Outbuild Costa Rica Company Offsite Case Study

How a distributed construction software company brought 50 team members from across the Americas to ONDA Playa Grande for four days of connection, adventure, and focused time together.

Outbuild did not need a standard hotel block. They needed a private home base where a growing team could step away from day-to-day execution, build relationships across countries and functions, and still have the practical pieces of the trip handled through one operating lane.

At a glance

The brief

Outbuild’s team was distributed across countries, languages, and time zones. The company needed more than rooms and a meeting table. The retreat had to create the kind of shared momentum that is hard to build through calls alone.

For a fast-growing team, the goal was not to over-script every hour. The goal was to bring everyone into one place, give the group a private base, and create enough structure for work, meals, activities, and unscheduled connection to happen naturally.

Why ONDA Playa Grande fit

ONDA Playa Grande works well for larger startup offsites because the property combines private lodging, shared common areas, coworking and breakout space, food and beverage, and easy access to beach-town experiences.

That mix matters for leadership teams evaluating whether a destination offsite is worth the time. The value is not only the destination. It is the ability to move between focused sessions, shared meals, pool time, beach activities, and informal conversations without turning the retreat into a conference or forcing an internal operator to manage every detail from scratch.

What ONDA handled

For Outbuild, ONDA supported the pieces companies usually have to stitch together across multiple vendors:

• Private lodging at ONDA Playa Grande
• Shared meals and catered moments
• Coworking and gathering space
• Beach-town and adventure programming
• Transportation support
• Branded moments that made the trip feel like Outbuild’s own retreat
• Onsite coordination during the event

The retreat included a mix of surf, catamaran time, off-property adventures, shared meals, and downtime. The result was an offsite that felt planned without feeling rigid.

What the Outbuild team said

“These past four days have been truly amazing and life-changing. I loved watching everyone connect–often across different languages–and come together to achieve something special. I’m excited about next year and hope we can do this again, but in a different ONDA location. Huge thanks to the ONDA team for going above and beyond to make it all possible.”

– Franco Giaquinto, Outbuild

“To get out of Zoom and be here in person, building those deeper connections, I think it’ll make it that much easier when we go back to being remote. You have a little bit of rapport and personal relationships, which can be hard to build over Zoom.”

– Matt, Outbuild

“The communication was really smooth. We were able to have weekly meetings to check in, and I was able to provide all the updates to our team internally.”

– Laura, Outbuild

Why this worked for leadership

For CEOs and founders, the question behind a company offsite is usually not “will people enjoy Costa Rica?” The harder question is whether the trip creates enough company value to justify the time, budget, and planning risk.

Outbuild’s offsite worked because the retreat gave a distributed team concentrated time together while ONDA carried the operational layer. Leadership could focus on the team experience instead of managing rooms, transportation, activities, meals, and local vendors.

Why this worked for the planner

For a Chief of Staff, People lead, or operations owner, the risk is different. A destination offsite can quickly become a vendor-management project: one thread for rooms, one for food, one for activities, one for transportation, one for leadership requests, and another for issues that appear once everyone is already on site.

The private boutique hotel model solved that by putting the core retreat pieces into one operating lane. Outbuild still got a custom-feeling event, but the group did not need to run a separate hotel search, meal plan, tour-operator process, and local troubleshooting desk.

The result

The strongest signal from the trip was not just that the group had fun. It was that the retreat created real cross-team connection for people who do not all share the same office, language, or daily context.

Outbuild left with the kind of shared experience that distributed teams often need but rarely get from remote work alone: meals together, informal time, adventure, and a physical place that became theirs for the week.

For similar companies, the lesson is straightforward: a destination offsite works best when the venue can handle more than lodging. The highest-value format gives the team privacy, shared space, local texture, and enough operating support that the internal organizer is not forced to become the hotel manager, tour operator, transportation dispatcher, and meal planner at the same time.

FAQ

Is Costa Rica a practical destination for a 50-person company offsite?

Yes, when the venue and operating model are built for groups. Outbuild used ONDA Playa Grande as a private base for lodging, meals, work sessions, activities, transportation support, and onsite coordination. The key is not only the destination; it is reducing the number of moving parts the internal team has to manage.

What did ONDA handle for Outbuild?

ONDA supported the core retreat pieces companies usually have to coordinate separately: private lodging, meals, local activities, transportation support, branded moments, and onsite coordination.

Why choose a boutique hotel buyout instead of a resort?

A private boutique hotel gives the team shared ownership of the space. For company offsites, that can make informal connection easier than a standard resort or hotel block where the team is spread across a larger property with other guests and less control over the environment.

Is this format better for CEOs or for Chiefs of Staff?

It answers both sets of concerns. CEOs care about whether the retreat creates real team value. Chiefs of Staff and planning owners care about whether the event can be executed without becoming a multi-vendor burden. The Outbuild offsite worked because it addressed both: strong team experience, plus local operating support.

What size company offsite is ONDA Playa Grande best for?

ONDA Playa Grande is strongest for teams that want a private, hosted, beach-based offsite with lodging, gathering space, food and beverage, activities, and local support in one place. Outbuild brought 50 team members.

Planning a similar company offsite?

ONDA hosts corporate offsites at ONDA-operated boutique hotels in Costa Rica and Panama. For beach-based Costa Rica offsites, teams use ONDA Playa Grande for private lodging, coworking, shared meals, group activities, and local support from inquiry through arrival.

Explore ONDA corporate offsites, use the offsite cost calculator, review the destination offsite planning checklist, or compare destination offsite costs.