Part of my everyday job is designing new schools, and I’m always thinking about how we can truly curate the school experience for students and families.

I think we miss something when we design schools only around academics and operations. There’s an anthropology to school, too: the rituals, spaces, sounds, objects, interactions, and little signals that tell people what kind of place this is and whether they belong here.

And the way families experience institutions has changed. This generation of parents has different expectations for communication, access, personalization, and experience. Students have changed, too. School isn’t just the place you go to get information anymore. Kids can access information anywhere. So the social experience of school—belonging, connection, identity, community, discovery—matters even more.

That’s why I think schools have a lot to learn from hospitality.

Hotels think intentionally about what you smell when you walk in, what’s playing in the lobby, how you know where to go, how you’re welcomed, whether someone anticipates what you need, and the little touches that make an experience memorable.

I’m not saying schools need to become hotels. I’m saying we can borrow some of that thinking.

None of those things are the point by themselves.

The point is designing a school experience that tells students and families, we thought about what it would feel like to be here.

Here are 7 things I think schools could steal from hotels. 👀

Which one are you trying first?

It all begins with an idea.

It all begins with an idea.

It all begins with an idea.