How a digital marketing agency used ONDA Playa Grande for an annual company offsite that balanced focused team time with cooking, hiking, beach walks, and a private boutique hotel setting.

At a glance

• Client: Omniscient
• Company type: Digital marketing agency
• Destination: ONDA Playa Grande, Costa Rica
• Retreat length: 5 days
• Time of year: August 2024
• Format: Annual offsite mixing work and local experiences

The brief

Omniscient needed an annual offsite that could bring the team together without feeling like a generic corporate retreat. The trip needed space for work, but it also needed the informal moments that make a distributed or hybrid team feel connected again.

That meant the venue had to support both sides of the agenda: structured team time and a relaxed Costa Rica experience that people would actually remember.

Why ONDA Playa Grande fit

ONDA Playa Grande gave Omniscient a private home base in a beach town with the infrastructure needed for a company retreat: lodging, meeting space, shared meals, local activity planning, and a team on the ground.

The setting made it easy to move between work blocks and local experiences. Rather than asking the company to manage separate vendors for lodging, transport, meals, activities, and onsite needs, ONDA could help pull the retreat into one operating plan.

What the offsite included

Omniscient’s retreat mixed focused work time with experiences that made the destination matter. The itinerary included sunset walks, a traditional cooking class, and a waterfall hike, giving the team a rhythm that moved between productivity, shared meals, movement, and local culture.

For an agency team, that kind of rhythm matters. People need enough structure to make the offsite productive, but enough change of pace to get out of their usual patterns and spend time together as people, not just colleagues.

The result

“From planning interesting adventures for our group, to accommodating a variety of special requests, the team was all-around knowledgeable and accommodating. I would definitely work with ONDA again! What really made the experience a home run for us was the careful attention to detail and the flexibility and sensitivity to our group’s needs. We were able to control the vibe of the property and set the right tone for our group. 100% recommend.”

– Omniscient offsite organizer

What other companies can learn from it

The best company offsites usually do not separate “work” and “fun” into completely different worlds. They create a simple rhythm where the work has room, the meals are shared, and the destination gives people something to talk about beyond the agenda.

Omniscient’s retreat worked because the venue and planning model could flex around the group. That flexibility is hard to get when a company is juggling a hotel, a meeting room, restaurants, guides, drivers, and activity vendors separately.

Planning a similar company offsite?

ONDA helps teams plan destination company offsites in Costa Rica and Panama, including private lodging, meeting space, meals, transport support, activities, and on-the-ground coordination.

Explore ONDA corporate offsites, review the destination offsite planning checklist, or compare Costa Rica corporate offsites.