Pacific Trade Winds, and its US based PTW Referrals, is a personalized travel service, and we love what we do! It’s who we are. It’s the result of a passion for Costa Rica and dedication to providing extraordinary experiences to fellow travelers.
The concept of Pacific Trade Winds really is not about us, rather about you. Our goal is to learn about you and your needs and then work together towards creating your perfect vacation. We do this by educating you with accurate, reliable information and by providing expert advice and firsthand knowledge. We’ll be here for you from the time you send your first information request until you depart from the best vacation of your life!
Over the years we have developed many great relationships with clients and providers alike. We have fine-tuned our skills and assisted over 50,000 travelers. The company has evolved into one of the most respected travel services in Costa Rica. We are certified and in perfect standing with the Costa Rica Tourism Board (ICT), Costa Rica National Chamber of Tourism (Canatur) and the Better Business Bureau (BBB). From our humble beginnings to where we are now, it has been quite an adventure!
We didn’t realize it at the time, but the idea of Pacific Trade Winds began to form before we even exited the airport on our first visit to Costa Rica. We had experienced flight delays on the way down and somehow the airline lost one of our bags. We went through the motions, signed some papers and were assured we would receive the luggage the next day. Unfortunately, that was only the beginning as our travel vouchers for our hotels, rental car and activities were in the missing bag. We’ll spare you the details, but this resulted in a (now) comical set of events including everything from receiving the wrong room at two hotels to almost being left behind on a tour – all because we did not have our vouchers. As seasoned travelers, we had reserved everything on our own. I remember thinking several times over the first few days that it would have been nice if we had somebody to call for help. The bag finally caught up with us four days later at the second hotel and the rest of our vacation went off without a hitch.
Despite the unexpected beginning, we had a wonderful trip and fell in love with the country. We learned the true meaning of pura vida. The flight home was a long one. When we touched down in Atlanta everybody pulled out their cell phones in unison, life seemingly went in fast forward and we were quickly reminded that the vacation was over. I’ll never forget that moment. We had some money set aside and I had accrued plenty of vacation time. It occurred to me that we could go back down to Costa Rica for a couple months and see if we could develop some sort of business.
We went back to Costa Rica a few months later. While exploring ideas we kept running into travelers that were experiencing difficulties such as lost vouchers, unreliable tour operators, lost reservations at hotels, etc.. At the same time, some friends and family members began asking us for advice for their vacations. It didn’t take long to realize that setting up a high quality travel service with international standards was the business idea we were looking for. We incorporated in the first quarter of 2007, developed a website and began advertising. Business took off practically overnight and the rest is history.
We are now have over thirty employees that are experts in Costa Rica travel, the most advanced custom reservations system in the country, and manage over 6,000 vacations per year. Despite the growth, we have never lost sight of our grassroots beginnings and core principles. Each of the three owners still work on a daily basis to ensure you will receive the highest levels of service.
Over the years, we have developed relationships with a cross country network of literally hundreds of hotels, tour operators and transportation providers. Some tour operators and transportation companies operate exclusively for us. In many cases we have exclusive contracts for added benefits for our clients such as discounted rates, free meals, complimentary GPS, optimized tour or transfer times, etc..
Our focus remains on providing extraordinary experiences. It is our belief that in order to do so, we have to educate you so you know exactly what you are reserving and what to expect. We have a “no fluff” policy for hotel, tour and transportation descriptions and no-nonsense approach to accounting. Our online dynamic itineraries include all of the information you need to make an informed decision. Once you reserve with us, we send a comprehensive email series which details everything you need to know to plan for your trip and have a dedicated team to assist clients that have already reserved. We also provide 24/7/365 service to our clients in the country. This all comes at a cost to us; but our philosophy is that if you are educated and have the proper expectations you will have a better experience. If you are happy, you will tell all of your friends and we all win.
We believe in sustainable tourism and appropriate funds to several charities on a regular basis. Among these charities, we are directly involved in reforestation projects with the Titi Alliance, contribute to the Red Cross for emergency services, donate regularly to the local community, donate to the local spaying and neutering program and are involved with many other causes/projects as they arise. Our doors have always been open and will remain open to those in need.
PTW Referrals LLC is our US based business mainly used for our carefully vetted referral programs within this entercostarica.com website as well as our social media pages. We use these programs, where appropriate to connect travelers with recommended items for packing, guided group vacations, activities that are better suited for booking through other websites, such as when clients would like to book discounted tours or hotels without customer service, etc.
We always strive for improvements. We achieve this by listening to our clients’ feedback, regularly inspecting hotels and tour operators and constantly updating our information and presentation. If you have an idea about how we can improve our services, please pass it along. We will listen and give it consideration.
While we strive to improve, we are comfortable with our team and size of our business. We do not have any intentions or aspirations to grow into a large corporation that loses touch with their clients. We have a niche that we are happy with. We love working with our clients and playing a small part in their cherished memories. We look forward to providing you the same.
Please give us a call toll free (1-866-853-9426) if you have any questions or contact us via email.
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