hospitality

noun

Save Word

hos·pi·tal·i·ty | \ ˌhä-spə-ˈta-lə-tē

plural hospitalities

Definition of hospitality

1 : hospitable treatment, reception, or disposition thanked our hosts for their hospitality

2 : the activity or business of providing services to guests in hotels, restaurants, bars, etc. —usually used before another noun a hospitality suiteValet parking may be the most commonplace, least understood corner of the hospitality industry.— Bruce Feiler… has turned the hospitality business upside down with his far-out hotel designs …— Robert Herzbrun

Examples of hospitality in a Sentence

It was refreshing to be met with such hospitality after our long journey.

Recent Examples on the Web Rennie’s four-decade-long membership imbued the krewe with an ethos of generosity and hospitality that will inspire the generations to come. — al, "Masked Observer bows at the crossroads of reverence and revelry," 13 Feb. 2021 Its ownership wisely entrusted their glitzy crown jewel of a restaurant to a 26-year-old Black hospitality mastermind named Jasper Gibbs. — Rick Nelson, Star Tribune, "A young Black man from Kentucky owned the Minneapolis restaurant scene in the 1890s," 12 Feb. 2021 The south metro community has a high percentage of Black and Latino residents already at higher risk of contracting COVID-19 because of frontline jobs in retail, healthcare and hospitality. — Leon Stafford, ajc, "Why Clayton County Schools isn’t budging on in-class instruction," 11 Feb. 2021 But the expense and difficulty of building underground parking — and the pandemic’s roiling of the hospitality, retail and office sectors and financing for such developments — is prompting Zachry, HPARC and the city to re-assess those plans. — Madison Iszler, San Antonio Express-News, "Construction on Hemisfair park will start this fall, but mixed-use development around it may change," 10 Feb. 2021 OTAs hit their stride during the last recession, when hospitality companies suffering through huge declines in business travel used them to fill empty rooms. — Jon Marcus, BostonGlobe.com, "Independent hotels are pushing back against high online travel agency commissions," 10 Feb. 2021 The slow vaccine rollout and still-high coronavirus case count has scuttled most of New Orleans' spring festival season as well, but hospitality leaders are hopeful that visitors may start to return in the summer or fall. — Anthony Mcauley | Staff Writer, NOLA.com, "Four Seasons New Orleans sets out to hire hundreds in a rare bit of positive hospitality news," 9 Feb. 2021 Even without restrictions, the airline, hospitality, entertainment, child-care, and health-care industries have lost an immense amount of business. — Atul Gawande, The New Yorker, "Inside the Worst-Hit County in the Worst-Hit State in the Worst-Hit Country," 8 Feb. 2021 The fund provides grants to restaurant, food-service and hospitality employees financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. — cleveland, "Reheating memories of past Chili Cook Offs: Olmsted Dates and Data," 7 Feb. 2021

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hospitality.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for hospitality

Middle English hospitalite "reception of guests, provision of lodging," borrowed from Anglo-French hospitalité, borrowed from Latin hospitālitāt-, hospitālitās "entertainment of guests," from Latin hospitālis "of a guest, of hospitality, hospitable" (from hospit-, hospes "guest, host" + -ālis -al entry 1) + -itāt-, -itās -ity — more at host entry 3