The mortgage industry needs to take a cue from the hospitality world and redesign the borrower journey around care, clarity, and confidence, according to STRATMOR Group’s latest Insights Report. Drawing inspiration from the recent Welcome Conference in New York City—an event founded by Will Guidara, the restaurateur behind Unreasonable Hospitality—the mortgage advisory group says the mortgage industry is lagging behind when it comes to creating memorable customer experiences.
In the article “Welcome to the Era of Hospitality: Why Mortgage Needs a Systematized, Human-Centered Redesign — Now,” Senior Partner Garth Graham and Advisor Will Ayer spell out why hospitality is sorely needed in the mortgage process. “Buying or refinancing a home is among life’s most emotional, stressful, and consequential financial experiences. Yet the process is often transactional, confusing, or simply forgettable. Too often, borrowers walk away feeling stressed, confused, and frustrated instead of cared for,” according to the article.
To address this, STRATMOR has created the Hospitality Experience Advisory, which works with leadership teams to redesign the borrower journey around systematized hospitality. The group has outlined nine pillars of experience transformation, including Reality Mapping, Emotional Design, Signature Moments, and Designing for Confidence.
STRATMOR’s research underscores the urgency. Mortgage borrowers give lower satisfaction scores than consumers of other financial products, such as auto loans and credit cards. Repeat loyalty is also alarmingly low—fewer than one in five borrowers return to their original lender for their next loan.
Graham and Ayer advise lenders to first make the mortgage process “forgettable” by removing friction, eliminating redundant requests, clarifying timelines, and preventing silent gaps. Once that is done, lenders can “make it unforgettable” by elevating key moments such as the celebratory clear-to-close call, the warm handoff to servicing, and the thoughtful thank-you note at the finish.
Also featured in this month’s report is “Guide to Greatness: What Top CX Leaders Do Differently,” an article by STRATMOR Customer Experience Director Mike Seminari. “There’s a reason some companies consistently outperform their peers in loyalty and growth: they’ve figured out how to translate vision into behavior,” he says.
According to Seminari, STRATMOR’s own MortgageCX data confirms that borrowers who experience a process with no miscues generate Net Promoter Scores (NPS) in the high 90s—creating raving fans who return and refer at far higher rates.
“What changes outcomes are daily habits—employees consistently doing the small things right, guided by standardized expectations, measured feedback, and a culture that celebrates doing the unexpected for customers,” he says.
Seminari provides three practical steps lenders can take to vastly improve the borrower journey, including his recommendation to “Audit the Friction Points.” He advises lenders to “Map the loan journey and flag the areas where borrowers experience confusion, delay, or repeated requests. Fix these first—they’re silent killers of loyalty.”
More details on STRATMOR’s Hospitality Experience Group may be found here.
Click here to read the September 2025 edition of STRATMOR’s Insights Report.
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