Courtney Suess-Raeisinafchi is an assistant professor of tourism and hospitality (hotel and resort) operations in the department of recreation, parks, and tourism sciences at Texas A & M University. She completed her doctor of philosophy at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her primary research interest is in the planning and design of facilities and their service environments. Her dissertation addressed the strategic development of medical tourism and her current research focuses, more precisely, on environmental psychology and consumer behavior in the contexts of healthcare and hospitality environments.
Prior to graduate studies, she studied interior architecture and fine arts in architecture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, after which she became a project designer at Jordan Mozer and Associates, Ltd., working over 6 years for the internationally celebrated and award-winning hospitality architecture and design studio. She lead projects on several international restaurants and boutique hotel renovations. After completing her graduate studies, she spent 4 years teaching hospitality design and operations management at Boston University in the School of Hospitality Administration. She published in various international journals for research on the healthcare environment’s impact on well-being, including the International Journal of Hospitality Management, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Service Industries, and Tourism Management.
Courtney is part of the editorial advisory board of the International Journal of Tourism Cities. She has been a reviewer for several international conferences and scientific journals such as International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Tourism Management, and Annals of Tourism Research.