Here are a few frequently asked questions.
100% of our trips are customized; they are designed specifically to the traveler. These are not prepackaged vacations; these are “hand crafted travel experiences” created just for you. The trip is designed for you according to your personal travel style and budget, because of this we do not include prices as each trip is different. Prices from package to package change so no two trips are the same.
When you contact us either through the Online Vacation Builder or through our contact page, your travel planner will reach out to you within 24 hours. Once your travel planner has the information they need they will start to put together the first itinerary based on your trip requests. Your travel planner will present the itinerary to you for your review, the design can take anywhere from 1-5 days depending on the complexity of the trip, time of the year you are traveling, and your travel planners current workload.
Once you have the first trip and after you have time to review it we enter into the revision stage. This is where the trip is fine tuned, we adjust anything that you want to change until the travel experience perfectly fits your travel style and budget. Finally once a working trip is worked out we move to the 10% deposit and start booking your trip. We start with the hotels and then move to the specific hand picked guides and drivers we want for your adventure.
Our travel planning services are essentially FREE to you. We make money from commissions that are paid to us by hotels and other vendors, these fees come from them and are not on your side. We plan your trip, you pay the same amount you would booking directly with the hotel. We are not commission hunters, we do not look for hotels or tours that pay the best commissions, we often work with hotels that pay no commissions at all. Our goal is to create an experience that is perfect for the traveler, our mission statement begins and ends there. We often have tour 2x1 specials and can get special rates from hotels that are not listed to the general public. Traveling with our planning services will save you time and can save you money.
Payments can be made online or through an offline form. We accept all major credit cards.
Several! Having someone to represent your interests when traveling first and foremost is having peace of mind. If you need something, you know exactly who to call, us. Our services include but are not limited to the following:
- Expert Travel Planning & Advice
- Trip Monitoring- see below
- 24 Hour Trip Support - see below
- Tour Specials - 2x1 Tour Specials & Tour FREEBIES available exclusively through C.R. Referrals Travel
- Unique Tour Combinations - Exclusive Tour Combinations only offered through C.R. Referrals Travel
- Hand Picked Guides & Drivers - This makes the difference between a nice vacation and a travel experience of a lifetime!
- Vacation Guarantee - If there is any part of your vacation that is unsatisfactory we will work to get you refunded.
This is something that happens behind the scenes in our operations department. Our operations department monitors all of our trips for quality. The day before anything happens in your trip, whether it is a transfer, a tour, a hotel check in or other service such as a dinner reservation, we call ahead to the vendor the day before to make sure there are no changes in the timing. Sometimes a road closure or other event can change a pick up time or alter a trip in some way; we monitor each trip to ensure it is smooth from start to finish for you. We will let you know in real time if there are any changes and the trip will remain on track.
We have 2 main support lines that you can use to reach us 24 hours a day. In addition to this, you will also have a direct line to your travel planner. If for some reason you are not able to reach us on the support line you can try your “agent direct number” which will put you in touch with the planner who worked with you on your adventure.
- 24 Hour Support Line #1: (506) 2446-5339 – This is a landline, our main office line. It is forwarded after office hours and should work in most cases.
- 24 Hour Support Line #2: (506) 8358-8350 – This is a cel line, this phone is always with the person on call on any given day. This is the line that the office line forwards to after office hours and should work in most cases.
- Agent Direct Line: will change depending on who plans your trip. If for some reason the support lines do not go through due to bad weather or trouble in the lines, this will be the number you call. You will find this direct line in the email signature of you travel planner who works with you on your itinerary.
- Email: You can also try and reach us by email, this is slower but we are always monitoring as best as we can.
If you can't find your answer, ask your planner!
“My husband and I are actively involved with animal rescue. We are involved with many animal rescue facilities here in Costa Rica financially and try to support worthy causes worldwide when we are able. Each client that travels with us helps us in our efforts to support these worthy causes.
We are also directly involved with rescues out in the field. Every employee of C.R. Referrals has this in common, a love of nature that goes beyond words or financial aid and translates to action. Our staff is small, but dedicated, and even a small company can make an impact.
We thank each and every client that travels with us for allowing us to be more involved, for helping us to protect our world and all life that calls it home.” - Catalina Cuervo B.
Catalina Cuervo B. started with the idea of C.R. Referrals Travel in 2007 and launched her company soon after. Coming from a background in hotel management, she stepped away from her job at Los Suenos Marriott and started her company and vision. In the beginning, she was planning vacations on her own with her husband. The company grew to a size she was comfortable with and she has maintained as a boutique travel planner for many years. She has resisted the urge to grow too big feeling that the passion will be lost. Everyone in the office is strongly in support of the idea of quality over quantity.
In her own words,“I was drawn to the challenge of creating something new, I did not like the prepackaged trips and wanted to focus from the beginning on creating unique travel experiences for my clients. At the same time I wanted to combine my passion (and husbands) for animal welfare, my clients have helped me help others and for that I am forever grateful”– Catalina Cuervo
Catalina recently launched a side project from C.R. Referrals Travel, www.elopeincostarica.com focusing on elopement honeymoon adventures. She plans each of these trips herself. She manages all aspects of the company she started and her dedicated team of planners & operational staff keep everything humming along.
We are located in one of the most desirable areas of our country, a small mountain town in the Central Valley called Atenas. The town is an authentic Tico experience with a great mix of nationalities. A top retirement destination, we are lucky to work in such a pure and unspoiled area. We also have some of the best and most stable weather in the entire world, which we are famous for!
Most of the time the word “boutique” applies to a small company and we are no exception. We are a small company by design, we only take a set number of trips each month and when we have reached our capacity, we refer our clients to other comparable companies that we have grown to love and respect.
The main difference between a large travel company and a boutique planner like us is the time and attention that each client receives. We take this work very seriously, we work for you, not the hotels or tours, and this means getting you the best deals we can, creating unique travel experiences that perfectly suit the traveler.
No, we will help you with as much or as little of your trip as you need. Regardless of the amount of the trip we plan, you still get 24 hour trip support, even on the days with no services booked through us. We want you to have the best time possible and want to help in any way we can.
Our main focus is and has always been Costa Rica but we also have done some planning for Belize travel. In the future we may do some limited planning to Panama & Colombia, stay tuned!
Our cancellation policies are mostly based on the hotels we have in your trip. Please check our complete cancellation policy information.