At my home in Seattle. Photo by Kari Collins

Hi, I’m Tammi Sims. After a 20-year career with a non-profit organization working with people with developmental disabilities, I decided to take some time to re-evaluate life, spending more time with friends and family and travel. While doing so, on a whim I created an Airbnb listing for my home in Seattle. With bad cell phone photos and 3 hours of time, my listing was launched. I soon became a nearly full time host and discovered the act of hosting travelers was deeply satisfying. A year later, I began coordinating and “hosting” retreats for a friend and former colleague’s business. I soon realized that both endeavors had something in common – both were about providing hospitality – whether to a group of travelers or to a group of retreat attendees. I also realized the importance of that hospitality and the positive impact providing people with a thoughtful and well designed space as well as a personalized guest experience could have on a guest. As a result, I developed “A Gracious Host” as a resource and gathering place for the best hospitality ideas and practices.

Hospitality is an ancient practice of welcoming others. It’s an opportunity to extend kindness and generosity.

When I speak about hospitality, I’m referring to the art of hosting with soul and from the soul. I’m talking about welcoming friends, family, clients, colleagues, guests and strangers with an open, generous, genuine and present heart. I’m talking about being mindful about how we receive a guest and tuning into our guests before they arrive at our doorstep. And I’m talking about being thoughtful and responsive to the needs and desires of our guests when they cross our threshold. It’s my belief that the world can be transformed in big and small ways, by our acts of hospitality.

Whether hosting an Airbnb guest or retreat attendee in my professional life or hosting a family member, dinner guest or friend in my personal life, I try to be mindful about the needs and desires of my guests. I take time to tune in and get curious about things like how far they’ve traveled, what they are coming to my city for, who they are traveling with and what the purpose of their trip is. It helps me to meet my guests where they are and offer what might be pleasing, restorative or delightful.

As many of our lives continue to speed up, we are becoming more and more isolated from each other. Yet, we all crave a place of belonging. We crave a place to rest, be, think, dream and create. We crave the joy, inspiration and comfort of being in each other’s presence. My desire is to create a movement of hospitality that will reconnect us with each other – including people known to us and unknown to us. What would happen if we all adopted a spirit of hospitality in our daily lives?

Think of the times in your life when you have been graciously welcomed and hosted – when you have experienced the generosity of another – whether through their presence, their guest room or at their dinner table. What did it do for your soul? How did it restore, comfort, delight or inspire you? How do each of us in our own ways offer this to each other? What does it require? Courage? Creativity? Intuition? A deep listening? What would nurture your guest? What is your guest craving? What would delight your guest? Don’t we all need more of this, individually and as a whole?

Join me. Let’s create a Hospitality Movement.