Our commitment to you

What we promise, and what to do if we get it wrong

A small program has no customer service department to hide behind. There is one person responsible for every complaint, and his name is on this page.

Why this program exists

It was not started to sell Spanish lessons. It was started to bring money into La Fortuna de Bagaces.

A village this size has very few ways to attract income from outside it. A Spanish immersion program does something unusual: by its nature it brings foreign capital directly into ordinary households. The family who hosts you, the teacher, the instructors who lead the afternoons, the print shop on your walk to class, the shop where you buy your bread — the money reaches them, not a company in San José. For a small community that is the most useful kind of money there is.

We also knew it could be done here, rather than hoping. That belief did not come from a study. Edwin Meyers, who had the idea for this program, came to Costa Rica in 2010 as a Peace Corps Volunteer and learned his Spanish living with a Tico family and working alongside his neighbours. He is the proof that a small community can teach a language better than a classroom can.

Our purpose: to get one student at a time genuinely speaking Spanish by living it; to look after that student, and the family who hosts them, as well as we would look after our own; and to leave more in La Fortuna than we take out of it.

We measure ourselves on three things. Whether students leave speaking better than they arrived. Whether they would send a friend. And whether the money they bring actually reaches the households that earned it. Everything else — the schedule, the activities, the price — exists to serve those three.

Our service policy

We answer every enquiry within one business day, usually the same day, even when the answer is no.
We tell you the truth about fit. If this program is wrong for you — your level, your dates, what you want — we will say so rather than take the booking.
We quote one price and stick to it. No fees appear later that were not on the program page.
You have one named contact for your whole stay, reachable by WhatsApp, in English or Spanish.
We check in with you in person during your first week, and again before you leave.
We ask every student for feedback at the end of their stay, and we read all of it.
We act on what we are told. Changes to the program come from student feedback more often than from anything else.

If something is wrong

Tell us while you are still here, if you can. Almost everything is fixable on the same day; very little is fixable a month later.

Step 1 — tell us: In person, by WhatsApp on +506 6121 1133, or by email to hola@spanishimmersion.cr. Any of the three counts. You do not need to put it in writing for us to take it seriously.
Step 2 — we acknowledge: Within 24 hours. We write down what you told us, in your words, and confirm it back to you so we know we understood it.
Step 3 — we fix what can be fixed now: If it concerns your accommodation or an activity and you are still here, we deal with it the same day — including moving you to another host family if that is what is needed. Classes are different: there is one teacher on this program, so we cannot swap her. What we can and will do is sit down with her about how your classes are run — the pace, the material, the balance of speaking and grammar — and change it.
Step 4 — a written answer: Within seven business days you get a written reply saying what happened, what we did, and what we are changing so it does not happen again.
Step 5 — if you are still not satisfied: It goes to Ángel B. López Duarte, who runs the program, and he will answer you himself. Every complaint is recorded, numbered and kept on file with what was done about it.

How we measure this

Every student is asked to complete a short feedback form at the end of their stay, covering the classes, the host family, the activities and the coordination. Responses are kept on file. They are reviewed with the teacher and the instructors, and the program is adjusted on the strength of them at the annual November review — or immediately, where something needs it sooner.

Talk to us

Before, during or after your stay — the same email and the same number reach the same people.

Adopted 1 October 2026 · Next review November 2027 · Spanish Language Bootcamp S.R.L., cédula jurídica 3-102-846896