Background and aim: Service providers need to be competent in the provision of hospitality. However, the question is, how to operationalize the experience of hospitality? Existing literature shows limited concrete service characteristics that lead to a hospitable experience in service environments. This article presents user-centred research into human-related aspects that influence the hospitality experience of guests. Methods/methodology: Four case studies were performed in a public swimming pool and a catering setting. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, in three of the four cases, regular customers of the organizations were approached by email and asked to rate the importance of behaviours related to hospitable service. In the case of the public swimming pool, part of the data was collected prior to closing of the pool, allowing data collection via survey, on site or via email, depending on visitors’ preferences. Results: The results show which non-verbal employee characteristics contribute to the distinctive factors of hospitality, especially observable behaviour. The factors ‘modest appearance’ and ‘representative appearance’ seem to be of medium importance, and the factor ‘paralanguage’ seems to be the least important factor. Practical implications: This article shows that it is possible to identify concrete characteristics of employee behaviour that people associate with hospitality.