Reimagining the Hospitality Industry: Why It Matters at Georgetown and Beyond

By Carolina O’Leary (SFS’25)
Former President of the Georgetown Retail and Luxury Association

Hospitality isn’t just an industry. It’s a lens through which we can understand culture, economics, diplomacy — and ourselves. I came to Georgetown believing I would study international relations; I never imagined that I would find my place in a world of five-star hotels, guest experiences, and global brand strategies. But the more I studied global business, the more I saw hospitality not as a detour, but as a powerful engine of international connection.

This piece reflects on how students are rethinking hospitality — not simply as an industry, but as a lens for leadership, culture, and global connection — showing its relevance well beyond the Georgetown campus.

Finding Hospitality in Unexpected Places

International connection is especially relevant in Washington, D.C. — a city where global decisions are made, and yet where the hospitality industry’s influence is often overlooked in academic settings. With Fortune 500 companies like Marriott International and Hilton headquartered just miles from campus, and world-renowned restaurants, hotels, and travel groups shaping the city’s identity, we are uniquely positioned to engage with hospitality as both a local asset and a global force. And yet, until recently, it remained a largely untapped area of exploration within the Georgetown ecosystem.

Recognizing this gap, the undergraduate chapter of the Georgetown Retail and Luxury Association (GRLA), a student-run organization which I led until recently, created a conference to bring industry leaders and the Georgetown community together to reimagine hospitality’s role in business and society. The motivation behind the inaugural conference was to bring hospitality into the conversation not only as a career path but as a serious subject of study, innovation, and impact. This vision culminated in Hospitality on the Hilltop, a first-of-its-kind conference held at Georgetown on April 23, bringing together leaders from Four Seasons, Marriott, Hilton, José Andrés Group, and more. The event’s goal was to elevate the conversation around hospitality — not as something niche, soft, or secondary, but as a core player in today’s global economy.

From Culture to Career: A Personal Journey

My fascination with hospitality started long before I knew the word for it. Growing up in a Colombian family, I was surrounded by a culture where generosity, warmth, and care were second nature — whether through a perfectly set table, a neighbor’s unexpected visit, or the instinct to offer coffee the moment someone walked in the door. Later, when I lived in Italy during high school, I saw how hospitality was elevated into an art form: expressed through ritual, detail, and beauty. It wasn’t just service — it was a way of life. That sensibility stuck with me.

After my senior year of high school, I took a job as a front desk agent at the Inn at Perry Cabin in St. Michael’s, Maryland — famously known as the filming location for Wedding Crashers. I learned what it meant to bring that spirit to life under pressure. I found that I thrived in high-stakes situations with difficult guests — not in spite of the challenge, but because of it. There’s something deeply rewarding about turning a problem into a positive memory, about going the extra mile and knowing it might stay with someone forever. Behind that desk, I realized hospitality was not just a summer job — it was a daily exercise in empathy, grace, and poise, and a proving ground for the type of leadership I hoped to grow into.

At Georgetown, I came to see hospitality as a form of diplomacy in itself. The experience of a traveler is often shaped more by a hotel, a meal, or a conversation with a concierge than by any government program. That’s soft power. And that’s strategy.

Today, the hospitality industry is undergoing a transformation. It’s no longer just about heads in beds — it’s about brand ecosystems, personalization through data, private equity-backed growth, and sustainability mandates. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, the hospitality sector accounted for 10% of global GDP in 2024, reaching pre-pandemic levels of $10.9 trillion in 2024¹. Hospitality is, after all, one of the world’s largest employers. Travel and tourism’s share of global GDP and jobs continues to grow post-pandemic, with 90.6 million new jobs expected by 2035.

This reinvention is happening against the backdrop of rapid technological disruption. As AI automates transactional tasks and traditional roles, industries rooted in human presence and connection will become not mere luxuries reserved for vacations, but essential sources of meaning in our daily lives. Hospitality is a realm where human warmth, creativity, and intuition stand apart as qualities that cannot be replicated or substituted by technology — and that will only grow more valuable in the years ahead.

New career paths are emerging beyond operations: asset management, culinary innovation, impact reporting, digital guest journey design, and brand partnerships that stretch from fashion to tech. Yet many of these opportunities remain under the radar for undergraduate students and beyond. Georgetown’s Cawley Career Center plays a vital role in raising awareness and expanding access — connecting students with alumni working in these fast-evolving areas, surfacing internships and full-time roles, and helping students translate their global business training into meaningful leadership pathways in hospitality and adjacent sectors.

Figure 1A: Travel and Tourism GDP Contribution (WTTC Data)²

Figure 1B: Travel and Tourism Jobs Contribution (WTTC Data)³

A Global Industry, A Local Opportunity

At Hospitality on the Hilltop, we talked about what it takes to scale luxury responsibly, to localize identity, and to innovate in a post-pandemic world. The main takeaway from the conference was that hospitality is the intentional practice of making others feel seen, valued, and understood. While traditionally associated with hotels and restaurants, hospitality as a business value has far-reaching relevance: in tech, it informs user experience; in healthcare, it shapes patient care; in diplomacy, it builds trust. At its best, hospitality is about anticipating needs and creating space for connection. In a world that often moves too fast to listen, bringing a spirit of hospitality into leadership, customer service, and community-building can rehumanize the way we work and live. It reminds us that success is not only measured in profit but in the quality of relationships we cultivate along the way.

This kind of conversation could not have happened without the support of the Baratta Center for Global Business Education, whose mission — to connect students and faculty with the forces shaping global business — aligned perfectly with the vision for this conference. The Baratta Center’s work on global industry transformation, workforce development, and business as a force for good reflects the very questions we tackled: 

• What does the future of hospitality employment look like? 
• How do we train leaders who are not only operationally excellent but globally-minded and socially conscious?

In supporting this event, the Baratta Center helped position hospitality within a broader framework of globalization, sustainability, and cross-sector collaboration. Global tourism spending has rebounded, with domestic and leisure travel dominating recovery as travel demand accelerates and digital innovation reshapes the guest experience.

Figure 2: Domestic vs. International and Leisure vs. Business Spending⁴

Georgetown teaches us to think across borders and disciplines — and hospitality demands exactly that. Whether you’re leading a resort in Bali or developing a brand in New York, you are building global citizenship in micro-interactions. You’re shaping how people experience the world. That’s why I built this conference — and why I believe the hospitality industry belongs at the center of global business conversations.

1. World Travel & Tourism Council. “Travel & Tourism Economic Impact Research.” WTTC, World Travel & Tourism Council, 2024, wttc.org/research/economic-impact.
2. World Travel & Tourism Council, Travel & Tourism: Economic Impact 2025 (WTTC, 2024), https://wttc.org/research/economic-impact.
3. World Travel & Tourism Council, Travel & Tourism: Economic Impact 2025 (WTTC, 2024), https://wttc.org/research/economic-impact.
4. World Travel & Tourism Council, Travel & Tourism: Economic Impact 2025 (WTTC, 2024), https://wttc.org/research/economic-impact.

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