This Week in Fintech Costa Rica Offsite Case Study
How a small global fintech media team used ONDA Playa Grande for a four-day Costa Rica offsite with workshops, coworking, local food, wellness, and time on the water.
At a glance
- Client: This Week in Fintech
- Company type: Global fintech newsletter and media company
- Destination: ONDA Playa Grande, Costa Rica
- Retreat length: 4 days
- Time of year: November 2023
- Group size: 10 team members
- Format: Startup team retreat with workshops and local activities
The brief
This Week in Fintech came to ONDA as a small startup team looking for a retreat that could be productive, relaxed, and genuinely fun. The team needed space for workshops, but the trip also needed to feel like a real destination offsite rather than a work session moved to a different room.
For a small group, the details matter quickly. Meals, timing, activity planning, and onsite support all affect whether the trip feels easy or whether the organizer spends the whole retreat managing logistics.
Why ONDA Playa Grande fit
ONDA Playa Grande gave the team a clean beach-town base with coworking space, shared common areas, and access to curated Costa Rica experiences. That combination let the group split time between focused sessions and the kind of local moments that make a team retreat memorable.
The destination also kept the retreat compact. Instead of scattering the team across separate hotels, restaurants, coworking spaces, and activity vendors, ONDA helped create one coordinated experience around the property and nearby Playa Grande area.
What the offsite included
The retreat included workshops in the coworking space, a traditional cooking class, onsite massages and yoga, a private catamaran sailing excursion, a private sushi dinner, and time to relax near the beach.
That mix gave the team a clear work-and-play rhythm: focused time together, shared meals, wellness, local culture, and a signature Costa Rica water experience.
The result
“We really loved our team offsite at ONDA. Fun community, great team, always helpful, and really nice, clean setup right near the beach. We came as a small startup team and split our days between workshops in the coworking space and nearby local activities expertly coordinated by the ONDA team. It was the perfect retreat for us to collectively relax, have fun, connect as a team, be productive, and experience a little slice of Costa Rica.”
– Nik, This Week in Fintech
What other companies can learn from it
This Week in Fintech is a useful example for smaller companies comparing destination offsites. You do not need a massive group for an international retreat to make sense. You need the right setting, enough structure, and a planning model that keeps the team from losing time to logistics.
For teams that spend most of the year online, a compact offsite can do a lot in four days: align on work, build trust, create shared memories, and make the team feel more real.
Planning a similar company offsite?
ONDA hosts startup retreats, remote team offsites, and international company offsites at ONDA-operated boutique hotels in Costa Rica and Panama.
Explore ONDA corporate offsites, read the international company offsite planning guide, or compare destination offsite costs.