Condé Nast Traveler names Mark Mead “Villa Rental Specialist”

Mark Mead, CEO of Mead Brown Costa Rica, was named the villa rental specialist by Conde Nast Traveler magazine for his expertise in Costa Rica. Mead is one of 44 in the world to earn the distinction and the only expert recognized for Costa Rica.

Each year Condé Nast Traveler conducts a rigorous, months-long screening and vetting process that includes a 46-question application and interviews to select villa rental professionals. Criteria include regional knowledge as well as an intimate knowledge of the properties the villa rental specialist represents. Each expert is required to have developed superb service delivery systems, with an emphasis on communications, expertise, and dependability.

Mark Mead said, “Recognition by Condé Nast Traveler—known for delivering ‘truth in travel’—affirms that Mead Brown delivers what we promise: An exceptional experience for guests vacationing in Costa Rica. From our professionally-managed villas and condominiums, to our complimentary daily housekeeping, private chef services, tours and transfers, we deliver dependable and friendly service. I am proud of my team’s commitment to excellence.”

See Wendy Perrin’s List of Top Villa Specialists: Perrin’s People.

Unlike many other travel publications, Condé Nast Traveler does not accept free travel and accommodations. Its correspondents, as far as possible, travel anonymously. The result is travel the way consumers experience it – good and bad, with reporting that is fair and honest. Condé Nast Traveler has a circulation of over 800,000 and is published by Condé Nast Publications, Inc. Condé Nast Traveler’s website is cntraveler.com.

Here is the link to the segment about Casa Mono Loco and Mead Brown on the Today show! Check it out:

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Expats turn your Costa Rican siesta from lame to lavish.

Casa Mono Loco in Los Suenos Resort & Marina, Costa Rica

If you’re planning an escape to Costa Rica this year, be sure to check in with Mark Mead and Michael Brown of the eponymous Mead Brown, a full-service, vacation rental marketing and property management company specializing in the country’s Central Pacific Coast. The company is widely regarded as one of—if not the—best for travel to Costa Rica, a hard-earned distinction for its two founders. After all, Mead and Brown gave up fast-paced careers in the United States to set up shop in Costa Rica, where they drew on their own experience as tourists to create one-of-a-kind vacations for a market that had, in their eyes, gone uncatered to, or at least insufficiently so.

“After rewarding careers in the US, we knew we wanted adventure and to live abroad,” says Brown. “Several visits as tourists to Costa Rica illustrated the need—and business opportunity—for a professionally managed vacation rental company that could deliver to the expectations of North Americans. After a year of research and planning and the investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars into the best systems, we opened for business.”

The result was Mead Brown, which now boasts a diverse collection of privately owned beachfront villas, houses, condos, and fincas in the Jaco, Playa Hermosa, Herradura, and Los Sueños areas. Mead Brown has also become the preferred vacation rental provider for the Los Sueños Resort & Marina, where clients enjoy lavish condominium accommodations and leisure, sporting, and spa privileges.

Mead Brown also offers complete concierge services, meaning clients can craft the ultimate vacation package. Spa services, championship golf, world-class sport fishing, horseback riding, sea kayaking, and flora-and fauna tours are among the wishes and whims the outfit’s dedicated guest services staff can fulfill. There’s also the placement of private chefs, as well as air- and watercraft charters, housekeeping, and transportation.

“Service is what sets us apart from most of the vacation rental companies in Central America,” Brown says. Even when the most hedonistic at heart come calling, Brown, like a seasoned hotelier, has the answer: “We will do virtually anything to meet our guests’ needs, expectations, and wishes,” he says. “This is a promise not easily fulfilled in a developing country, but we give it our very best and we typically deliver.”

So how are these American expats adjusting to life in this business? “It’s been really gratifying and rewarding for us,” Brown says. “When [guests] leave, they tell us that they’ve never been so well taken care of. It seems a bit odd to us . . . it’s not as though we are peeling their grapes.” Maybe so, but we have a feeling that this hospitable pair would be happily willing to do just that.—Lindsay Lambert

Mead Brown’s accommodations range from fully equipped three-bedroom condos from $300 per night to seven-bedroom villas at $7,500 per night; all properties include daily housekeeping. For more information or to make a reservation, visit www.meadbrown.com or call 866-567-1516.
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