Being reflexive about the conditions and claims underpinning academic knowledge is a defining aspect of critical tourism and hospitality studies. In this paper we explore how criticality has been conceptualised and consider the implications for addressing a major challenge in the field: that is, surfacing the power-knowledge relations that underpin mainstream or normalised ways of thinking. We aim to be reflexive about some of the dangers that exist in relation to the oppositional stance of critical perspectives. By drawing upon examples from our own, and others', critical research and teaching practices we examine how a reflexive approach can enable different types of dialogue, spaces and relationships. We draw upon related work in critical management studies and debates within tourism and hospitality to argue for a critical pedagogy that embraces reflexivity as a 'practice' - a way of doing, thinking and transforming knowledge as we live it. .