Welcome to the April Issue

Here at CR Luxury our mission is clear – to provide our clients with stellar service by always keeping the lines of communication open and that is why we are introducing our new monthly newsletter to keep you updated with our latest plans and special events within the Los Sueños community.   We’d love to hear from you, so if you have any questions you’d like to address feel free to contact us.  Remember we’re always here to help.

Do you know something we should know?  Do you know of any exciting events or changes that would benefit the Los Sueños community? Feel free to contact us with any information you’d like to share with fellow owners and we’ll make sure to include it in next month’s newsletter.

- Marcela & Sandra

April Events

Easter 2010

If you’re looking forward to celebrating Easter (March 28 - April 5) in Costa Rica there are a few things you should know before you arrive.   Most Costa Ricans are primarily Catholic and do tend to take this religious holiday seriously by attending mass and taking part in other religious events while others hit the beaches and opt for more of a sabbatical.  During this time you will find big crowds at the beaches and many other tourist destinations so you may want to plan ahead with our Diamond Concierge team.  Below, we’ve included some key information about what to expect during the Easter holiday season and how to make the proper arrangements.

If you are interested in attending mass in the Los Suenos Beach Club or the Jaco area please review our schedule below:

Mass  Hours:

April 1:

Herradura Church at 4pm

April 2:

Herradura Church at 5pm Mass
Jaco Hotel Tangieri: Religious Procession begins at 8:30am
Jaco Church: 3pm Mass

April 3:
Herradura Church: 5pm Mass

April 4:
Los Suenos Beach Club Fellowship: 8am (English Service)

Herradura Church: Mass 8am
Jaco Church: 10am & 7pm Mass

If you are interested in attending mass in any of the churches listed please keep in mind that they are held completely in Spanish.   Contact our Diamond Concierge team should you require transportation or directions.

No Alcohol Available During Easter
One more thing to keep in mind that beginning Thursday, April 1st at 12:01 am (midnight) until Saturday, April 3rd at 12:01 am no alcohol will served or available for purchase nationwide in Costa Rica.   If you’d like to make special arrangements before you arrive in Los Sueños, please contact our Diamond Concierge team and they will be happy to stock your condo accordingly.

Traffic
In and around San Jose traffic is very light during this time since many people generally leave town which in turn leaves the city to become a ghost town.   The Jaco area and surrounding beaches will generally be very crowded since it’s a popular destination among locals.   If you plan to leave the Los Suenos community during this time, we suggest you consult with our concierge team for advice on the best routes to take.  Also, if you’re traveling to the airport during Easter weekend, keep in mind that locals will be returning to San Jose which means that you may be sitting in traffic.   Make sure to plan ahead so you don’t miss your flight.

Easter Menu
If you’re looking for special Easter dishes, you’ll be sure to find plenty of suitable options within the Los Sueños restaurant community.   Guests can choose from fresh seafood dishes as well as many vegetarian options found in any of our four restaurants including Bambu, El Galeon, The Hook Up, The Terrace Lounge as well as Lanterna.   For detailed information about each restaurant and their menu you can go to the Los Sueños restaurant website at www.LSRestaurants.com

Everyone at CR Luxury would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your continued business and loyalty throughout the years. In our efforts to improve your experience with CR Luxury, we have been working on reorganizing and adding new members to the CR Luxury team as a method of improving our service.

You’ll also be happy to know that we have added a new Office Directory which will outline each of our departments as well as their contact information in case you should have any questions or concerns.   Remember that each member of our staff is here to help improve your experience so don’t hesitate to call and let us know how we can help. Click here to CR Office Directory)

New Additions to CR Luxury Team:

Maria-Liz Ramirez
Operations Manager
marializ@crluxury.com

Maria comes to us from the Philippines where her career in the Hotel/Tourism industry began. Since the late 80’s Maria has worked in five star hotels around the globe in countries such as Singapore, Sweden, Japan and Hong Kong to name a few.   She holds an M.A. in Business Management and years and years of tourism related training and service.   How did she end up in Costa Rica? She came to Costa Rica on vacation and never left.   It happens all the time!  In her spare time Maria-Liz loves to scuba dive and is actually trained as a rescue medic diver.   A great person to take along on a scuba diving trip!

Rodolfo Rodriguez Quiroz
Maintenance
maintenance@crluxury.com

Roldolfo was hired onto the CR Luxury team after having an impressive level of experience with maintenance and electro mechanics.   He has taken part in several national government projects and has an outstanding educational background to match.   On his off-time Rodolfo enjoys extreme sports and lots of good food.

Nini Pardo
Reservations Agent
nini@crluxury.com

Nini is a San Jose native with over 13 years experience working for multinational companies within the service industry.  Among her many talents include speaking three languages including Italian as well as always putting forth a positive attitude in her day to day life.   Oh! And she loves the beach!

Roberto Cespedes
Accounting Assistant
roberto@crluxury.com

Roberto is a transplant from San Jose who has worked within the tourism industry for the last nine years of his life.  He is an experienced surfer who has been hitting the waves since he was 15 years old and hopefully he’ll be nice enough to offer our staff here some lessons.  We are happy to have Roberto and he is a great addition to our accounting department.

In the News

A few weeks back we had a very special visit from newly elected Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla who stayed in our luxurious Villa La Joya.  During her time at Los Sueños, she was gracious enough to spend a little time with CR Luxury’s President Marcela Laborde as well as our new Operations Manager Maria-Liz Ramirez.  Read more about President Chinchilla’s Visit.

CR Blog
For those of you who haven’t had a chance to CR blog it’s a great resource for information about our tours, weddings, sport fishing events and Costa Rica overall.   We will be updating our blog daily with fresh articles, videos, interviews and testimonials so make sure you don’t miss out.

Here are a few excerpts from our blog you may enjoy:

Costa Rica Beaches in Half the Time
Are you packed and ready to start your Los Sueños luxury getaway?

Fishing Hotspots in Costa Rica
Avid fishermen will agree that there is no place quite like Costa Rica for sport fishing.

Destination Wedding Steeped in Cultural Tradition With a Spicy Latin Twist
Costa Rica is quickly becoming the #1 choice for destination weddings.

We hope you have been enjoying our April Newsletter so far! This section will offer you recommendations on restaurants, events, services etc. in and around the Herradura/Jaco area that we feel are worthwhile and that you shouldn’t live without.  For next month, we’d like to include some of your personal recommendations for restaurants or any other businesses that you’d like to rave about so please send your recommendations via e-mail at: liz@crluxury.com.

Also, this month we’d like to take time out to remind you that CR Luxury is also available to organize your next corporate retreat or event.   Our facilities include 8 state of the art meeting rooms, a 400 seat ballroom, high-speed internet as well as an attentive concierge team ready to assist you with your individual needs.

Last month, we welcomed Canadian marketing expert, Gerry Visca, who hosted a corporate retreat at Los Sueños and left us a nice message about his experience in the video below.

Click to see video.

To host your next corporate event, you can e-mail:  aura@crluxury.com

Owners! Join us on Facebook and Twitter

Social media is a great way to connect with CR Luxury and keep up with customer feedback as well as current events.   Make sure you join our Facebook and Twitter accounts to see what we’re up to and make sure to drop us a line.

Picture of Month

Our star Luxury Event Coordinator, Aura Mora, organized one of the most beautiful wedding events of the year, the Merlob-Valentiner Wedding.  This 250 guest event combined a joining of cultures in one of the most breathtaking wedding destinations, Costa Rica.  The bride, Katharina, was captured in this photo walking into the sunset as it draped the Los Suenos Resort.  What a beautiful shot!

To organize your wedding with CR Luxury please contact Aura at aura@crluxury.com.

You’ve spent the last five years vacationing with your loved one in various tropical locales. You enjoy nothing more than a sun-drenched coast, warm cobalt blue waters, and escaping from the headaches of your daily life to a more serene environment. And now you’re engaged and ready to start planning your special day. Well, there’s no reason you have to have your wedding in a stuffy, overpriced party hall in your hometown as your parents and their parents before them did. Why not hold your wedding in a location that suits you and your fiancé best? Costa Rica with its laid back atmosphere and gorgeous natural beauty is the perfect place for your Costa Rica wedding.

Los Sueños Resorts, located in beautiful Herradura on Costa Rica’s Central Pacific Coast, can help take the stress out of what should be the most memorable day of your life. Our staff will help you arrange the details from start to finish. A personal Diamond Concierge service will offer expert consultations and manage all of the bookings before your arrival, so everything is set ahead of time. Travel arrangements to Costa Rica, guest lodging at the resort, ceremony details–including food, decorations, and photographers–and unique Costa Rica honeymoon touches are our specialty.

Los Sueños Resorts has a wide range of condos to accommodate the happy couple and all of your guests. If you’re envisioning a large celebration, we offer expansive villas for more of a community feel and the ability to spread out and relax among friends and family. All of our guests have access to the exclusive beach club, with outdoor swimming pools, swim-up bars, lounge areas, and jacuzzis. Our luxury housing is surrounded by virgin rainforests, exotic wildlife, crystal clear ocean waters, and magical sunsets, for sights and sounds that you and your guests will never forget.

As the backdrop for your ceremony, choose the lush tropical rainforest, mountain ranges, coastline, waterfalls, or even an active volcano. You can find all of these in the Central Pacific region of Costa Rica. Your biggest problem might be which of the hundreds of vibrantly-colored flowers to place in your bouquet or on the reception tables. Professional photographers will be there to capture each moment of excitement and unique beauty so you’ll have a keepsake for years to come.

Your dedicated concierge service not only plans the actual wedding day but will also schedule activities for the guests to make everyone’s stay into an actual vacation. For your family and friends spending the week at Los Sueños, we will deliver groceries, arrange babysitting services, and book dinner reservations. They can enjoy meals prepared by word-class chefs at any of our specialty restaurants. We can coordinate activities and tours throughout the country to suit absolutely anyone’s personality and adventure level. Big sport fishing day trips out of Herradura Bay, exploration by kayak in the Pacific, surfing lessons, volcano climbing, tropical bird watching, cloud forest nature walks—all of these are available within a short distance of the resort.

Back at Los Sueños, the new bride and groom will enjoy a customized honeymoon stay, complete with rose petals, champagne, a private chef, or whatever other luxuries you choose. Stop imagining and turn your tropical dream wedding a reality today and start planning your Costa Rica wedding with those that you love most.

Los Sueños Resort and Marina was the perfect setting for this amazing 4 DAY WEDDING CELEBRATION!

The list of almost 250 guests began to arrive at the Los Sueños, Costa Rica Resort on Wednesday, November 11^th from countries around the globe. The bride, Katharina Valentiner (born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) whose mother is from Germany and the father of the bride from Venezuela made up only the beginning of this truly international event.

Immediate family members include multinational corporate moguls in both the Pharmaceutical and Oil Industries.

The bride Katharina and the groom, Michael Merlob (also born in the United States) currently live in Los Angeles, California. Katharina works as a middle school teacher and Michael works in the entertainment industry.

The list of celebratory events was sparked by a cocktail and appetizer reception on Thursday evening at the lovely Terrace Lounge atop the warmly lit Los Sueños Marina Village.

Friday morning was a day for sporting challenges and exciting adventures!

Immediate family and closest guests participated in a golf tournament at Los Sueños’s famed La Iguana Championship Golf Course followed by awards ceremony and lunch at the 19^th Hole.

The remaining wedding guests chose between an array of pure Costa Rican activities. Some guests headed out for a beach & jungle nature tour only one hour south at Manuel Antonio National Park

Some daredevils took to a nearby river for the rush of Whitewater Rafting while others headed just 10 minutes away to Herradura and experienced the thrill of climbing high into the canopy of the Costa Rican Rainforest for exhilaration of high-flying, tree to tree adventure on the Zip Lines!

After a brief rest it was time for a bit of tradition and elegance to begin.

The Friday evening sunset was observed by guests under a tented dining room decorated with fresh tropical leaves and white orchids in the gardens at the Marriott Los Sueños. On the lighted stage, a traditional German performance, the Polteraban, was performed. Guests also enjoyed cocktails, appetizers, dinner and dancing to conclude the evening.

On Saturday most guests enjoyed rest and relaxation at the exclusive, private Los Sueños Beach Club. Some simply enjoyed the comfort of their luxury condominium.

As the bride’s maids and wedding party were busy preparing the bride, the Diamond Concierge Team from Costa Rica Luxury Rentals (who planned and produced all of the events) was hard at work coordinating the set up of the Beach Club location along with the Los Sueños Marriott catering crew.

The bride and groom were joined by their nearly 250 guests for a tented ceremony officiated by Attorney/Notary Public, Marcelo Galli, who has performed many weddings in Costa Rica including some for celebrity couples tying the knot including Grammy-winning recording artist, Pink.

Music played a role in many elements of the big day.

Several musical groups were flown in for the festivities. 3 Venezuelan bands, including 2 Big Bands, a Calypso band who opened the ceremony and a Caribbean band who helped introduce the new Mr and Mrs. Merlob.

Of course, cocktails and appetizers were served beachside, while

well-wishers and wedding party mingled as the sun set over Herradura Bay.

The lavish reception was held in the grand Herradura Ballroom of the Marriott Los Sueños. The room was draped in elegance in white and muted natural hues, sported a raised stage set up with lights and sound and a very trendy, all white Martini Lounge flanked the opposite side of the stage.

Big band filled the air both indoors and out.

The candle light and old world brick of Patio Almendros was a more casual atmosphere for guests to gather for an after dinner drink and to enjoy the music and a freshly hand-rolled cigar.

This selective couple and their nearly 250 guests chose the most desirable location available in the region to enjoy every moment of this special celebration .

The Costa Rica Luxury, Diamond Concierge Staff planned and produced the entire 4 day schedule of events. They accounted for every detail of the first class luxury experience for this Costa Rica event at a cost much lower than you may expect.

Sunday was a day for some relaxation and reflection.

A day of true, “Pura Vida”.

Bridal party and guests alike wrapped up a wonderful celebration filled with a rare combination of excitement, adventure, elegance and natural beauty that may only be found here in this unique, Costa Rica resort destination.

Enjoy what the father of the bride said about the wedding