat and I will read it out for you. Obviously We always love to see your face because, we're humans.

But we totally respect if you wouldn't like to be seen by hundreds of people. So I leave the room open to you guys. You can just raise your hand in in Zoom or otherwise just unmute yourself and you don't find the button and speak up. We are not 200, so it should be manageable.

Good. I see Juliana has a question. Hi thank you so much for your insights. I took a lot of notes for my master thesis, so thank you. I have two little questions for you because I'm actually working on how regenerative tourism could be implemented in the destinations. And I wanted to know from you, from the hospitality side, how do you think that hospitality can contribute to regenerate the tourism in destinations?

## Defining and Implementing Regenerative Tourism

Could you please give me your definition of regenerative tourism? Yes. So for me, regenerative tourism is when you leave a place better than what you found it. So for example doing some activities where you could regenerate the traditions there. So you could live the traditions and actually make something out of it.

So it's like planting seeds. So you go to a place, you plant a seed, and you live it better than what you found it. Okay. And then the question was, so how in, in regenerative practices, what role is hospitality in that from your side? Yes. Okay. In this is something very important in destination management in terms of attracting people to destination.

I will tell you an experience I had in southern France. We went to a very small village, typical village in southern France. Very nice, known by its olive tree, olive oil all like local products. And not only olives the experience there is Typical Roman because there are a lot of Roman runes and all these things, and we were invited to a local how we say it, a local market where we were expecting to see local products, local culture, practices, whatever, like dancing, chanting, whatever.

And like everything, look, we went there and the first thing I was shocked to see, it is a long very large place where people were selling small Chinese electronic devices very cheap, like one euro. Something that has nothing to do with the local experience. So where is the link with between generative tourism and that?

For me, it is simple. Here, there's no information systems. There's nothing complex. When you say, come to our local attraction, you should only show and produce local experience, okay? I had the chance to speak with the mayor of that small village because it took my blood pressure very high.

So I needed to speak with someone who is in charge. And I said, you think that informed people that are traveling from maybe abroad to come to see your local show. They will be happy to see things that we can see on Amazon and we can see on all online platforms. I don't care about like buying electronical device in that place.

So regenerative is back to the origins. Do only what reflects your local area. It is geographic. It is related to a culture. It is related to local products. This is the first thing I would do in enhancing or optimizing attractiveness of destination is you go to the origin and you show only local experience and not open international experience.

Don't know if I'm off road in answering you, but this is what I understand on a very basic level. No it's nice if I can just ask you another question on what you just talked about. 

## Engaging Decision Makers in Tourism and Hospitality

So you said you talked to the mayor. I also come from the tourism industry and I know sometimes it's so hard to speak with people that are actually taking decisions.

What are your tips on how we could Show them or actually talk about it with the, not the politicians, but the people that decide and say, look, here, hospitality is a solution for you for your destination. How do you bring that up? It is the state of mind that we can construct. Okay. First Odas, I would say.

Okay, you I asked, okay, can I talk to someone who is organizing? And then someone pointed me to that guy and it was the mayor. And then the structure of what you are saying. Okay we should not exaggerate. I didn't I was not good in like emotionally, but I.

Played it well in only showing facts. I said, listen, you, we came from very far to see local experience, local culture, and I'm not seeing this. And then you introduce yourself, especially that you are in the service design. Industry or network. It is good to introduce who you are and to say that you are professional.

That is a professional person who is talking and simple. I have no recipe for that. It is true that when you introduce yourself, you don't show interest. You just say who you are, and if you are from a community of tourism experts or service design, people will hear you because they are not paying you.

Normally, when we speak, Someone will pay. But when you give free advice, and it is well structured, people will join you. And this is what I do without any recipe. I don't have recipe here. Okay, thank you. It was pretty helpful for me. Thanks so much for the question. I'm sure we have a few other questions.

That pop up. Yeah. Money or someone from the audio. Oh, didgeridoo. Yeah. We have another hospitality experts. Welcome. Thank you very much for this wonderful talk. Mario. Nice to see you again. 

So I have two comments, first of all related to Juliana's question. Today I put a deposit on a course, it's a weekend workshop in regenerative tourism, and I didn't really know what it was. But now I do. And so your question was very interesting, Juliana, and that was your answer, Mario.

And I, Juliana, are you Brazilian by any chance? I'm Portuguese, but yes, so I understand Portuguese.

who's practicing a lot of regenerative tourism. And you talked about how can you speak to people like Mario speaking to the mayor, and this person has done exactly that. He's regenerated many aspects of a community that people had forgotten about and involved them in his hotel practice. And by the way, it's a very luxurious hotel.

But he cycles around on a bike with worn out Havaianas. And he, for, I'll give you one example. A guy came to work in the restaurant in the hotel and he said, what do tell me a bit about yourself? And he said, I came from a family of weavers. And he said, wouldn't you like to weave instead of Working in the restaurant and he created a workshop on site for this person.

So I think that's regenerative tourism but I'm learning about it. I don't really have a question. I just had a comment on that. I find it a very interesting topic and something that I'm going to learn more about. And the second comment was just to, on Mario, your opening statement about hospitality being Raising standards of, I don't remember your exact comment, above mediocrity, and I love it.

It's very inspiring. So thank you. That's all I have to say. It wasn't really a question. Thanks so much, Deidre. Two beautiful observations two cherry on the cake I feel that you added there. Thanks so much. Manu, what's your question? Thank you very much for your insightful presentation, Mario. 

## The Future of AI and Authentic Human Experiences

As an expert, also in data management, you're really integrating in your design on these elements of data information, but I'm a bit scared of what is happening regarding a, I you're an expert and you always put at the center, the customer experience. Okay. But if you do a bit of future analogy, don't you think that at some point we lost that part?

In the design of the future. I don't know if you could hear me. Sorry. I don't have a good connection.

We love that part of humanizing the experience. This is what you mean?

Yes. Yes. No, I'm not afraid because maybe the reason why, because maybe I know what is in the back stage of databases let us first of all, specify that when it's about AI, it's the database is the whole internet of the world. We are not stuck into small databases here and there.

It is so open and I agree with you. It is a scary because somewhere there is a black box that nobody knows how we are now arriving like to the A. I. Of today and the only people who knows are maybe nine or 10 persons are the big boss of the five Biggest players, Amazon, Facebook, Meta, and OpenAI Microsoft, and those people knows exactly.

But beyond this, I'm not afraid. Why? Because the shift toward AI is also creating another wave towards more authentic experiences. And that I can tell you why, because the wave of AI. It is so narrow. People tend to follow what is what AI is telling them. And if you, I don't know if someone of you has went a day to an ophthalmologist and the ophthalmologist used a test that we call it like a spectrum of attention.

Little stars. Like in the middle, so it's easy to see, but on the peripheries, it's very difficult to see. AI is like this. AI attracts us to the core of that spectrum. And we forget everything that is happening on the periphery. All those peripheral things. Are authentic experiences and the danger is here is yes, we don't see all these small signals that are here to make an experience authentic.

However, the other wave is that people are scared and that is creating or inducing the reverse. or the returning to the authenticity to the origin. And I can give you an example. One day, I used to go to the U. S., to Washington State University, where I'm still faculty fellow, and I'm helping there in build creating new programs in the hospitality school.

And more precisely for those who are people who are senior people. Okay, they have specific needs and we need to build like a doc or contextualize experiences and services for them. And they should be human because we cannot send a robot to help a senior. If there's no human to talk with.

You are accelerating the end of the life instead of helping. I went and I passed, I used to pass by Seattle. In Seattle, you have the port and you have the fish marketplace that is called the Pike Place. 

## The Fish Philosophy: Authenticity in Customer Experience

And there you have those people who sell fish and they're like, I was amazed to see how they are selling their fish.

And I was so amazed. In such a way, I wanted to speak with one of them, those people, and I always go and speak to people when I go to anywhere, and this, that person, I still remember his face until now, his way of speaking, he's a fisherman, and he made my day. At that time back into 2019 and I didn't buy fish because I was alone.

I don't have time to cook. I wasn't just passing by, but he has created an excellent experience coming from the authenticity of fishermen. And then later I discovered that behind that experience there were scientifics, like you and me. who were observing those fishermen and and to see how they are doing their work of fishermen and selling fish in a very nice way.

And those scientists have written something that we call today the fish philosophy. The fish philosophy. I discovered that after and it is the way it is old, but it is returning back now and today in the services that I'm preparing in the frame of Higher Hospitality Academy of Switzerland. I'm using the fish philosophy which is inspired from authentic experiences of fishermen in Seattle.

And this authentic like this return to the authenticity plays on different touch points. Like the fish philosophy is based on Play, play when you work, you should make it in joyful, playful, and then you should make the day for the client, make their day, do something, it's always action, you play, it's an action, do something, it's action, and then be there, like being with the client, listen to the client very well, try to grasp it.

What he's feeling about the product, try to listen to be mindful with them and then choose your attitude. This is not something I created. This is something I need now. To get back to that wave of that is countering the A. I. Wave, and this make us unique. This make us inform people that know how to use a I.

But at the same time, since we are informed, we are scientific. We are aware about the importance about human experience, authentic experience, and those guys with the fish philosophy. They are doing very well. And I'm trying now like to. To decline or to develop that across different places in hospitals.

In museum, in shopping malls, in destination management, by, okay, what play means to you if you are medical doctor, then we should describe an action. And here, I think you are expert in that, how we play when we work. Being serious, of course, and then make their day. How you make the day. It's an action.

It's not AI. It's not an idea. It's an action. So we need always action. And this is the stamp of higher hospitality of the concept of higher hospitality is to stamp it with action and action are not AI actions that they are humans. Yeah, thanks, Mario. You've made my day, too. And I'll check this Fisher philosophy.

It's very interesting. Thanks so much for that. It opens new doors. Ah sure. I'll be glad to work on this new idea together. I will be so glad. 

## Closing Remarks and Community Appreciation

For now, I'd like to do an important action, which is to say a big thank you to Mario. I really appreciate. The passion that you shared with us today. 

I really appreciate that you brought with you, not just one idea, but that you brought in this blending of different ideas in a very clear way. This is all volunteer work. It's always important for me to tell you that. Because, Mario isn't paid to come here.

He is doing that for the community. And I think this is also something very important to know. Really show him some love. Show him some deep hospitality. Through actions. And thank you words. I think that's definitely something that he is more than deserving from our tiny community.

But once again, a big thank you to you, Mario.