US Marketing Company’s Medical Tourism Guest Survey Helps Costa Rican Hotel Set the Standard for the Hospitality Industry

A US healthcare marketing and market research company, Stackpole & Associates, teams up with a leading Costa Rican hotel, Ramada Plaza Herradura, to explore the expereinces and attitudes about medical tourism of thousands of hotel guests. The results help the hotel create the extra services guests are looking for and deliver the message that Costa Rican medical services are a secret gem.

(PRWEB) January 5, 2010 -- In what may be the first survey of its kind, Massachusetts-based Stackpole & Associates is conducting a landmark survey of current and former guests of the Ramada Plaza Herradura in San Jose, Costa Rica to evaluate their awareness of medical tourism and to plan for improved hotel services for medical tourists. The survey is part of a comprehensive marketing plan by the hotel’s management team to promote its services to medical tourists, increasing hotel occupancy and differentiating itself from other hotels in Costa Rica and beyond.

According to the hotel’s President and CEO, Gustavo Araya Carvajal, “Many businesses talk about creating services for medical tourism clients. Our hotel is actively pursuing business in this sector. We want to be the industry leader – not just a follower. That is why we hired Stackpole & Associates to work with us to develop and implement a medical tourism strategy based on solid information instead of guess work”.

The hotel contracted with US-based marketing experts, Stackpole & Associates, to conduct a quarterly survey to collect information about those guests who had dental or medical services while staying at the hotel. The initial on-line guest survey was sent to thousands of former guests who were invited to take the survey in either English or Spanish. A drawing to win a prize was used to increase the number of responses.

With a very high response rate, the survey revealed important information to guide the hotel in the implementation of its marketing strategy including creating special menus for guests receiving dental treatment and to bundle services with local dental and medical providers to offer special package deals. The survey also revealed that many guests are not aware of the many health and wellness services available in the country, pointing to a need to raise the awareness of Costa Rican medical tourism to potential visitors from other countries including the US and Europe.

An estimated 20,000 health travelers sought treatment in Costa Rica in 2008, according to Dr. Alfredo Lopez, board member and spokesman for the Council of International Promotion of Costa Rica Medicine, or PROMED. According to Dr. Lopez, because no “hard data” is available, the number of medical tourists to Costa Rica could be closer to 100,000, with more than 90 percent coming from the United States. If the team at the Ramada Plaza Herradura has its way, many of those guests will come to their hotel to receive specially tailored services in addition to the “pura vida” customer service for which Costa Rica is famous.