Toward hospitable healthcare
Introduction
Customer satisfaction data confirm what many consumers believe intuitively: their service experiences with most healthcare service providers (hospitals, clinics, physicians) fall well short of their service experiences with most hospitality providers (hotels, resorts, restaurants). Yet, because the services delivered in both industries are intangible, one wonders whether adoption of the principles that have enhanced guest satisfaction in the hospitality industry could elevate the level of satisfaction patients express with healthcare service providers. These include common points of patient engagement such as the ease of making a reservation/appointment, the arrival experience, knowing the price of the service before it is delivered, quick and thorough resolution of problems, the creation of more welcoming environments, and the use of reward programs to build loyalty and lifetime value. The need for healthcare service providers to explore adoption of these principles is exigent, however, accelerated by three converging trends: 1) the new “information everywhere” environment that has precipitated more self-diagnosis of clinical symptoms and patients’ selection of providers independent of referrals from medical professionals, 2) the move toward transparency in pricing healthcare services to promote competition and enable more informed consumer choice, and 3) the fact that most healthcare service providers must now compete for new patients through direct-to-consumer marketing.
In this article we provide comparisons of the importance of, and satisfaction with, different guest/patient service “touchpoints” that apply to both hospitality and healthcare experiences with results from an original survey we conducted with 1200 U.S. adults screened to establish their frequency of engagement with hotels, resorts, restaurants, hospitals, walk-in clinics, and physicians’ offices during the year prior to the arrival of COVID-19 (hereinafter referred to as our GAP survey). The data reveal prevailing sentiments toward each group of service providers and specific areas in which healthcare service providers could benefit from the adoption of practices embraced and refined by hospitality service providers.
Section snippets
A Stark contrast
In the sidebar appearing at the end of this article, we chronicle two different service experiences of our fictional protagonist, Roger Conway: scheduling and receiving a colonoscopy; thereafter, booking and taking a trip to Las Vegas. Granted, the motivations for each action were dramatically different, yet they entailed the delivery of services that resulted in two disparate customer experiences. Why? We assert because Conway’s hospitality experience addressed the needs and concerns of the
The need for improvement
Competition in the hospitality industry has forced practitioners to discover and embrace new ways to reach, engage, serve, and listen to feedback from customers. This awareness has led the most successful hospitality service providers to develop comprehensive profiles of customers’ preferences and consumption habits which, in turn, enable these businesses to anticipate customer needs and desires, offer more innovative product/service options, recognize and reward customer loyalty, and request
Importance of select service variables
At the outset, we should state we did not measure the relative importance of clinical outcomes in determining overall patient satisfaction for two reasons: 1) the importance of clinical outcome varies dramatically by clinical procedure (e.g., treatment for metastatic cancer versus a broken ankle), and 2) most consumers are incapable of evaluating the success or failure of clinical outcomes because they do not possess the technical knowledge required to do so. Further, there is empirical
Problem resolution
Our GAP survey also examined how both hospitality and healthcare service providers respond to service failures. Fig. 7, Fig. 8 reveal consumers’ belief it is easier to resolve disputes with hospitality service providers and, if petitioned, hospitality service providers resolve disputes more quickly. We believe this behavior derives from the hospitality industry’s more guest-centric culture and the fact that hospitality service providers are much more diligent in their effort to collect feedback
A welcoming environment
The different physical environments and operational protocols maintained by hospitality and healthcare service providers also contribute to disparate experiential outcomes. The psychological state of customers as they enter those environments is a contributing factor. For example, anticipation is a natural precursor of the consumption of many services, especially those in which we make a significant emotional or financial investment. This is evident when people express how they feel about a
Communication
The data in Fig. 11 reveal another opportunity for healthcare service providers to enhance patient satisfaction: the solicitation of feedback on services provided.
Although our data do not reveal any significant difference in the rated importance of this variable across the cohorts, less than half of adults report healthcare service providers request their feedback, significantly fewer than the percentage of adults who receive such requests from hospitality service providers. Physicians’ offices
Communication
A significant contributor to the guest or patient experience is the attitude displayed by the host staff. Hospitality service providers have made training to enhance this aspect of the guest experience a priority given the importance of the resulting “first impression” and how this colors sentiment toward all other aspects of the guest experience. The positive impact this investment has made on the guest experience is evident in the GAP survey data appearing in Fig. 13:
A simple but highly
A word about loyalty
It is also important to understand how loyalty programs are used by hospitality service providers to establish on-going communications and create enduring relationships with guests. Customer loyalty should not be confused with customer frequency, however. Just because a customer patronizes a specific brand frequently does not mean he/she is loyal to that brand. Brand selection is often constrained by availability, not just loyalty. Customer loyalty derives from an emotional bond with the brand,
The ROI
As reflected in our GAP survey data, satisfaction ignites loyalty, and loyalty increases repeat patronage over time. Together, these relationships suggest healthcare service providers would be the beneficiaries of enhanced clinical and financial outcomes if they adopted the principles of hospitality revealed in this article to enhance patient satisfaction. The fact that the majority (57 %) of patients who seek care from a hospital system fail to return to the same system for care of any kind
The opportunity
Data from our GAP survey reveal significant disparities between consumers’ satisfaction with hospitality versus healthcare service providers. Although the nature of the services provided by each is arguably different, both industries share common points of customer engagement that may be orchestrated to enhance the customer experience. Further, we believe the heightened anxiety that characterizes the mental state of patients who present for treatment amplifies the need for, and relevance of,
About the Authors
Yesawich is a founding principal and Vice Chairman, Emeritus of MMGY Global, a leading marketing services agency that specializes in serving clients in the hospitality, travel, and leisure industries. From 2010–2020 he also served as Chief Growth Office of Cancer Treatment Centers of America™, a national network of cancer specialty hospitals and outpatient clinics.
Shoemaker is Dean of the Harrah College of Hospitality at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He previously served on the faculty
Methodology
Original survey of 1200 U.S. adults comparing and contrasting their sentiments toward 24 points of service engagement common to both hospitality service providers (hotels, resorts, restaurants) and healthcare service providers (hospitals, walk-in clinics, physicians’ offices).