When Sarah Phelps first ventured into hospitality, she never imagined just how far her career would launch her—quite literally—into the stars. Yet today, Phelps stands at the intersection of tradition and transformation, bringing the heart of hotel hospitality to the frontier of space tourism at Blue Origin.
After starting her hospitality career at Club Med and Montana’s Yellowstone Club, seven years ago Phelps joined Blue Origin as managing director, astronaut sales, commercial partnerships and customer experience and hospitality.
Phelps’s career has always been defined by creating experiences that forge deep emotional connections. At Club Med, guests came for the best beaches but also for the hospitality crafted by the staff, Phelps said. “Guests know when they come to Club Med, it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be interactive.” Whether it is a cheerful bartender belting out a tune or a nurse breaking into dance, each employee was chosen as much for their ability to delight as for their technical skills.
“People come back because of the people,” Phelps recalled, emphasizing how Club Med’s culture of interactive joy set it apart. She found this same connection with guests at the Yellowstone Club, a private residential club, ski resort and golf resort located in Big Sky, Mont. There, the allure wasn’t just in the pristine slopes or exclusive amenities—it was in the relationships that guests formed. “Members could travel anywhere, but they returned to Big Sky for the community. Friendships that might have seemed unlikely flourished later in life,” she reflected.
At the club’s annual gatherings, long-term members would testify to the unexpected bonds they forged, revealing that even places of luxury yearned for the warmth only people could provide. These formative stops along Phelps’ journey shaped her vision of hospitality—one built around genuine, human connection, even in an era where technology makes person-to-person interaction increasingly optional.
“You don’t have to talk to your banker, your pizza delivery, even your restaurant host anymore. But people crave those connections—and our industry is all about creating them,” she said.
The Move to Space Exploration
That hospitality philosophy became the foundation for Phelps’ work at Blue Origin, the American aerospace manufacturer and spaceflight services company founded in 2000 by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The company is developing reusable rocket technology for space tourism, orbital launches and missions to the moon.
At Blue Origin, Phelps is tasked with a bold goal: design a guest experience worthy of Earth’s most adventurous travelers. It was a challenge like no other—constructing an astronaut village and training program in the remote West Texas desert, repurposing a site never intended for visitors. The solution wasn’t to recreate luxury hotels, but to embrace authenticity.
“We weren’t building a W Hotel in the desert,” Phelps said. “Guests stay in Airstreams, drawing on the tradition of space travel, and gather over fire-pit meals under the dark Texas skies.”
Here, hospitality is high-touch and high-service as in her past hospitality experience and always genuine—jeans, cowboy boots and all — it is the Texas desert after all.
At the core of Sarah’s approach is recognizing that space tourists aren’t just clients—they’re embarking on transformative journeys, trusting their lives and their loved ones to Blue Origin. She leads a hospitality team trained in emotional intelligence, ready to anticipate and respond to the unique anxieties and excitement of both astronauts and their families.
“Our team has to be listening and reacting and learning,” Phelps acknowledged. “Where is this astronaut coming from? How is their family feeling? Are they bringing a level of stress or a level of calm? How do we manage how they're feeling so that they are the best possible state of mind for when they get on that vehicle?
“The hospitality team is really that first line of building and instilling trust and confidence.”
For Phelps, this isn’t just good service—it’s hospitality at its highest level. “Hospitality can be found in the most unexpected places and industries,” she said. “I run a hospitality division at an aerospace company, which is unheard of — and we are growing in ranks.
“People are seeing the value of bringing hospitality into these unexpected industries.”
Looking to the future, Phelps believes the hospitality industry’s greatest impact may lie ahead, as space tourism expands. “As soon as people start living and working in space, we’ll need hospitality professionals—chefs, housekeepers, experience creators. We’ll need people who understand how to make others feel at home, no matter how far from Earth.”
She encourages her colleagues in hospitality to stay open-minded and people-centered—the jobs may not exist yet, but the blueprint for experiential connection is already being drawn.
“Life is short. You have two choices in life — we can be awesome or we can be lame. We only go through this life, this one time so I always encourage people to be awesome because it will serve you with happiness and joy all the time,” she concluded.
Phelps will be at this year’s The Hospitality Show, Oct. 26-28 in Denver, sharing more details about her hospitality story in the session, Next-Gen Travel: Hospitality Lessons from a Space Village. For more information and to register for The Hospitality Show, visit www.thehospitalityshow.com.