Emotional intelligence research in hospitality
IntuitiveStay™ publishes original research on how emotional intelligence shapes guest experience, staff performance, and revenue in the UK hospitality industry.
Research is free to access. Full datasets are available to download.
ABOUT
About this research
IntuitiveStay™ is the creator of the Guest Connection Score®, the first framework to measure emotional intelligence as a commercial metric in hospitality. Our research examines the gap between what the hospitality industry says it values in its people and what it actually hires for, trains for, and measures.
THE WHY
Why emotional intelligence in hospitality matters
Guest return is driven by how people feel during a visit, not just what they ate or whether service was efficient. Emotional intelligence, the ability to read, respond to, and manage emotional states, is the single most commercially valuable skill in hospitality. It is also the most consistently unmeasured.
THE FINDINGS
Published Research - The EI Gap Series
JUNE 10TH 2026
The Reputation Gap: independent hotels outrate chains on Google
133 properties · 10 UK destinations · York, Bath, Brighton, Oxford + 6 more
10 UK DESTINATIONS
133 PROPERTIES
+0.46 RATING GAP
KEY FINDINGS
Independent properties average 4.53 stars on Google. Chain properties average 4.07. The gap is +0.46 in favour of independents.
Not one of the 10 destinations studied showed chains rating higher than independents.
Chains respond to 95% of reviews. Independents respond to just 77%. The stronger product is the less managed one.
The gap holds across all 10 locations. This is not a local result. It is a national, systemic pattern.
MAY 17TH 2026
The EI Gap: what UK hospitality is actually hiring for
90 job ads · London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham
4 UK CITIES
3 ROLE LEVELS
0 EI CRITERIA FOUND
KEY FINDINGS
"Passion for hospitality" appears in 89% of ads. It is unverifiable and untestable.
"Works under pressure" appears constantly. Emotional resilience, the actual skill, does not.
Not one ad across any city asked whether a candidate can read a guest's emotional state.
The finding is consistent across all four cities. This is a national, systemic pattern.