Hospitable Healthcare: Just What the Patient Ordered!

“We thought we knew what patients needed..."– Dr. James Merlino, Cleveland Clinic

Most consumers agree their service experiences with hospitals, clinics, and physicians fall well short of their service experiences with hotels, resorts, and restaurants. So, what would their experiences be like if healthcare providers served them the same way hospitality providers do?

Given that both industries share many common service touchpoints, one wonders whether healthcare service providers could adopt principles of hospitality to enhance the patient experience. The insights shared in this book reveal the answer: yes!

Rich with original survey data, examples, and interviews with widely admired hospitality and healthcare service practitioners, Hospitable Healthcare is a valuable resource guaranteed to enhance the patient experience.

The first of its kind, Hospitable Healthcare introduces healthcare providers to an original service model based on principles the hospitality industry has used to create great guest experiences: PAEER (for Prepare, Anticipate, Engage, Evaluate, Reward). The model addresses four trends impacting healthcare: more patient-directed selection of healthcare service providers; greater transparency in the pricing of healthcare services to promote competition; more direct-to-consumer marketing to attract new patients; and the growing importance of patient satisfaction when payors determine reimbursement.

As Shoemaker’s and Yesawich’s work reveals, Hospitable Healthcare is indeed just what the patient ordered!

Dr. Stowe Shoemaker (PhD, Cornell University) is Dean of the William F. Harrah College of Hospitality and holds the Andrew and Peggy Cherng Dean’s Chair at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He began his deanship on July 1, 2013. The College of Hospitality is currently ranked the number one hospitality program in the US and number two in the world.

From 1996 to 2020, Dr. Shoemaker served as a member of the executive education faculty at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University where he taught courses in strategy, service operations, strategic pricing, revenue management, strategic marketing, customer loyalty and consumer behavior.

Dr. Shoemaker has published two marketing textbooks: Marketing Leadership in Hospitality and Tourism: Strategies and Tactics for a Competitive Advantage and Marketing Essentials in Hospitality and Tourism: Foundations and Practices. He has published numerous articles and his research has won multiple awards. His Harvard Business School case study on Hilton HHonors has been used by organizations and schools around the world.

Dr. Shoemaker has served as an advisor to numerous hospitality service providers over the course of his career including IGT, British Airways, Accor, Hilton, Landry’s, and Hyatt.  He has helped game developers test market new casino games (both slots and table games), developed pricing strategies for airlines, hotels and restaurants, developed programs to measure customer satisfaction, modeled the successes and failures of marketing programs, and developed segmentation strategies based on consumer motivations in the gaming, lodging and restaurant industries.

Dr. Shoemaker has applied his knowledge of hospitality to help healthcare professionals improve patient satisfaction. He held a joint appointment at MD Anderson Cancer Center from 2010 to 2012 and also worked with Memorial Healthcare Systems, Houston. In Las Vegas, Dr Shoemaker has worked with Mountain View Hospital and is currently introducing hospitality principles to the curriculum of the new UNLV College of Medicine. His research in the healthcare field has appeared in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

Peter C. Yesawich is Chairman of Hospitable Healthcare Partners, LLC, and Vice Chairman, Emeritus of MMGY Global. Hospitable Healthcare Partners, LLC, is a marketing consultancy serving hospitality and healthcare industry clients. MMGY Global is America’s leading marketing communications company serving hospitality and leisure industry clients, and renowned for its strategic thinking, breakthrough creativity, and innovation in marketing practice.

Yesawich has contributed to the development of marketing programs for some of the industry’s most popular brands and destinations including Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Hilton International, The Leading Hotels of the World, Atlantis, Baha Mar, The Breakers, The Broadmoor, CanyonRanch, Sandals Resorts, Sensei, Wynn Las Vegas, Interval International, Marriott Vacation Club International, Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Bermuda Tourist Board, Mexico Tourism Board, Disney Parks & Resorts, Universal Studios, the U.S. Olympic Committee, and .travel.

From 2010 to 2020, Yesawich served as Chief Growth Officer (CGO) of Cancer Treatment Centers of America® (CTCA), a national network of specialty hospitals and outpatient clinics treating adults diagnosed with complex or advanced-stage cancer. CTCA became the most recognized and admired national cancer care provider in the U.S. and third most positively perceived hospital system in the country during his tenure as CGO.

Yesawich has been a frequent commentator on marketing trends in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, Time, Newsweek, on the CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, and BBC World television networks, and on National Public Radio (npr).

Yesawich received the World Travel Award from the American Association of Travel Editors, the Albert E. Koehl Award from the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI), the Silver Medal from the American Advertising Federation, and the Spirit of Hospitality Award from the Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI). He is a former Visiting Associate Professor at Cornell University and member of the board of directors of the Travel Industry Association of America. A frequent contributor to trade and professional journals, he is co-author of Marketing Leadership in Hospitality and Tourism, and Hospitable Healthcare: Just What the Patient Ordered!

Yesawich received B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell, with postgraduate studies at Yale and Stanford.