Small Distinctive Hotels celebrará el día Internacional del turismo dándole una mano al ambiente y a sus comunidades.

El próximo 27 de septiembre se celebrará el Día Internacional del Turismo;   “para crear  conciencia sobre el papel del turismo en la comunidad internacional y demostrar cómo afecta los valores sociales, culturales, políticos y económicos en todo el mundo” según afirma la Organización Mundial del Turismo.

En los últimos años el desarrollo sostenible ha sido el camino tomado por en la industria del turismo costarricense, tal ha sido su impacto que Costa Rica ha sido nombrado en distintas ocasiones, como uno de los destinos líderes en términos de ecoturismo enfocado en la conservación ambiental, educación  así como el apoyo y desarrollo socioeconómico de las comunidades.

A razón de esta celebración y en apoyo a un desarrollo sostenible, Small Distinctive Hotels of Costa Rica, un selecto grupo de hoteles estilo boutique localizados en las más diversas y hermosas zonas de Costa Rica, celebrarán esta fecha con diversas actividades en sus comunidades, en pro del ambiente como una acción más a toda la labor que se realiza día a día. El objetivo principal de estas actividades es hacer conciencia sobre la importancia de sentar responsabilidades ambientales, sociales y culturales entre los colaboradores, locales y turistas que visitan estas propiedades.

Actividades Programadas:

Small Distinctive Hotels of Costa Rica celebrates World Tourism Day by giving a hand to local communities and the environment

This September 27th World Tourism Day is celebrated across the globe “(…) to raise awareness on the role of tourism within the international community and to demonstrate how it affects social, cultural, political and economic values worldwide”, according to the UN World Tourism Organization.

Sustainability is an increasingly important trend within the tourism industry, which Costa Rica has been catering to for many years. Costa Rica has frequently been named one of the world’s leading destinations in terms of ecotourism, focusing on environmental conservation and education as well as the support and empowerment of local communities.

Small Distinctive Hotels is a select group of eight luxurious boutique hotel members located in the most beautiful natural surroundings of Costa Rica. The conservation of these environments and empowerment of local communities therefore forms a substantial part of the philosophy. In this context each hotel plans to organize an event on and around World Tourism Day in order to raise awareness among staff and tourists equally, on the importance of both social and natural environment for truly successful tourism.

Activities planned by each hotel:

Colaboradores del Arenas del Mar Resort organizan la reconstrucción de la casa de dos compañeras después de la tormenta tropical Agatha

El 1 de Junio durante las horas de la noche, la tormenta Agatha golpeo fuertemente con sus vientos la zona de Manuel Antonio y Quepos.

A causa de esta tormenta dos colaboradoras del Hotel Arenas del Mar, sufrieron graves daños en sus casa por la caída de árboles. Las colaboradoras a las cuales les sucedió la desgracia de tener “un árbol literalmente metido dentro de sus casas“ fueron Maritza Reyes, quien trabaja en el área de lavandería y tiene aproximadamente dos años de laborar para el Hotel y vive en Manuel Antonio, los daños a la casa de ella más que todo fue en un cuarto, baño y parte de la cocina,  al darse la caída parcial de un árbol.

Doña Jenny Flores fue la otra persona afectada, quien tiene aproximadamente dos años de laborar para el hotel también, es camarera y vive en el barrio el Cocal, junto con sus tres hijos.

Desafortunadamente otro árbol cayó en medio de su casa destruyendo todo lo que había dentro de la vivienda. La señora es de escasos recursos y por eso su vivienda estaba construida con material de baja calidad así que todo se vino al suelo.

Sus compañeros de trabajo, de todos los departamentos del hotel, tuvieron la iniciativa de ayudar a sus colegas, e iniciaron una colecta de dinero voluntaria en donde participaron todos los colaboradores  del hotel y en conjunto con el  departamento de Recursos Humanos se hizo la organización para recaudar y distribuir el dinero para la compra de materiales.

En el caso de doña Maritza ella solicito que con el dinero el hotel le compra el material, y que ella se hacía cargo de la reconstrucción de su casa.


En el caso de doña Jenny el Hotel Arenas del Mar le donó los materiales y el dinero recaudado fue para pagar un maestro de obras que les ayudo por dos semanas a levantar la casa. En las obras de construcción de la casa de doña Jenny participaron de manera voluntaria personal del hotel ya que el dinero no alcanzaba para poder pagar una cuadrilla de constructores, apesar de que muchos no tenían conocimiento en construcción su motivación surgía de las ganas de ayudar a una compañera y sus hijos.

Durante el tiempo de reconstrucción de la obra, los empleados se  percataron de que Jenny no tenia televisor ni sillones. Pero, el día que le hicieron la entrega de la casa, le dieron la gran sorpresa de encontrar dentro de su casa un juego de sala el cual fue donado por el hotel, y un televisor de 27 pulgadas donado por una colaboradora.

¡Fue un momento muy lindo cuando ella llego a su hogar y vio todo! , comentaron las personas que participaron en la construcción.

Felicitamos al Hotel Arenas del Mar y a todo su personal por colaborar con esta iniciativa haciendo un sueño realidad.

 

Para mas informacion sobre Arenas del Mar Beach and Nature Resort, por favor visite:

Arenas del Mar Resort:

http://www.arenasdelmar.com

Small Distinctive Hotels:

http://distinctivehotels.com/our_hotels_arenas_del_mar.html

Arenas del Mar Resort: Staff organizes construction of colleagues‘ homes after tropical storm

On the night of June 1st this year, the tropical storm Agatha hit Costa Rica and caused a lot of damage in the area of Manuel Antonio. Many local families were affected and lost their homes, among which two employees of the Arenas del Mar Beach and Nature Resort whose houses were hit by a tree.


One of the two particularly unlucky employees, who „literally had a tree landing in the middle of their houses“ is Maritza Rezes, who works in the laundry area at the hotel since two years. The main damage to her house in Manuel Antonio was caused to the bathroom, bedroom as well as the kitchen – the latter only partly, since luckily the tree split in half. The other employee whose house was totally destroyed as a result of the storm is Jenny Flores, who works in the housekeeping department since two years. As a single mother with three little children Jenny’s resources are scarce, so the house was already in bad shape when the tree fell on it, which resulted in its entire destruction.

Colleagues from all departments of the hotel felt motivated to help, which eventually led to a fundraising event organized by the human resources department, in which all employees participated.


Maritza offered to take care of the construction of her new house herself, with the material that the hotel had bought for her. In Jenny’s case the hotel donated the material and the raised money was used to hire a master builder for two weeks to help build the house.

Since the money was not sufficient to hire a troop of construction workers, members of the hotel staff volunteered to participate in the construction work. Even though these volunteers did not have any knowledge regarding construction, their desire to help motivated them as they were instructed by the master builder. The Human Resources department organized the daily logistics of the volunteers.

 Upon constructing the house, the volunteering employees noticed that Jenny had not had chairs or a television in her house. So as a surprise, the hotel donated a game room and a colleague royally gifted a 27-inch television.

“It was the most beautiful moment when she arrived at her new home and saw everything”, an involved member of the hotel staff states.

We congratulate Arenas del Mar and the entire hotel staff on this beautiful initiative showing that dreams can indeed come true! 

For more information about Arenas del Mar Beach and Nature Resort, please visit:

Arenas del Mar Resort:

http://www.arenasdelmar.com

Small Distinctive Hotels:

http://distinctivehotels.com/our_hotels_arenas_del_mar.html

Sustainability Acitivies of Small Distinctive Hotels Members

In addition to a strong commitment to the national certification program, our member hotels engage in a wide range of individual activities aimed at preserving their social and environmental surroundings.

Some of the highlights of the various initiatives undertaken by the eight member hotels are provided below. For further information and a complete overview of each hotel’s sustainability activities, please follow the corresponding link by clicking on the hotel’s name.

Grano de Oro:

• Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children

• Casa Luz provides a safe living environment and education for teen mothers until they can take care of themselves and their children.

• Proparques protects and educates about Costa Rican national parks

Capitán Suizo:

• Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children

• Proparques

• Regular traditional activities for guests such as folkloric dance, music or local handcraft

Villa Caletas

• Electrical savings – by means of technology and staff education

• Use of compostable and reusable products, recycling and reforestation

• Helping local communities, training programs

Florblanca Resort

• Recycling and Waste Management

• Resource Conservation

• Interaction with the community

Casa Turire

• Fundraising for- and funding of social or educational support of local communities

• Member of Canaeco, the national chamber of ecotourism

• Proparques, Casa Luz and Piensa en Arte

Peace Lodge

The hotel is located in the midst of a lush rainforest and combined with its sanctuary for seized animals, it poses an excellent scenario for educational encounters with nature and wildlife.

Arenas del Mar

• Onsite features (e.g. energy reduction, recycling, electric cars)

• Support of local communities through gift shop and spa

• Plant-a-Tree program

Cuna del Angel

• Environmental education in schools

• Beach cleaning campaigns with Terra Nostra

• Initiation of Blue Flag program

We hope that you will not only be motivated to comply with the guidelines provided on our website and by the hotels, but will also be inspired to implement them back home. We and our member hotels also highly appreciate any feedback regarding ideas on how to increase our level of sustainability.

Wishing you sustainable travels for your next holidays and through life!