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INSTRUCTIONS FOR PARTICIPATING IN THE NATIONAL HOSPITALITY IMPACT SURVEY

Step one: You will need: a database of all your guests from July 1, 2018-June 30, 2019. 
 
Step two: Determine if you will distribute the survey electronically or by mail. You can also consider a hybrid model based on the ages of your guests. This will allow you to send an electronic survey to guests younger than 60 and a paper copy to those over the age of 60. 
 
Benefits of an electronic survey: 
  • Preferred method to reach an audience under the age of 60*
  • Can be distributed electronically by email or text
  • Less staff time
  • Data collection is easy and automatic (there is nothing left for you to do once you send the surveys)
  • No cost to print or mail the survey
Benefits of a physical survey:
  • Preferred method to reach an audience over the age of 60
  • Can be distributed in the mail
  • Preparing the surveys for distribution requires more time. 
  • While there is more staff time and cost involved, you will have more participation and therefore more accurate reporting. Participating houses are responsible for printing and mailing the surveys to their guests. HHN will not be sending surveys directly to guests from the national office. 
 
Step three: Customize your cover letter. 
IMPORTANT: Please edit ONLY the highlighted portions of the cover letter. ABSOLUTELY NO CHANGES can be made to the rest of the cover letter. 
 
Electronic Survey: If the electronic method is selected, copy and paste the customized cover letter so that it is included in the body of your email addressed to the guest.
Email Subject: CONFIDENTIAL SURVEY FROM NAME OF HOSPITALITY HOUSE, RESPONSES DUE BY OCTOBER 3, 2019
 
Paper Survey: Download the cover letter and update the highlighted section with your organization's details. Print the customized cover letter and sign on the signature line. We encourage you to include the signature of a staff member the guest would be familiar with.
 
PRINT / STAMP ON THE ENVELOPE: TIME SENSITIVE, RESPONSES DUE BY OCTOBER 3, 2019 or PLEASE RETURN BY OCTOBER 3, 2019
 
Step four: The National Hospitality Impact Survey & Data Collection
 
Electronic Survey: 
  1. Copy and paste the customized cover letter into an email to your guest. 
  2. Make sure the email is updated to include the guest's name and that the link is placed appropriately. 
  3. Email Subject: CONFIDENTIAL SURVEY FROM NAME OF HOSPITALITY HOUSE, RESPONSES DUE BY OCTOBER 3, 2019 
  4. You are ready to send!
Once the emails are distributed to your guests, you have completed the process and all survey responses will be collected automatically without the need of your organization to manage data collection. However, we recommend sending a reminder email out one week later and then near the survey deadline of October 3, 2019. 
 
Paper Survey: 
  1. Download the proper survey. If the particular guest was the patient, download the patient survey word template; if the guest was the caregiver of the patient, download the caregiver survey word template;
    1. DOWNLOAD THE PATIENT SURVEY
    2. DOWNLOAD THE CAREGIVER SURVEY
  2. Now that you have downloaded the correct template, see the highlighted sections of the survey and update the footer with your house name. Once updated, PRINT. It’s important that you make ABSOLUTELY NO CHANGES to the actual survey questions and just update portions that have been highlighted for you.
  3. Combine the cover letter and survey forms with the paid-postage your house provides for your guests to return their completed surveys in. Pre-address all paper survey, return envelopes to:
    1. Philos Hospitality, Inc. Attn:  HHN Impact Survey
    2. PO Box 14472
    3. Tulsa, Oklahoma, 74159-1472
  4. You are ready to send! Once the surveys have been mailed out to guests, you have completed the process and are not responsible for the manual entering of data. As an additional benefit to those who are choosing to perform a paper survey, we have a volunteer team of university students from Oklahoma State University School of Medicine and the Center of Rural Health, along with university students from the Oklahoma State University College of Hospitality and Tourism who will be keying in all the data from the paper surveys.

It’s important to note ON THE ENVELOPE that the survey responses will be due by October 3, 2019.

 
Step four: Collecting survey responses
Electronic: once the email is sent, survey responses will be collected automatically from that link. Your organization won't be responsible for managing the data collection. 
 
Paper:  Houses who are sending the survey out by mail will not be responsible for manually entering data. As an additional benefit to those who are choosing to perform a paper survey, we have a volunteer team of university students from Oklahoma State University School of Medicine and the Center of Rural Health, along with university students from the Oklahoma State University College of Hospitality and Tourism who will be keying in all the data from the paper surveys.  
 
 
If you are mailing the survey, please include the addressed return envelopes to:
Philos Hospitality, Inc. Attn:  HHN Impact Survey
PO Box 14472
Tulsa, Oklahoma, 74159-1472
 
IMPORTANT: the survey responses will be due by October 3, 2019. 
 
Step five:
IMPORTANT: Please complete the brief survey to indicate that your organization/house has participating in the survey. This will ensure that you are eligible to receive the final national and your house report for free when available. We won't be able to provide live updates on the returns, but will provide all participating houses with a status update as available while the survey is open. 
 
NOTE: These step-by-step instructions are the best practices recommended by the pilot study participants.
 

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q. Can I make changes to the survey and cover letter?
A. It is very important that you make no changes to the final survey or the cover letter outside of the highlighted sections where you input your organization name. These surveys have been approved by the IRB and no additional modifications can be made. 
 
"Please note that approved protocols are subject to monitoring by the IRB and that the IRB office has the authority to inspect research records associated with this protocol at any time." (Approval of Exempt IRB Application CHS-10-16 Healthcare Hospitality Network National Impact Study)
 
Q. Can I add a personalized note or thank you in my mailing?
A. No. The purpose for restricting the personal “thank you” messages is to avoid potential message confusion that the participants “owe” the hospitality house a good review. If you’ve had your car serviced recently you may have experienced this “pressure for a positive review”.  The request for a response should appear to be as unbiased and independent as possible. We know that it is not the hospitality house's intent to communicate a desire or need for a positive review but IRB’s are looking for any hint of this especially in vulnerable populations (elderly, sick, etc.).
 
Q. What guests do I survey? What is the date-range?
A. One guest per household for all guests between July 1, 2018-June 30, 2019. 
 
Q. How many pages is the paper copy of the survey? 
A. Six 
 
Q. What are the differences between the caregiver and the patient surveys?
A. The only change is in the language dependent upon who is being surveyed. 
 
Q. When will the survey be closed? What is the deadline to include in the paper surveys?
A. October 3, 2019
 
Q. How do I customize the cover letter? 
A. Download the template and enter in your house and staff information in the sections highlighted. Or if emailing the survey, copy and paste the updated cover letter and include the survey link.
 
Q. Do I have to customize the guest name on the cover letter?
A. You can remove the line with the "Dear ... GUEST NAME". However, we recommend keeping this to increase open and return rates. 
 
Q. What do I put as the sender address on the return envelopes addressed to Philos Hospitality?
A. You can leave it blank OR put your house info there. 
 
Q. What if I am sending an electronic survey AND a paper survey by mail? 
A. If you are doing so, amend the cover letter to include these instructions:

Paper Survey Instructions

You will also receive a paper version by mail if you prefer to complete the survey on paper. Please do not complete both versions. Once completed, please return it to us in the postage-paid self-addressed envelope enclosed by October 3, 2019. Completed surveys will be mailed to Philos Hospitality, Inc. in Tulsa, Oklahoma. No individual survey responses will be provided to participating hospitality houses. Only researchers from Oklahoma State University, working on survey response reports, will have access to individual survey data. 

 
Q. Should I send a reminder email?
A. Yes, we recommend sending a follow-up email with a brief reminder. You can also email them near the deadline date of October 3rd. If you are using an email marketing program such as Mail Chimp or Constant Contact, you can inquire about an Open Gen setting that will automatically resend the email to contacts that haven't opened the original email. Statistics show that this increases email engagement significantly (over 25% boost in opens). 
 
Q. What will the format we like when the reports come back to the participating members?
A. We are working with our consultant team on the National Hospitality Impact Report. All participating members will receive the national report for free and will be available to purchase for those who didn't participate.
We will provide all participating houses with their results and a template that can be modified to create their house's individual report.  More information coming soon.
 
Q. Do we mail the survey to patients who have passed away?
A. Yes, you can send to the caregiver if applicable. 
 
Q. How do we track the progress of our returned surveys?
A. Contact the HHN National Office and notify them that you are participating in the survey and indicate how many guests you have sent the survey to. We won't be able to provide live updates on the returns but will provide all participating houses with a status update as available while the survey is open. 
 
Q. What specifically is being done with the data?

A. The data is being collected and sorted by house – this individual house report will be a full report of the findings and summaries of the survey results. These individual house reports will be shared with the participating house member and not shared with the membership at large or as individual house reports in any data published by HHN. 

HHN does plan to use and publish the national survey report either as a full report or in individual statistics.  Individual houses will not be identified and individual reports will not be used. However, HHN may choose to do internal demographic comparisons (such as reports for houses that only serve cancer patients / pediatric patients, etc.). 

The published national survey report will be available for free to participating member houses – in addition to their individual house report. Non-participating houses will be able to purchase the report for a fee.

Q. Who is receiving the data?

A. The survey data will only be received by the Oklahoma State University Center for Rural Health and the OSU College of Hospitality and Tourism. The data collection is being coordinated by Dr. Denna Wheeler and Dr. Catherine Curtis at OSU – who were also the two consultants that assisted HHN with developing the survey tool. 

 Q. This survey was approved by an IRB – what is the purpose of the IRB approval if it is only being used to ensure we are meeting are mission and to show our supporters?

A. The purpose of the IRB approval ensures that HHN’s survey tool and the data collected meets the ethical standards and qualifies that the results may be published and communicated within medical journals and adjacent industries. 

The overall purpose of the National Hospitality Impact Survey is not just to ensure that hospitality houses are meeting your missions and for use within the hospitality houses support network. Our hope is that the individual house reports enable our members to better demonstrate these important achievements and that the national report helps us bring awareness and demonstrate the impact of healthcare hospitality on the healthcare industry and patient outcomes.

Q.Is it being used for a study?

A. The survey results are being used to write the final national survey report for HHN. The final national report will be used to promote awareness of HHN and our members. This report will be written by Dr. Wheeler and Dr. Curtis’ teams and they will provide guidance and advice to HHN’s leadership as to how to best promote to the larger healthcare industry.  

Additionally, individual houses can use their reports and data in information shared with local donors, communities, healthcare partners, board of directors, media, etc.

Q. Was there a release developed for individuals completing the survey on what the information will be used for?

A. The release is covered in the cover letter and intro of the survey. As a part of the IRB application, the cover letter is included in our review.

 
 
 

How to estimate your printing and mailing costs of distributing the survey electronically:

The final survey is 6 pages and 3 pages if printed front and back. It is a total of 7 pages including the cover letter.
Determine how many guests you are surveying.
One ream of paper (500 sheets) on average costs $7.46. 
 
If using a third party to print and stuff, cost is dependent on the provider.
 
If you are printing in-house, the average cost of printing is $.03 per survey. 
 
Cost of envelopes, two per survey (one to mail and one with the return address). 
Postage is $.50 per survey plus an additional cost if you include postage on the return.
 
Soft cost (enter your specifics to estimate the soft cost):
Number of guests to surveys X 7 = 
(# of pages to print) X $.03 = 
 
2 envelopes per survey = X
2 stamps per survey = X
 
Additional soft cost: staff or volunteer hours for printing, stuffing, mailing. Will need House Manager or staff person to sign the cover letters.