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Lesson 2: Four Steps for Personalizing Experiences at Scale | Will Guidara
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December 12, 2025
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December 12, 2025
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3:02Now PlayingEver wondered how theme parks manage to make millions of people feel they’ve had a unique experience? It’s all about recognizing patterns and responding creatively.
At Disneyworld, for example, guests are offered buttons to display why they visited – allowing employees to personalize interactions. And by monitoring the park for long lines, frustrations can be alleviated by sending a character to entertain guests while they wait.
In this video lesson, restauranteur Will Guidara explains the importance of observing customer behaviors to devise scalable – yet tailored – responses.
Some of the best hospitality happens through pattern recognition:
Start by identifying 3 recurring moments in your business (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly).
Work with your team to innovate around how you’ll respond when those moments come about.
Invest creativity and resources to develop the assets you’ll need.
Put them in a toolkit that’s easy to access and deploy.
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About Will Guidara:
Will Guidara is the author of the National Bestseller Unreasonable Hospitality, which chronicles the lessons in service and leadership he has learned over the course of his career in restaurants.
He is the former co-owner of Eleven Madison Park, which under his leadership received four stars from the New York Times, three Michelin stars, and in 2017 was named #1 on the list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
He is the host of the Welcome Conference, an annual hospitality symposium that brings together like minded people to share ideas, inspire one another, and connect to form community.
A graduate of the hospitality school at Cornell University, he has coauthored four cookbooks, was named one of Crain's New York Business's 40 Under 40, and is the recipient of WSJ Magazine's Innovator Award.
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