What Project-Based Companies Can Learn from Unreasonable Hospitality

Good service is the baseline. Now what?

Picture this: you walk into a restaurant and feel like the main character in your own movie. It’s not just about what’s on your plate, it’s about how deeply seen and cared for you feel.

📘 That’s the core message in Unreasonable Hospitality, the book by Will Guidara, former GM of New York’s Eleven Madison Park (once named the best restaurant in the world). At a Michelin-starred restaurant, exceptional food is the baseline, it’s expected. What truly set Eleven Madison Park apart wasn’t just what was on the plate, but what happened around it. Their success was built on better humanity.

You don’t have to be in fine dining to apply this. Whether you’re designing homes, overseeing construction, or guiding buyers through a multi-year project – the takeaway is the same:

Clients don’t remember what you did. They remember how you made them feel.

One of the most iconic stories in the book? When a guest at Eleven Madison Park casually mentioned they hadn’t had time to try a real New York hot dog. What did Will and his team do? They ran out to get one – from a street cart – and served it on a silver platter.

What do you think those guests remembered most and told their friends about for years afterward?
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Great service isn’t remarkable anymore, it’s expected

In real estate, construction, even marketing, we often hear:

✅ “We’re known for solid customer service.”
✅ “We send regular updates.”
✅ “We try to answer within 24h.”

Awesome. But that’s the bare minimum in today’s market.
Clients don’t write rave reviews because “you answered quickly.”
They do it when you surprise them with something they didn’t expect, but will never forget.

That’s what unreasonable means.

👉 The contractor who texts a heads-up before a showroom visit, not because it’s their job, but because it helps.
👉 The developer who remembers a client is about to become a parent and sends a small note (or a tiny pair of baby socks – we’re not crying, you are).
👉The architect who shows up to an early site visit with fresh croissants and coffee, because their client is a young parent who barely sleeps. (Ok yes, that's me.)

These aren’t grand gestures. But they are personal.
And in a world full of AI, chat bots and automated emails, that hits differently.

Another anecdote from the book? A guest once stained his tie before an important meeting. The team replaced it overnight, no questions asked. It wasn’t just thoughtful, it solved a problem before it became one. And they didn't have to do it.

Hospitality is a business strategy

Your client might be investing tens or hundreds of thousands into their project with you.
They're excited, overwhelmed, and probably Googling “how not to mess up a new build” at 11 PM.

So when they turn to you, they’re not just looking for answers...
They’re looking for reassurance.

If you treat them like guests instead of transactions, you’ll do more than meet expectations – you’ll build trust that lasts far beyond handover day.

Because let’s be real:

People might forget your name.
But they’ll never forget how you made them feel during a stressful chapter of their life.

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The takeaway: They’ll remember the human, not the blueprint

At Ziggu, we believe technology can supercharge your client relationships.
But it’s still the human moments – the ones that don’t scale – that stick.

📘 Unreasonable Hospitality is a reminder that the companies who stand out are the ones who go just a little too far.
Not because they have to.
But because they care.

And maybe the question we should all ask more often is:

“What would I love, if I were the client?”

Maybe milk & cookies.

Final anecdote from the book: when Will Guidara noticed a family celebrating a child’s birthday at the restaurant, he asked what dessert the child would really want. The answer? Milk and cookies. The team didn’t flinch. They baked them from scratch, because it’s not about what’s on the menu, it’s about what matters in the moment.

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