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 corporate retreats.
One of our first corporate clients was Building Swell, a fully remote Construction Tech company that meets up a few times a year to workshop in person and build connections as a team. They took full advantage of our coworking space, blocking off half-days in their schedule to strategize together as well as catch up on individual work. They balanced work with a good amount of play, calling on our team to help organize local activities like a sunset catamaran cruise, an ATV tour, and a group surf lesson.
We quickly realized that corporate clients found outsized value in the product we’ve built. Our spaces were designed from day one for people wanting to blend work and travel.
More than Just a Place to Stay
In early 2023, we hosted MetaCamp – an 8-day gathering of a 50-person international crypto community. MetaCamp leaned on us in many ways to help execute their event – we coordinated custom meals for their large group, organized local activities, provided transportation, and more.
“From planning interesting adventures for our group, to accommodating a variety of special requests, the team was all-around knowledgeable and accommodating.
What really made the experience a home run for us was the careful attention to detail, and the flexibility & sensitivity to our group’s needs. We were able to control the vibe of the property and set the right tone for our group. The value provided far exceeds the cost.” – Yalor Mewn
Hosting MetaCamp solidified that our Buyout clients were looking for more than just a place to stay – and that we were uniquely qualified to help them.
Bringing it All Together
Following his team’s fall 2023 offsite, Nik Milanovic – Founder of This Week In Fintech, provided us with feedback and insights into what other tech leaders would appreciate about the offsite experience we can provide.
At this point, we decided that offering turnkey Offsites for corporate clients was the logical evolution from the Buyout product we had introduced in 2022. We sharpened our pencils to define an ONDA Offsite product that was high value, differentiated, and turn-key. Our Offsite product would need address the pain points associated with booking an international corporate retreat:
- Turnkey
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- One contract to sign
- Vertically integrated – our hotel, our restaurant, our van, etc.
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- Property Designed for Remote Work
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- Redundant, commercial internet connections
- Enterprise-grade wifi property-wide
- Dedicated coworking spaces
- Huddle rooms designed for hybrid meetings
- AV equipment – projector, speakers, etc.
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- On-Site Bar and Restaurant
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- Ability to offer all inclusive F&B packages
- Fast casual service style (i.e., meals don’t have to take hours)
- Flexibility to cater custom group meals
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- Curated Adventures and Experiences
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- Curated list of local activities that we can take our guests to
- Providers whom we can bring in-house for on-site experiences
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- In-House Transportation
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- 15-passenger Mercedes Sprinter
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- Dedicated Concierge
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- Single point of contact
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We stepped into 2024 with the newly defined ONDA Offsites, motivated to find our next perfect corporate clients.
Check out the other two parts of Our Journey into Corporate Retreats:
Allie Kisch
Director of Retreats
Thanks for reading! I’m Allie, Director of Retreats at ONDA, and planning group trips in Costa Rica is all I do! From the very beginning of the planning process, to the end of your trip in Costa Rica, I’ll be your one point of contact to organize & execute the retreat of your dreams.
If you have any questions or you’re interested in learning more about hosting a group event at ONDA, please send me an email and I’ll get back to you ASAP. 🙂