The Art of Tending: Why Great Hospitality Leaders Prioritize Depth Over Speed

By Leah Crump

Speed Isn’t Everything in Hospitality

In today’s hospitality landscape, the pace feels relentless. New properties seem to appear overnight. Spa menus shift seasonally. Marketing campaigns cycle faster than ever. Growth, expansion, headlines, social media accolades are all celebrated as signs of success.

Yet beneath this glossy surface, something far more captivating sustains the businesses that truly thrive. It’s not speed. It’s not noise. It’s not a rush to the next trend. The brands that endure understand the quiet power of tending: nurturing leadership that feels steady and magnetic, cultivating teams that move with care and grace, shaping cultures that pulse with clarity, and crafting guest experiences that offer connection rather than performance.

This is the work guests do not see but always feel. When a property is tended with intelligence, beauty, and presence, it radiates a quality that’s almost ineffable but completely unforgettable.

Fast metrics and quick results can tempt even the best leaders, but loyalty, longevity, and soul are cultivated more slowly. True hospitality leaders understand that what guests remember most is not the speed of execution, but the feeling that every detail has been lovingly considered, refined, and cared for beneath the surface.

What Guests Really Feel: The Power of Tending Beneath the Surface

Guests may not know what is happening behind the scenes, but they sense it deeply. They feel the difference between a spa that runs efficiently and one where every detail is infused with a sense of care and coherence.

They feel when a team is disengaged or fragmented versus when that team is attuned, present, and genuinely happy to serve. They feel when leadership is rushed and distracted versus when leadership sets a rhythm of grace and intentionality that carries through every touchpoint.

This is where tending becomes a compelling advantage. It creates a signature frequency of hospitality that’s elegant, vibrant, and unforgettable.

A Story From My Home: The African ZZ Plant as a Living Metaphor

At home, a small African ZZ plant has become a quiet teacher of this philosophy. When I brought it home a year ago, it stood no more than two feet tall, modest and unassuming among the many other plants in my care. Yet something about this plant caught my attention. I felt a unique connection and began tending it with quiet devotion, adjusting its light, watering it with presence, gently repotting it every few months so its roots could stretch and breathe.

There were no dramatic transformations at first. No sudden bursts of growth. Just a steady relationship of care and attention.

Now, twelve months later, that once small and subtle plant stands proudly over five feet tall, lush, vibrant, its leaves glossy and abundant. Even more extraordinary, it has bloomed twice, offering rare white flowers that only appear when a ZZ plant feels entirely at ease, safe, and thriving.

This plant has become more than decor. It’s a daily reminder that beauty and growth happen from within. They emerge slowly, gracefully, under conditions of consistent tending and respect for natural rhythms. 

This same principle holds true for hospitality businesses. The most extraordinary experiences are cultivated behind the scenes, quietly and patiently, before they ever bloom in public view.

Real Examples of Tending in Luxury Hospitality

At The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, tending revealed itself as a multi-phase journey. Through thoughtful engagements that included renovation guidance, menu refinement, and deep staff alignment, the spa experience was reimagined in a way that felt both modern and timeless. Guests felt the shift. Staff felt reinspired. Average spend per visit increased and guest satisfaction deepened.

At The Peaks at Telluride, tending was about nurturing leadership, elevating programming, and refreshing culture after a period of rapid growth. Profitability improved steadily over time. Staff retention increased as the workplace became more nourishing. Guests sensed the difference even if they could not articulate why.

At Omni PGA Frisco, tending began before a single guest arrived. Every detail, from guest journey design to staff onboarding to the emotional cadence of the spa, was curated with precision and care. After launch, that tending continued through assessments, operational enhancements, and marketing collaboration, ensuring that early success would not simply be a moment but a sustained reality.

Each of these examples shares a truth. Brands that are willing to cultivate depth, nurture culture, and tend the relationship between guest, team, and space with intention create businesses that are resilient, magnetic, and profitable over the long term. 

The Competitive Advantage of Patience in Leadership

There’s a feminine wisdom at play here that many overlook. Patience is not passive. It’s a discipline of discernment, an act of choosing where to soften, where to strengthen, and when to wait for something to ripen on its own timeline.

Fast wins may feel intoxicating, but they often leave businesses brittle and exhausted. 

When roots are carefully tended, businesses become unshakable. Teams feel held. Guests feel embraced. Leadership moves from reactivity to magnetism.

This patience creates a current that runs through the entire operation, shaping every encounter, every detail, and every dollar earned.

Just like the rare white bloom of the African ZZ plant, a phenomenon that happens only under harmonious conditions, the most beautiful guest experiences and the strongest teams emerge when conditions are cultivated thoughtfully, over time.

Where in Your Business Needs Tending Right Now?

This is a gentle offering for reflection.

Where might this energy of tending unlock something more vibrant, more alive, more profitable within your business?

Is it in the spaces themselves, calling for a refreshed rhythm and sensory signature? Is it in leadership, longing for a cultivation of depth and steadiness? Is it in culture, seeking a realignment between intention and action?

The patient bloom is never accidental. It’s the result of grace meeting discipline, of care over chaos, of depth over hurry.

This is what distinguishes the most alluring brands. This is what makes their success feel not only inevitable but magnetic and lasting.

Every time that tall, thriving ZZ plant catches my eye, it offers a reminder that tending and thriving are inseparable. And that relationship is, at its heart, the very essence of hospitality.

About the Author

Leah Crump is a wellness and hospitality consultant who partners with luxury brands and resorts to elevate operations, leadership, guest experience, and culture. Her work is rooted in a philosophy of patient, intentional tending, creating businesses where teams flourish, guests feel exquisitely cared for, and profitability flows with grace and ease