| The Costa Rica Guidebook Story |
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| Written by Matt Landau | |
| Wednesday, September 05 2007 | |
Over the course of three months, I explored Central America's hottest travel destination, staying at the finest hotels, eating at the most exclusive restaurants, and taking the most exciting tours: none of which I ever paid for. I slept in beds overlooking the sea, I ate six course meals designed for princes, and I caught prize-winning marlin aboard a luxury yacht, all without paying a dime.  With some simple planning, you too can be sipping free daiquiris in the pool of your private villa (complimentary of course) overlooking the sparkling Pacific sea. After reading this guide, you too can soar through jungle canopies with monkeys, attend world-class surf school, and fly around in your own helicopter-all for free-completely void of any illegal activity or magical spells. It was less that I was bored and more that I wanted to prove to friends it could be done. Costa Rica has some of the most unique tourism assets in the world and it seemed only right that I experience them the way they were intended; in the lap of luxury. But on a recent college grad's budget and only three months to spare before I began life in the real world, my fantasy appeared to many to be out of reach. To my friends, the concept of me traveling around Costa Rica like a king was about as far fetched as a midget NBA team. They said it couldn't be done. I began my scheme by outlining the places I wanted to go. The Osa Peninsula, Papagayo, Tortuguero. I sat curled up in my bed at night, giddy like a sorority sister, flipping through pages of guidebooks. Ooooh, I thought to myself. A day of whitewater rafting through caves sounds fun. Or an afternoon at an all-inclusive resort. That I could do. I checked and underlined those books to the max, as sort of a hit list for my trip which I had, at this point, termed Mission Orca. (I had learned on various TV shows that high rollers at casinos are known as "whales".) With a rough plan of attack in mind, I sat at my cold desk watching as the snow began to fall. It was an early winter in Baltimore so the incentive to swim in warm waters and lounge on sunny beaches was stronger than ever. The next step was figuring out how to execute Mission Orca (MO). I realized that in order to acquire these kinds of things for free, like luxury hotel stays or adventure tour packages, you need to elicit one of three qualities.
Seeing as though luck and stardom were out of the picture, I spent some time thinking up what would make such entrepreneurs envious? These esteemed men and women who had settled in Costa Rica and built thriving businesses, what would make them jealous? What could I offer them that would induce so much interest and appeal, that they'd want to bend over backwards to put me up in their penthouse suite or give me a hush-hush tour of their private wine collection? And more importantly, what could I offer that would elicit my new favorite phrase? That's on the house. Then it struck me like a coconut. The one thing all tourism-related business owners are desperate for. Exposure. In the tourism industry, everyone and their sister would kill for an article in Conde Nast. Hoteliers and tour guides go to vast lengths to be included in Fodors. Good reviews and friendly articles are like liquid gold in travel and the people who write them, like gods. So with this spiritual-like revelation, a plot for MO had been devised. Now granted, I wasn't about to lie and say I worked for some big name travel magazine or guidebook because, well, that would be wrong. So, after some serious thought, I came up with a name-a name which I will not reveal here as I still use it to this date to stay for free in the world's trendiest travel destinations. The title of my publication, for the sake of this article and my privacy, we'll refer to as What's Happening Costa Rica? It sounded, to me at least, like a great idea: a small guidebook that would cover various places to go, people to meet, and things to do in Costa Rica. At one point, after drawing up the sales pitch for said guidebook, I started to want to read it myself. It would be unlike any of the large overwhelming guidebooks and its simplicity would be the ultimate handy travel companion. It would be funny and informative and detailed and ad-free. I built a basic website, adopted a corresponding email address, and had some business cards printed up. What's Happening in Costa Rica the cards read. Matt Landau, Senior Editor. I liked the word Senior as it implied I had been doing this for quite a while, and although the guy who made the business cards accidentally wrote efail instead of email, things seemed to turn out well. What a story! One morning I was picking lint out of my bellybutton and the next I was a Senior guidebook author, just like that! This was great! I began by sending out emails to just about every hotel, restaurant and tour company in Costa Rica that had a website. Some of the websites were gorgeous and some were pretty lame, but as a Senior Editor, I operated by the motto you cannot tell a book from its cover. They all got my proposal emails, and some accidentally got two. The subject of the email read GUIDEBOOK AUTHOR COMING TO COSTA RICA and the actual email went something like this... Dear Sir or Madame, We are writing with great honor to inform you that your establishment has been selected for inclusion in our distinguished guidebook entitled What's Happening Costa Rica? We will be visiting sometime next month and in exchange for an author-endorsed write-up about your company, we request a complimentary two-night stay (or if you are not a hotel, the equivalent in your area of industry expertise). Please let us know as soon as possible so we can coordinate our visit. Sincerely, Matt Landau Senior Editor What's Happening Costa Rica? Notice how I wasn't even patient enough to write personalized emails, instead using a generic one-email-fits-all approach. Many of them got caught by SPAM detectors. Additionally, I don't know why I spoke in plural as if I was part of a larger team. Perhaps it'd come off as more legit? Perhaps they'd envision our publication, What's Happening Costa Rica? situated in a large office somewhere, made up of mastermind writers and travel savants contriving the next vacation it-spot. Thing is, there was certainly no one else in on my scheme. The only "we" that I could take credit for was me and my dog who was sitting near the window licking his crotch. From then on, it became a game of numbers. The more emails I sent out, the more fools took the bait. To my surprise, the letter (and several variations of the letter) got an amazingly good response from the three main groups of businesses I was fishing for. The hotel guys, the tour guys, and the bar/restaurant guys.
I should have named it, Mission Taking-Candy-From-A-Baby! The reactions to my proposal were fantastic and my trip was really starting to take shape. Not expecting such a good response, I had to work hard to synchronize the various freebies, to distribute them as time-effectively and geographically-rational as possible. What resulted, was a loop-like itinerary starting in the capital city of San Jose, stopping in all of the necessary hotspots. Lobster dinners were arranged, sumptuousness penthouses were reserved, I even went so far as to request free flights and shuttles from airlines. They obliged, eagerly. By the time my trip had arrived, I was frivolous and scatterbrained. Fooling people over email was one thing, but actually having to explain this bogus guidebook in person was another. On the plane, I rehearsed to several nosy neighbors the history of What's Happening Costa Rica?, telling them about target audiences, distribution, printing, and (a personal favorite) my credentials. I'd change it up a lot: sometimes I was a journalism major from Stanford, sometimes a retired actor from LA, and once even a stock broker who decided to give it all up so I could live a little. "Man is free at the moment he wishes to be" I told the intrigued woman beside me. I don't even know what that means! Throughout the course of the following three months, I lived like a tropical travel king. I spent days at surfing school in Tamarindo and nights ziplining through Manuel Antonio. I retired to smart hotel rooms and seaside cabanas with girls in bikinis bringing me drinks, of course, on the house. I flew around in private helicopters and snorkeled off yachts in the Pacific. I fought giant marlin and ate some of the most spectacular and innovative cuisine ever to hit the palate. Granted, it tasted a lot better because it was free, but that was beside the point. I relaxed in hot springs, had VIP passes to the hottest clubs and saw the mythical quetzal bird three times. Some of my hosts were laid-back, some were uptight, but all of them made an effort to meet me and sing (what little they knew about) my praise. I'd take notes as they were speaking of the history of their establishment, even occasionally pulling out my digital voice recorder to look the part of Senior Editor. "So how did you become Senior Editor at such a young age" one inquisitive hotelier asked, as we were snacking on fresh papaya on her secret beach." "Well, I started off as Junior Editor and...well...worked my way up. Hey, did you see that toucan?" Amidst all this swindling and trickery though, a weird thing happened. Something I hadn't expected. I initially had zero intention at all to actually write this guidebook. The name of the game was to trick all these people into thinking that I was, and then make off like a travel bandit, giggle, and tell all my friends. But during my first comp, a free weekend suite overlooking the still-active Arenal volcano, red lava spewing out the top, I got a little dreamy. What if I do in fact write this guidebook, I thought to myself. It would be a terrific product and extremely useful. It was almost as if rehearsing these lines so many times, they had been engrained in my mind. You know how people on death row sometimes are able to convince themselves they didn't really commit a crime? That's how I felt! These memorized sales pitches; I was starting to really believe them. So in my free time, between complimentary sunset cruises and midnight leatherback turtle nesting tours, I began to craft the book. What's Happening Costa Rica? Of course, the businesses of all my gracious hosts were included, those who were now good friends and truly gracious and fascinating entrepreneurs. Sure a small fib had gotten me to Costa Rica, but it seemed only fair and respectable to do as I promised: to write an innovative guidebook different from all the other so-called ‘bogus' stuff out there. When my three months were complete, I had notebooks full of findings and film reels full of pictures. My friends couldn't believe that I had done it: just over three months nestled in Costa Rica's lap of eco-luxury, having spent less personal money than a nice night on the town. To be true to myself and my Costa Rican friends, I spent the following months writing and revising what would eventually become a pretty marvelous little guidebook. I sold several advertisements in What's Happening Costa Rica? to large corporations in order to cover the costs of printing and I produced somewhere around 10,000 copies which were immediately inhaled by tourists the country-over. My mother said the book was great, but I would truly know it's worth when the emails started coming in. "Dear Matt: We picked up your guidebook at the airport and have not put the thing down since. Simply hilarious!" And "Dear Matt; wonderful writing, fabulous recommendations. The easiest and most useful guidebook we've ever had." Did you hear that? The easiest and most useful guidebook we've ever had! AMAZING! Eventually Costa Rica's top online travel agency contacted me about using the book for their in-country guests. They proposed to put one copy of the book in each of the welcoming baskets received by their guests, and soon thereafter requested a second printing of 10,000 more. To this day, their clients rave about the book: "a real unique idea" I think one person called it. What was originally an effort to prove friends wrong and travel for free, turned into a bit of a career, the book having been the catalyst for several large writing gigs and lucrative business opportunities. I am not going to reveal the true name of my book because I still use the scam in various countries. . |
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