Inclusive hospitality: rethinking accessibility as a service ecosystem

Purpose This paper aims to critically examine how accessibility and inclusion are conceptualised in hospitality management and argues that inclusive hospitality cannot be achieved through facility-based or organisation-centric approaches alone. It advances the view that accessibility in hospitality emerges through coordinated service systems that shape guests’ ability to access, experience and evaluate hospitality services in a dignified and autonomous manner. Design/methodology/approach Adopting a Critical Reflection Paper (CRP) approach, the study synthesises insights from hospitality accessibility research, Service-Dominant Logic and Transformative Service Research to reconceptualise accessibility as a systemic and relational phenomenon. Rather than presenting empirical findings, the paper develops a conceptual framework that explains how inclusion in hospitality is co-created across interconnected actors, technologies and institutional arrangements. Findings The analysis highlights that accessibility failures in hospitality often stem from fragmentation across service encounters, organisational coordination and institutional environments, rather than from the absence of individual accessibility features. To address this, the paper introduces the Inclusive Hospitality Ecosystem (IHE) model, which conceptualises accessibility as an emergent outcome of alignment across micro-level service interactions, meso-level organisational and inter-organisational coordination and macro-level policy and cultural conditions. Practical implications The model helps managers identify and address accessibility breakdowns across service interactions, organisational coordination and institutional environments. Originality/value This paper contributes to hospitality scholarship by extending existing accessibility frameworks through a service ecosystem perspective that remains firmly anchored in hospitality management. The IHE model offers a novel lens for understanding disability inclusion as a shared and dynamic responsibility within hospitality systems, providing conceptual clarity and strategic insight for scholars and practitioners seeking to advance inclusive and socially sustainable hospitality.