Do you want a repeatable, benchmark-setting opening Or just an Instagram ready façade?
Luxury is not chandeliers. It is human behaviour, consistently delivered. If you want a hotel that guests remembers and pay for, build culture before you open. Do that and check the boxes that follow. Skip it and your pretty hotel will leak revenue, staff and reputation. Period.
The premise, why pre-opening culture is non-negotiable.
Hotel’s finishes can be copied. However, the emotional currency of luxury cannot. Culture is the set of repeatable behaviours, judgments and disciplined actions your team delivers when no one is watching. It is what transforms a single night’s stay into a lasting memory. This is why you must design that system during pre-opening, then carry it forward through hiring, training, decision rights and incentive design.
Exact things to do during pre-opening — no fluff.
1. Define 8–12 non-negotiable behaviours. Not values. Behaviours. Examples: Welcome by name, own and resolve issues within X minutes, personalise an unexpected gesture on every second stay. Put these in job descriptions and interview scorecards.
2. Hire for mindset then train for skill. Make cultural fit a pass-fail gate at interview stage. Use behavioural interviews and real-world role plays. Take one person who looks right and test them by placing them in simulated crises. If they fail, they would fail in service.
3. Two-week immersion for every employee. Back-office should serve in F&B, reservations must spend shifts at the front desk, engineers do shift shadowing. Culture is contagious only when everyone speaks the same operational language.
4. Empower with clear discretionary rules. Give frontline staff defined limits for fixing guest issues on the spot. Write the limits, train to them, measure use and outcomes. Empowerment without rules is chaos. Rules without empowerment is theatre.
5. Leadership models behaviour. Pre-opening leaders must be visible on the floor, coach in real time, and make tough hiring/firing calls quickly. Culture is modelled, not emailed.
6. Measure the right things weekly. Examples: mystery-shop behavioural score, first-contact resolution %, employee NPS, and time-to-autonomy for new hires. Publish results and tie small rewards to improvements.
7. Rehearse guest journeys, then break them. Run 10 full dress rehearsals of guest arrival to departure with external mystery shoppers. Document failures, change SOPs, retrain, repeat.
What “culture-first” looks like in the real world
Suryagarh, Jaisalmer in Rajasthan India, Built by owner Manvendra Singh Shekhawat, Suryagarh is a great Indian example of an individually owned property that put people, heritage and curated guest experience ahead of spectacle. The owner’s personal involvement, local crafts integration and curated storytelling make culture the product the property sells; not only its architecture.
The Dwarika’s, Kathmandu, Nepal, A family-led hotel built from rescued Newari woodwork and run as a “living museum.” Dwarika’s is a textbook case of culture embedded in product, operations and training, heritage conservation became the operating core and staff deliver that story in every interaction. Their ongoing focus on crafts, workshops and regenerative tourism shows how culture can be the commercial differentiator.
One blunt operational truth
“If your opening budget forces you to choose between a training academy and a marble lobby, choose the academy. The lobby draws headlines. People bring repeat business. Headlines stop; guests that become promoters pay bills for years”
Final prescription — the first 90 days
A 30-60-90 day actionable pre-opening plan with interview scorecards must be prepared, a two-week immersion syllabus and the exact cultural KPIs to be published weekly.
- Week 0–4: Let key cultural champions create your 12 non-negotiables.
- Week 5–8: Run immersion training, set discretionary decision rules, hold 5 dress rehearsals.
- Week 9–12: Launch with mystery shop program, weekly cultural KPI reviews, and a retention incentive for staff who demonstrate cultural leadership.
Binny Sebastian Boutique Hotels Emotional Intelligence Guest Experience Strategy Hiring Hospitality Leadership Hospitality Talent Hospitality Trends India Hotel Brands Hotel General Manager Hotel Owners & Investors Hotel Pre Opening Human Resources Luxury Brand Differentiation Luxury Hospitality Luxury Hotel General Manager Luxury Hotel Positioning Organisational development Organisational politics Productivity Revenue Strategy Skills Sustainability Talent Management Ultra-High-Net-Worth Travel Wellness
