Samenvatting

According to several authors, such as Bunner-Sperdin and Peters (2009), Ogorman (2010) and Hokkeling and Mar (2012), hospitality can be defined as an interpersonal exchange, in which the host wants to give the best experience, whereby the physical, spiritual, emotional and social well-being of the patient is paramount. Hospitality is focused on service provision, but also on the experience with which it is delivered to the user. The importance of hospitality lies in the upcoming competition between hospitals and hospitals have to deliver a good experience. Other trends and developments, like the financial system of hospitals, day-care admissions, vacancy of hospitals and the increasing number of chronical patients contribute to the importance of hospitality as well.
In addition, the perception is according to Berry, Wall and Carbone (2006) and Bitner (1992) influenced by three dimensions, being the service, behaviour and physical environment. As a result there has been research about the healing environment, but there is a lack of research about how to influence all three dimensions for a more positive hospitality experience. At the moment there is not a list of recommendations in what way the hospitality experience can be improved.
Therefore the objective of this research is to gain insight into the three dimensions that influence the hospitality experience of patients in a general ward of regional hospitals in the Netherlands. In addition, the researcher is aware of the fact that the medical side also plays a role in the hospitality experience. But there is consciously chosen to only focus on the three dimensions due to lack of time. The dimension service focus on nutrition being served in the patient room, the dimension behaviour on the behaviour of the nutrition staff and the dimension environment on the layout of the general ward and patient room.
The main research question is: ’What aspects in the service, behaviour and environment dimensions (in)directly influence the hospitality experience of chronical patients admitted to general wards of regional hospitals ? ' '
In the present research qualitative approach is used, which consists of semi-structured interviews, group interviews and a workshop. The questions asked are related to the expectations and the experiences of the patients regarding to the three dimensions. The results show that the aspects which (in) directly influence the hospitality experience of chronical patients admitted to general wards of regional hospitals for service are: assortment, snacks, flavour enhancers, time and portions. The aspects for behaviour are: kindness, hospitality and knowledge. Finally, the aspects for environment are: space, common room, noise, privacy, natural elements and homely atmosphere.
In addition, the results show that all dimensions have an effect on the patient satisfaction, which lead to a higher hospitality experience within the hospital, because it is related to the overall healthcare quality.
The results of this research will provid