The New Era of Hospitality: Filling the Relationship Void

By Max Fellows, Founder of allpoints

Call me old‑fashioned, but I’m convinced we’ve over‑corrected.

Off the back of COVID, a wave of heightened regulation (especially in tightly governed sectors like pharma), and procurement/compliance teams wading deeper into tier‑one global accounts, many brands have quietly stepped away from anything that even smells like hospitality or hosting. Blend that with the broader shifts we’ve all lived through: email usage up by well over 80% in many client environments, far more people working from home, convenience trumping commitment, and a general reluctance to meet face‑to‑face outside of formal meetings, and you’re left with a massive relationship void.

Layer on one more reality: there simply aren’t that many genuinely strong salespeople out there right now. More and more, it’s falling to account directors and business owners (hands up, I’m one of them) to do the relationship heavy lifting that should be happening in the field, not just in the inbox.

1. How We Got Here: Regulation, Remote, and Relationship Drift

Since the pandemic, the pendulum has swung hard toward risk management. Procurement guardrails tightened. Sector‑specific rules (again, pharma is a standout) made client entertainment feel like a compliance minefield. Add internal scrutiny on spend across tier‑one, big‑ticket accounts, and the perceived safest move became… doing nothing.

At the same time, our working patterns exploded outward. Remote and hybrid norms mean people protect their time differently. We blur the line between work and personal space, but paradoxically are less inclined to meet in person unless it’s a scheduled, agenda‑driven session. We default to email. We jump on Teams. We say we’re connected, but we’re not actually connecting.

2. Hospitality Is Not Bribery; It’s Access to the Real Conversation

Here’s what I’ve seen over the last 16–18 months: the businesses that are deliberately exercising hospitality, not buying clients, not bribing, but creating experiences that help you connect better with key decision‑makers, are winning. Full stop.

Why? Because you simply cannot unpack the real relationship dynamics over a Teams call. You don’t discover the political nuance, the budget flex, the “heads of” priorities, or the personal drivers that shape partnership decisions by firing another email. Hospitality creates the space to listen properly and to ask the questions that rarely make it onto an agenda.

And yes, those who lean into this are seeing greater returns. Deeper conversations. More opportunity. Increased spend. I’m working to pull harder data. What’s the uplift between those who host with intent vs. those who don’t? And I’ll share that when we’ve got it modelled. But the directional signal is already flashing bright.

3. Old School Still Has a Place, But Relevance Wins the Day

Let’s talk formats. Classic hospitality isn’t dead. There’s still room for the tried‑and‑tested: a proper lunch and a game of footy or rugby; a good night at a concert; hospitality at Henley Regatta; Wimbledon tennis, pick your flavour. Done well and with the right people, these still land.

But the new era of hospitality is what’s really cutting through. Think curated, situation‑specific experiences that are:

• Relevant to the conversation you need to have or the value your business brings.
• Contextual to the client’s world, sector, challenge, and timing.
• Distinct without needing to be a once‑in‑a‑lifetime bucket‑list blowout.
• Intentionally limited rather than “all the time, everywhere.” Scarcity signals value.

When you get that mix right, it really works. The experience becomes part of the strategic dialogue, not a sideshow. People relax. Walls drop. You learn what actually matters; deals move.

My Take

Hospitality has been unfairly parked in the “risky/unnecessary/old school” bucket. That’s lazy thinking. In a market where inboxes are swollen, calendars are virtual, and true sales craft is thin on the ground, thoughtful, well‑timed hospitality is a competitive advantage.

If you’re serious about strengthening key relationships in 2025:

1. Reintroduce hosted touchpoints into your account plans, start small, pilot, learn.
2. Design for relevance: tie the experience to the strategic conversation you need to advance.
3. Show up yourself: senior presence matters when you’re trying to understand nuance.
4. Measure the delta: track opportunity value, conversion, and spend pre/post-hosted engagement. (I’m digging into comparative data now. Drop me a line if you want in.)

We’re helping brands and agencies rethink hospitality, not as entertainment, but as an experiential intelligence tool. If you’re feeling that relationship void with tier‑one accounts, let’s fix it.

Drop me a note. Let’s build something worth showing up for.

— Max