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A healing touch: when hospitality meets healthcare
A healing touch: when hospitality meets healthcare
SHMS graduate, Luis Andre da Silva Pedro, is the Head of Hotel and Customer Services at The London Clinic. He shares how he sees hospitality as an integral part to personalized healthcare.
1. High standards
In many ways, running a hospital is like running a luxury hotel: we set the same high standards – outstanding customer service, excellent food, great communication, and impeccable housekeeping. I was recruited because the London Clinic wanted to deliver five-star hospitality within healthcare. I implement the same systems in the hospital that you would find in a luxury hotel and I operate in the same way a General Manager would.
What makes us stand apart is the willingness to always go the extra mile. We have a catering manager, front of house team, a concierge, housekeeping, reservations and marketing departments. I even hired an executive chef from a five-star hotel which means our menu choice is exactly like what you would receive in a luxury hotel!
"My training in hospitality gave me a clear advantage. At SHMS, we were rigorously trained and experienced first-hand what great service should be and how attention to detail is so important in creating a 5-star experience. A Swiss hospitality education gives you very high standards that resonate in every aspect of life. If you have high standards you will succeed because you can question, adapt, and improve."
Luis Andre da Silva Pedro graduated from SHMS in 2004 with a degree in Hotel Operations Management. Connect with him on LinkedIn to find out more about applying your hospitality education to a career in health care (hint hint: he's currently hiring).
2. It's all about people
With a background in hospitality, you understand how to take care of people and to cater to their specific needs.For example, we have a lot of international patients come through our doors. To ensure seamless communication with patients and their families, we work with a team of in house translators and interpreters. We take care of the meals for families of patients, provide extra beds should they want to stay overnight, make sure they are always receiving personal attention, and most importantly we keep them informed at every stage of the care process.
Another example of this level of personalized care is when we hosted a wedding in the hospital for someone who was terminally ill. Our chef prepared a wedding cake, food for the reception, and we served champagne. I will never forget this day. It was very tearful – a happy circumstance for a very sad situation. I am proud to be a part of a department that can make something like this happen.
3. It's in the details
Every single detail of the clinic is important for me – even the smell. Everyone knows what a hospital smells like and in a previous hospital I worked, I decided to change this by adding a scent machine in the reception. Although I originally received a lot of resistance to this idea, it was the first thing our patients mentioned on their feedback. Our patients shared with us that the cleanliness and smell of the welcome space gave a great first impression and even helped put them at ease.
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