5 CEO Objections to International Company Offsites, Answered by Outbuild’s CEO
Outbuild brought 50 team members to ONDA Playa Grande for a four-day Costa Rica company offsite. Here is how their CEO thought through the objections most founders and executives face before committing to a destination retreat.
International company offsites sound exciting until the executive questions start: How do we justify the cost? Who owns the logistics? Is it riskier than staying local? Will it actually help the team, or will it just feel like an expensive trip?
Those are the right questions. Outbuild’s Costa Rica offsite worked because it was not treated as a perk. It was a focused investment in a distributed team that needed time together, shared context, and a stronger operating rhythm after spending most of its relationship-building time on screens.
This page breaks down the five CEO-level objections that came up in Outbuild’s interview footage, with short video clips from Franco Giaquinto, Outbuild’s CEO.
Read the full Outbuild case study.
Objection 1: “How do I justify the cost?”
“If you don’t have an office, all that money that you’re saving by not having an office, you need to spend on things like this because it’s more powerful, more memorable. It’s creating the same effect of people being close to each other and working together.”
– Franco Giaquinto, Outbuild
The ROI case is clearest for distributed teams. If a company no longer spends the same amount on office space, the culture budget has to move somewhere. Remote work saves real money, but it also removes the casual trust-building that happens when people share physical space.
A well-run offsite becomes a way to reinvest some of that saved overhead into alignment, trust, and shared memory. The point is not to replace daily execution. It is to create the relationship layer that makes daily execution smoother once everyone is back online.
Objection 2: “Planning an international retreat sounds like a logistical nightmare.”
“If you don’t have a team like ONDA and you have to take care of everything–logistics, food, activities–that is a burden. That is not easy to coordinate.”
– Franco Giaquinto, Outbuild
This objection is valid. International offsites can turn into a full-time planning job if the company has to separately manage lodging, transportation, meals, activities, rooming, vendor communication, and onsite issues.
For Outbuild, the important difference was that ONDA was not just a property. ONDA acted as the local operating layer around the property. That gave the leadership team a clearer lane: define the purpose of the retreat, communicate with the team, and show up ready to lead.
Objection 3: “International feels riskier than staying local.”
“I was one of them, honestly, at some point. But with everything today, it’s way easier. You still have to plan a trip, you still have to plan locations, so you might as well do it internationally and make it a better experience.”
– Franco Giaquinto, Outbuild
The instinct to stay domestic is understandable. A local offsite can feel safer because it seems more familiar. But familiar does not always mean easier, and it does not always create the kind of team memory that justifies taking people away from normal work.
The risk question changes when the destination is accessible and the onsite partner already knows the local vendors, transportation patterns, activity options, and group logistics. For Outbuild, Costa Rica became less of a risk because the local operating layer was already built in.
Objection 4: “Why not just book a big Airbnb?”
“You can get an Airbnb anywhere, but you miss everything that the ONDA experience brings: having a pool, eating together, drinking together, having experiences and adventures. That is very different than just renting an Airbnb.”
– Franco Giaquinto, Outbuild
A large house can solve the lodging problem, but it does not automatically solve the retreat problem. Someone still has to plan meals, transportation, activities, cleanup, rooming, local support, and the rhythm of the experience.
That is the gap between a rental and a hosted offsite. The team does not only need walls and beds. It needs a shared environment that supports work, meals, downtime, movement, and connection without asking an internal operator to become a local event company.
Objection 5: “I need a partner, not a vendor.”
“The other vendors, it was very cold, very impersonal. If I’m going to plan a trip for everyone in my company, I need someone that can understand what I want and what we want to accomplish with the team.”
– Franco Giaquinto, Outbuild
For a CEO, the vendor decision is not only about price and availability. A company offsite carries cultural risk. If the experience feels generic, disorganized, or disconnected from the team’s goals, leadership owns that outcome.
Outbuild needed a partner who understood the purpose of the retreat, not just a place that could host people. That distinction matters most when the trip is international and the company needs one accountable team on the ground.
What CEOs should take from Outbuild’s offsite
The strongest argument for an international offsite is not that it is exotic. It is that the right setting can accelerate trust, connection, and alignment for teams that do not get enough time together in person.
For Outbuild, the value came from combining three things: a destination that felt meaningfully different, a private base where the team could actually connect, and an onsite team that handled enough of the logistics for leadership to stay focused on the people.
FAQ
Are international company offsites worth the cost?
They can be, especially for distributed teams that do not have regular in-person connection. The ROI comes from alignment, trust, shared memory, and smoother collaboration after the retreat, not from the destination alone.
What makes an international offsite easier to justify?
The clearest case is when the offsite has a defined company purpose, a strong operating partner, and a format that lets leadership focus on alignment rather than logistics.
Is Costa Rica too complicated for a company retreat?
Not if the venue and onsite support are built for groups. Outbuild used ONDA Playa Grande as a private base with lodging, meals, activities, transportation support, and onsite coordination in one operating lane.
Should CEOs be involved in offsite planning?
CEOs should define the purpose, outcomes, and tone. They should not need to personally manage every vendor, meal, shuttle, or activity. That is where the right partner matters.
Planning a company offsite?
Start with the outcome you want: alignment, trust, celebration, strategy, onboarding, or cross-team connection. ONDA can help build the destination, property, meals, activities, and onsite support around that outcome.
Use the offsite cost calculator, see the planner-focused Outbuild breakdown, explore ONDA corporate offsites, or read the full Outbuild case study.