True Costa Rica » Patrick Hewitt

What Exactly is a Tour Operator? Why Do I Need One?

Patrick Hewitt — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 00:38:07 +0000

A lot of folks don’t really understand exactly what it is we do, as a “Tour Operator” specializing in Costa Rica.

So I just want to just share a tour operators point of view, and offer some general information about the pros of working with a tour operator.

Are you a Travel Agent?

Please notice that I said tour operator, not travel agent. A tour operator is a travel agent who specializes in one destination. It is an important difference. That is what I do. Pre-Internet (yes, there was such a time), I sold some retail trips. But the majority of my business was as a wholesaler. I packaged Costa Rica trips for travel agents, to resell to their customer base. We had pre-made itineraries. But we were very good at special requests, and custom packages. For several years, I made my network of travel agent clients look very smart indeed.

I had always planned trips for direct clients, and organized groups. I accompanied a few groups. But soon realized that my local guides were a more suitable choice.

When the airlines stopped selling airfares in 2001, perhaps 90% of the retail travel agencies closed. The travel agents had been my customers. I had to embrace the change, and lean into trip planning. I found that I truly enjoyed sharing Costa Rica with our clients.

I got into the business because I fell in love with Costa Rica. I have now been in this industry for over thirty years (since 1992), and I still love my job. I have also learned a few things along the way. I am happy to share my thoughts.

We offer our services for FREE. A reputable tour operator does not charge a fee, or mark up from what you pay for your trip.

You should be able to purchase the same service online for the same price. So we are a FREE service. Though sometimes, a tour operator can get special “net rates”, and offer the same hotel for an even lower price than the hotel might offer. But you don’t work with a tour operator solely because of a lower price.

You work with a tour operator because of our knowledge and expertise of the destination.

I go to Costa Rica at least twice a year, and usually more than that. I am always looking to tour a new hotel, or look over a local destination that I haven’t checked out. It drives my wife crazy, as I can get a little obsessive. But if someone mentions a hotel at a particular beach, I have probably at least inspected it. I know what is good or bad, and I know the other hotels in that area to compare it to.

That guy from work, may have loved the resort hotel he took his wife and kids too. Anyone can book that for you. But that is probably the only hotel he knew about in that area. Sure HE loved it, and it probably is quite nice. But if you are going on a honeymoon or anniversary trip, a tour operator can steer you to a romantic adult hotel. One without kids doing cannonballs in the pool. Or if you are bringing the family, there could be a more suitable hotel choice, or a completely different beach, or just a better value that your friend had no clue about.

Everyone is different. A “just the girls” trip is different than a bachelor party fishing trip. Some people want to dangle from bungee cords or rappel down the side of a cliff. Others want to add to their birding life list. One Size Does Not Fit All.

The most important part of a tour operator’s job is listening.

So many people call me with an idea of what they want to do in Costa Rica. Sometimes, the activities don’t match the region they want to visit. Or they are just confused by all the hype online. Often my job is to educate them, and guide them in a direction more suitable to their interests or expectations. Costa Rica is a diverse destination. If someone just wants to sell you something, without listening to what you expect your trip to be, Move on.

We know what things should cost. We aren’t fooled by Fake “Sales”

We are in the market everyday. For example, we knew of a large beach hotel that was offering a “buy two nights, get a third night free!” special. Sounds great. Except they increased their prices by over 50% before they offered that special. So you are actually paying slightly more for that room, than you would have before it was on “special”. And I am not sure it was worth the old price to begin with, let alone the inflated new rack. But if you are looking at it for the first time, you probably think you are seeing a great bargain.

Contrary to popular belief, we also don’t have a vested interest in what you buy.

Commissions in our industry are pretty consistent. We are like stockbrokers. We get paid the same if you book a great hotel, or a dump. So we usually don’t have a financial interest in putting you in a particular hotel. But in the Internet age, our reputation is everything. So my interest is in giving you the best experience possible. Good experiences drive referrals and repeat business to our in box.

Any business owner loves repeat business. Awhile back, I booked a honeymoon for a young lady. She told me she was a repeat customer. It turned out I had booked a trip for her family when she was teen. Her dad still had my card. If I had put them in a substandard hotel that paid me an extra 5% commission, would they have remembered me? Maybe. But also maybe for the wrong reason. Looking out for them brought me a nice piece of business a dozen years later. Isn’t that cool? After all this time, the lion’s share of my business is repeats and referrals.

A few years ago, we sold our second home in Monteverde. The buyer? A honeymoon couple from almost twenty years ago. They were taking their kids on a first trip to Costa Rica, and stayed in my house.

You have one person, that is making sure everything is work together and smoothly

Think of your tour operator as the “quarterback” for your whole trip. We make sure that everything goes smoothly. Your trip may involve several transportation legs, often from different vendors. Your tours and activities hosts vary from point to point as well, and you will be staying in several different hotels. That is a lot of balls in the air! We have a nationwide network of vendors, that cover all facets of your adventure. We will make sure that all of these gears mesh fully.

We can make sure that the private van or rental car shows up, and is on time. We coordinate your day tours, and know the best activities in each particular area. We know how many days you should spend in a particular region, or when you are trying to do too much in a short time. We know what car rental companies import their own cars and keep them in good repair. The ones with multiple offices and 24 hour help lines. And yes, we also know who is most likely to charge for phantom damage or overbook.

Sadly I also know of the hotels that are in trouble, and probably won’t survive low season. They are trying their best, and are still accepting reservations and deposits. We have had to back away from them.

No one wants to talk about this part of our industry. With the recent poor economy, many hotels experienced huge difficulties. The problem is that they built when the economy boomed, and overextended themselves. A couple of the major players out there are now owned by the banks. Others just went out of business. They could not keep the ship afloat in the poor economy. Some of them, were folks we worked with on a regular basis. We are not going to send your funds to someone that is not going to be there. When we see the warning signs, we adjust accordingly. It is an unpleasant part of the job. Especially if it is someone that we really like. But someone needs to be paying attention to this kind of thing. I am spending my customer’s money, and I have to be diligent.

We are your Advocate. In case there is an emergency back home, or your adventure is interrupted.

If you should encounter a problem while you are there, we are in a better position to negotiate for you. If you book a hotel or tour directly, you are a one time customer. You don’t have a lot of leverage. You need an advocate.

Tour operators have relationships with the hotels, transportation companies and tour companies. Most hotels get the bulk of their business from wholesalers and tour operators. They value these relationships (as do we), and want to nurture them. So our relationships are pretty amicable. Chances are that if we booked it, we know the owner or general manager. We have probably had lunch with them. Or a few drinks at the annual travel mart! We are at a much better starting point to negotiate a solution.

Or if you have to cut the vacation short due to an emergency at home, we can handle all the cancellations and get you to the airport on time. We can negotiate the refunds or credits. And we do this while you are on the plane home.

Unfortunately, I have had to do this probably a dozen times in the last thirty years. But we have almost always been able to come to a solution that satisfies everyone. It is one less thing to worry about. A worst case scenario is that something has happened at home that was so bad, that you have to cancel your trip and rush back home. Do you really want to stress about the canceled arrangements? We’ve got your back.

If the problem is a flight delay or missed connection on your way into the country, your tour operator can help there too. We can make sure that everyone is aware of your situation and keep you in the loop. This way the van will be there to meet you that evening, or the next day when you finally do arrive. If this causes a ripple effect elsewhere in your itinerary, we can smooth those out with the hotels or tour companies too. A tour operator can re book when necessary, and send new vouchers in a very short time. This kind of thing happens more frequently than you might think.

We are US based. You are not sending funds or credit card info to a foreign land.

If you work with a US based tour operator, you pay for it here in the US. And you only pay once. You are not emailing your credit card information to multiple entities in a foreign land. If for some reason a refund is due, that is coming from here in the US too. You are not trying to negotiate with the front desk in another country, where you may not have any recourse.

In a nutshell. No matter how you book your trip, you are spending a tidy sum. The services of a tour operator are FREE to you. You are buying the services for the same price as a direct booking, and sometimes for less. Why would you not want to work with someone in your home country, who is an expert in your destination? Our advice is free, and we can make sure that everything flows smoothly. We know the pitfalls, and can prevent a problem from happening in the first place. If something does go wrong, our support is there if you need us.

We know the country better than anyone. And we know it from a North American perspective.

No matter what happens, we can also tell you about that great little tapas restaurant with the fantastic sunset view, or give you directions to the rocking chair factory in Sarchi.

My advice is that before you start booking everything directly, give me a call. We can talk, and get a feel for what you are doing.. If I can’t make you more comfortable or if you don’t feel confident, then move on. You can still book it yourself. No hard feelings.

But I feel confident that we can greatly enhance your experience. And make the process easier at the same time.

I hope this helps. Let me know if I can offer any further advice. Just get in touch!

Drake Bay Wilderness Resort

Patrick Hewitt — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 19:07:03 +0000

One of our favorite places in Costa Rica, is the Drake Bay region of the Osa Peninsula. This is the gateway to the famous Corcovado National Park. Despite its size, the Osa Peninsula packs an astounding 2.5% of the world’s biodiversity into just 0.001% of its surface area. According to National Geographic, this makes it “the most biologically intense place on Earth”. So it is worth the trip!

Usually, you have to fly into the Drake Bay airport and take a boat to your lodge. If you are coming by land, it is a long drive to Sierpe, where you can catch a water taxi. So the transportation gets a little pricey. Much of the food and beverages consumed have to make that same trip. So you can see how this can add up.

The lodges still have to provide their own potable water as well. Fortunately, they are now on the electrical grid. This is a fairly new development. So most of the lodges provide air conditioning.

All that being said, this place is worth the effort and expense. We recently toured three of our favorite lodges. Each is unique, and all have their own attributes and amenities. So we have something at every level.

All three lodges offer three or four night packages, that include meals and two tours. These two tours are usually a guided hike in the Corcovado National Park, and a snorkeling tour at Isla del Cano. Both of these are well worth it.

Though all offer different optional tours. Fishing, diving, kayaks, tours to even more remote parts of the park, and more. We recommend a minimum stay of three nights. Add another night if you wish to add other activities. These same tours are offered at all three lodges, and they will often pool their guests to fill out a tour.

So the right choice for you, depends on the level of amenities that you require, in this rustic place.

The three lodges that we toured on this trip were Drake Bay Wilderness Resort, Aguila de Osa and La Paloma Lodge.

This time around (November 2024), we stayed at the Drake Bay Wilderness Resort. This was our first visit in quite a few years. This was the first lodge that we stayed at in the early 1990’s. Back then, they referred to it as a Wilderness Camp. Not a Resort. In the 1990’s, the basic screened in wooden cabins lacked hot water and A/C. I seem to recall that there was a generator, that was turned off overnight. The food was “typical” local Costa Rican fare. Despite the lack of modern amenities, we loved our stays there. We visited several times. We loved the nature, the snorkeling, the beaches, and the mischievous monkeys that took up residence around the lodge. It was rustic, but we were hearty travelers. Eventually, we stayed at more upscale lodges and didn’t make it back this lodge for quite some time.

Our recent visit was about a perfect as it could be. The resort has grown, and improved by leaps and bounds. They have either completely renovated or demolished the old cabins. Even now, they are still making another round about the property, making further improvements. Most importantly, they have renovated all of the bathrooms. The showers are hot, and the air conditioning is cold. There are some single cabins, but most are duplexes. The owner told me that she takes two rooms out of rotation at a time, and completely renovates them. There was a small crew at work while we were there.

The rooms here are not high end luxury. But have everything you need for a comfortable stay. We found ours to be extremely clean and suitably equipped. It met all of our needs. We relaxed every evening with an adult beverage on our porch, and enjoyed the ocean views. The more time you spend here, the more it grows on you. We spent three nights, and could have happily added one or two more.

The restaurant here is quite good. We were there at the slowest time of the year. So the restaurant offered a limited menu. But everything was perfect, especially for this admittedly picky eater. My wife and I both have some dietary restrictions, and the restaurant was happy work within our guidelines. The food was delicious and well prepared. We each ordered different dishes each night. We were both satisfied. They have more choices during busier times. The owner assured us that they can accommodate strict vegetation diets, and religious restrictions (with prior notice). Another nice touch was that we had the same waiter at breakfast and dinner. He treated us like family.

There is a pool and open air bar at one end of the property. You can order snacks here. A little farther down the path are some tidal pools. These are fun at low tide. Though they could be dangerous at high tide. So mind the tide charts.

Most of all, the staff was friendly and happy. To me, this is one of the ways we gauge a property. If the staff isn’t happy, then your visit isn’t going to be nearly as positive. This is a reflection of management. When people are treated well, they are happy. This makes a huge impact on the guest experience.

Everyone here was willing to go above and beyond for anything we needed. With a smile.

To the point, we had to make sure that we limited our requests. An example was when they didn’t have my favorite local cerveza at the pool bar. The bartender was ready to walk 150 meters (300 meters round trip) in the driving afternoon rain, just to fetch one from the main restaurant. I couldn’t ask him to do that, and was happy to order another brand. But he was ready to roll.

On one of our mornings, we decided to take the rather substantial walk into town. Our waiter insisted to walk with us for the first 500 meters or so, uphill. He didn’t want us to miss the trailhead of the path through the forest. This led to the hanging bridge over the estuary to get on the right path. We didn’t ask, but he insisted. We enjoyed our chat with him up the hill.

All in all, this was a home run. We hope to go back soon. We recommend Drake Bay Wilderness Resort to all of our budget minded guests.

Gumbo Diplomacy – Building bonds with “Gringo (New Orleans) Food”

Patrick Hewitt — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 18:25:46 +0000

For eighteen years, my wife and I owned a small casita in Monteverde. It was a vacation home for us. Melissa and I love our life in New Orleans, so we never planned to live there full time. But we treasure our memories from our years visiting Monteverde. We made lifelong friends during our time in our little community.

Melissa is a Native New Orleanian, and makes some pretty fine gumbo. Gumbo is cold weather food, and perfect for the chilly climate on the mountain top. Melissa would usually make a big pot within a couple days of arrival. We eat this as quick meals while hanging out at the house. It usually lasts a few days. If you know gumbo, you know that it actually gets better over a couple of days. As the New Orleans chefs say, the flavors “marry”.

We would visit Monteverde two or three times per year. Over time, we turned many of our local friends into gumbo aficionados.

Often, we would run into friends on the street early after arrival. There would be the usual hugs, handshakes, and pleasantries. Then the question would come, “is Melissa making gumbo?”

Over the years, we had made friends with a young Contractor and his wife. We eventually invited them to our home for dinner. Going to someone’s house for dinner is a much bigger deal than here in the states. We told them that Melissa had made gumbo.

Our friends arrived at our house with obvious trepidation, not knowing what this mysterious gumbo was. After being served, they realized that it was a mixed dish with meat, vegetables, rice and roux (thick broth). All perfectly spiced. They relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed their meal. We all had a fun night.

On our next visit we had about 500 ft.² of flooring to be laid and had asked our contractor friend to take this on.

We decided to leave the day of the installation. We wanted to get out of his way, and decided to run down to Tilaran, on some errands. It is a much bigger town, and we could usually find goods and services there that we couldn’t find in Santa Elena (the small town in the Monteverde region). We planned to be away for several hours.

We usually would buy lunch for the guys that worked for us. On our way out, we told him that he could help himself to some gumbo. Melissa had made our usual pot the night before.

When we returned that evening, the floor was done. As usual, he had done a stellar job. And, the gumbo pot was empty. This young man had eaten probably 2 gallons of gumbo in the few hours that we were gone! Well, we did tell him to help himself! We were amazed.

Our neighbors Sonia and Rolando also became good friends, and eventually our house managers. We introduced them to gumbo, and they were hooked as well.

Sonia is a very good cook herself. Melissa shared her own methods with her. We also started bringing down boxes of Louisiana spice mix. Every cook has their own way of making gumbo. Sonia tried recipes, and worked on her own. She is now making her own gumbo for her family! We are so pleased.

On a winter’s evening, the weather turned cold in New Orleans. Melissa asked about my dinner preference, I asked for gumbo. She loves it too, and set to work on it.

Later that evening, we were enjoying our gumbo and a rare Saints victory. I noticed a WhatsApp message on my phone. There were well wishes from Sonia, along with a picture of the beautiful gumbo she had just made. We immediately sent back a pic of Melissa’s gumbo. Along with our own warm wishes.

I think this is a delicious cultural exchange! There have been some great new restaurants opening in Monteverde. Who knows, maybe someday our little town will become known as the gumbo capital of Costa Rica!

Meiissa’s gumbo

Sonia’s Gumbo