Roots and Resilience | Looking to the Future at The Ocotea Boutique Hotel

The very first blog published by our team was titled Deep Roots and Big Wings | The Story of Karen and Valeria Fallas, which dove into the story of Karen and Valeria, the founders of the Ocotea Boutique Hotel, and the turbulent challenges that they had navigated to open this gorgeous hotel in the mountains of Monteverde. 

It’s been a few years since then, and as the world has emerged from the post-pandemic era and has begun to look forward to the future, the progress and perseverance of the Ocotea Boutique Hotel team have been stunning. It was one thing to open one of the first women-owned hotels in Monteverde, and another entirely to open the first boutique hotel in the entire region, and to do all of this against the backdrop of a global pandemic is nothing short of inspirational. 

When you stay at the Ocotea Boutique Hotel, you’re not just staying at a copy-pasted hotel room put here by an enormous conglomerate. You are sharing in the triumph of two women who overcame all of the odds, survived hard times, broken deals, and a global pandemic, and have emerged on the other side of those challenges leading one of Monteverde’s premier places to stay, and one that grows better with every passing week. 

In this article, we’ll touch on a few reasons why the Ocotea Boutique Hotel has thrived, and what you can expect from the Ocotea Boutique Hotel in the years to come. 

The Courage to Dare, And the Creativity to Make Dreams Reality

The Ocotea Boutique Hotel came to be because of a daring dream, and the courage to do something new, something that brought the magic of Monteverde to life like no other hotel or villa or development had done before. There is nowhere else like the Ocotea Boutique Hotel in Monteverde, and with no blueprint to follow, turning this place into a reality took incredible ingenuity. 

It also took good people. Behind Karen and Valeria are a team of family, close friends, associates, and the experience and expertise of the entire Ocotea Group, all people who had lived in and worked in Monteverde for decades. 

Led by the women of the Fallas family, the designers, creatives, guides, managers, and hospitality professionals of the Ocotea Group began to build from scratch not only the physical space of the Ocotea Boutique Hotel, but all of the systems, practices, supply chains, and experiences that make up the Ocotea Boutique Hotel experience. 

This wasn’t out of a belief that what had been done before in Monteverde was bad. Quite the opposite, in fact. Instead, this came from dreaming big, envisioning a hotel that would push the envelope of what was possible in Monteverde, learning from what had been done before her, and striving to elevate it with the perspective of someone who knew this region as well as anyone else. 

And the process was an enormous challenge. Dragging new ideas into reality is hard enough on its own, but every step of the way Karen and Valeria faced naysayers, bullies, broken deals and promises, and even outright discrimination from people stuck in the past. 

Costa Rica is one of the leaders in Latin America and the developing world in terms of civil rights and equality for women, but any tico will tell you that in the world of business, especially when it comes to owning a business, there is an ingrained, old-fashioned and systemic sexism that can be nearly impossible to overcome.

With no book to guide them and every step of the way beset by rivals and providers who thought they could push Karen and Valeria around, it would have been easy for anyone to give up. But Karen and Valeria persevered, showing incredible courage and daring creativity, and even through the heart of a global pandemic and the ensuing recovery, they succeeded despite the odds being stacked against them. 

Driven By An Uncompromising Love for Monteverde and Hospitality

That courage and strength that drove Karen and Valeria come from a profound place of love, both for their home of Monteverde and for the art of hospitality. After you’ve stayed for a little while in the Ocotea Boutique Hotel you start to realize that this wondrous place in the mountains couldn’t have come to be any other way. 

From the first moment that you walk in the door, you see the deep appreciation for Monteverde all around you, from the design and materials to the comfort and atmosphere, and that only becomes stronger as you get to know the staff, the guides, the culinary team, as well as Karen and Valeria, who are always around. 

This is a place built by people who truly live here, and truly love the place you’re visiting. They’ve spent decades getting to know the area, all of its ins and outs, tips and tricks, and secrets. They’ve chosen the very best tours and created new ones if needed. They’ve sought out both local providers and well-traveled chefs, to create a new Monteverde cuisine where it didn’t exist. 

And more than that, they strove to capture the essence of what makes Monteverde special and elevate that unique spirit to a level no one had explored before. The influences of the natural world, the influences of the spirit of peace that led to the founding of Monteverde, the presence of a local version of pura vida, and the belief that people would come to love that spirit, even if it was unfamiliar — these are all things that have come out of a deep love and understanding of the area. 

In that uncompromising love, you’ll also find uncompromising quality, of never letting a moment of service, silence, or adventure go by without seeking to improve and reach higher heights. This isn’t out of arrogance, or out of some desire to be better than anyone else. It comes from a sincere daily passion to show the best of the home that Karen, Valeria, and their team love so deeply. 

When you come here, you are being invited as an honored guest to Monteverde, to visit the home of a friend that you haven’t gotten to know yet. That spirit of hospitality can often be forgotten as the industry has grown more commoditized, but that’s true hospitality is what you’ll find when you arrive at the Ocotea Boutique Hotel. 

Decades of Trust and Compassion

Sometimes, hyper-attentive service is a commodity sold for a big dollar sign, or can even be a bit overbearing and suffocating. Typically, it’s tied to hyper luxury and has a formal dynamic between guest and service that can take some of the human element away from hospitality.

This isn’t the case with the Ocotea Boutique Hotel. There, you’ll find exceptionally attentive service staff, but this isn’t a veneer of smiles. The people here genuinely care about you and your experience in Monteverde, because it’s their home too. 

And maybe what’s most powerful is that not only are you hosted by true Monteverde locals, you get to be a Monteverde local. 

There is a network of good people here who work in all industries and come from all different backgrounds, who have been in Monteverde long before it was one of Costa Rica’s fastest-growing destinations. These are people who are the core protectors of Monteverde, the old guard, who have been here for decades building the foundation of Monteverde and all it has come to be. 

And you can’t mention the old guard without mentioning Karen, who was here the entire time, learning the tricks of the trade, forging important relationships, and building the Ocotea Group into what it has become today, a vehicle for sharing the love of this place. 

When you visit Ocotea, you are immediately past the surface level. You are under the care of one of Monteverde’s most well-regarded leaders, someone who has emerged from this community with the wits, the will, and the experience to provide a truly world-class product unique to Monteverde. 

And as we move onward into the endless possibilities of the future, we hold onto these guiding principles that have taken us so far. The courage and creativity to do what no one else has, even in the face of hardship, an uncompromising love of both hospitality and Monteverde, and fostering compassion, community, and trust that we can share with all those who visit. 

We hope that you have a chance to come to experience it for yourself soon!