The post 7 Things to Consider When Planning a Corporate Offsite in Costa Rica appeared first on ONDA ..read more

Our vision for 2030 is simple: Make Hostels Sexy. I know, I know, I probably lost half of you at the word hostel. But bear with me. Despite having stayed at well over a hundred hostels, I couldn’t actually tell you what the definition was without Googling it. For most people, the word “hostel” conjures images of dirty, shared dorm rooms. The kind of place you only stay at if you don’t have the budget for something nicer. And the fact of the matter is that most hostels are cheap with shared accommodation. But the words “cheap” and “shared” do not define the concept. The Oxford English Dictio ..read more

For the last couple months, our corporate team has been working to nail down our 2030 vision. As a small, early-stage startup team, we believe it’s imperative to clearly define where we’re heading, and make sure we’re all on the same page about what we’re working towards. We’re grateful to have been led through this vision-setting process by Ian Gurfield, Wisconsin-based entrepreneur and Founder of Ian’s Pizza. Early in his entrepreneurial days, Ian realized the importance of setting a clear vision. For the last two decades, Ian has been implementing his visioning methodology at Ian’s Pizza ..read more

Welcome to Hotel Buyouts 101 – our introduction to the group vacation of a lifetime! In this blog post, we’ll be going over the basics of a hotel buyout, and every single detail that makes for a great one. We’ll reveal how we at ONDA organize custom buyout packages to bring your dream group trip to life! HOTEL BUYOUT (noun) : Reserving an entire hotel for one group of people, usually for a special occasion. What is hotel buyout (more precisely)? A hotel buyout provides a unique opportunity for you and your crew to take over an entire hotel – every room, every space and amenity entirely at yo ..read more

Our Journey into Corporate Retreats, Part III: With a newly defined ONDA Offsite product, we’re eager to find our next perfect corporate clients! Covid represented a massive shift towards hybrid work and geographical independence for workers. Team offsites have emerged as a critical tool being used to ensure social cohesion and a shared sense of purpose amongst groups of colleagues who may not see each other in the same physical space all that frequently.  With our new ONDA Offsite product, we’re eager to find our next perfect corporate clients! How ONDA Offsites are different: Simplif ..read more

Our Journey into Corporate Retreats, Part II: We leaned into full hotel buyouts, hosting a variety of group events, from bachelor parties & weddings, to yoga retreats, family vacations, and finally, corporate retreats. In 2023, we repositioned our Director of Marketing to focus specifically on our Buyout product. We attracted our next batch of Buyout clients primarily via word of mouth, short-term vacation rental platforms, and cold outreach. Expanding our Audience What began primarily as wellness retreats quickly expanded into family vacations, bachelor(ette) parties and weddings, and c ..read more

I couldn’t be more excited to share the news that we’ve bought our second hotel – located in Monteverde, Costa Rica! While we’ve got a long way to go before we’re ready to welcome guests, I think it’s worth reflecting on all the hard work on the part of Team ONDA it took to get where we are. From day one, we’ve planned for ONDA to grow to 10 locations within Costa Rica. Our first location in Playa Grande was intended to be our proof of concept/sandbox. It’s where we’ve spent the last year watching people interact with the space we’ve created and then tweaking the space and service to optimize ..read more

Seasoned British traveler Anya shares her tips for traveling Colombia and Panama, and talks about making lasting friendships along the way. My name is Anya, I’m from Nottingham, England and I work in marketing & social media. After finishing university in Manchester, I decided to go travelling for 7 months around South and Central America. I have always loved to travel, doing multiple gap years prior and post school, exploring Southeast Asia, Canada, North America and Europe prior to this trip. I decided to visit Costa Rica partly because I was such a huge fan of Jurassic Park growing up ..read more

Seasoned British traveler Anya shares her tips for traveling Colombia and Panama, and talks about making lasting friendships along the way. My name is Anya, I’m from Nottingham, England and I work in marketing & social media. After finishing university in Manchester, I decided to go travelling for 7 months around South and Central America. I have always loved to travel, doing multiple gap years prior and post school, exploring Southeast Asia, Canada, North America and Europe prior to this trip. I decided to visit Costa Rica partly because I was such a huge fan of Jurassic Park growing up ..read more

Life is too short to do things that don’t fulfill you! After a near-death experience, Sophia decided to leave the US and move to Costa Rica. Here’s a peak into her life in Playa Grande. My name is Sophia Uhlig and I am a 22 year old Brazilian-American from Colorado. I absolutely love to travel. I have traveled all around the US (21 states), to Mexico, and through Europe to Iceland, Sweden, Greece and Italy. Before my 3 month stay at ONDA, the longest trip I had ever done was 3 weeks. As I’m approaching the end of the 3 months I had originally planned to spend here, I’ve decided to extend my ..read more