Small Distinctive Sustainability

 Costa Rica has long been known as one of the  world's "greenest" countries, and is often referred to as an ecotourism pioneer. Indeed, preserving the precious natural environment of this magnificent country has long been on top of the agenda of the Costa Rican government, governmental as well as NGO organizations. Moreover the travel industry in Costa Rica recognizes that succesful tourism is dependent on an intact environmental as well as socio-cultural environment, and therefore engages avidly in its protection.

In line with Costa Rica's sustainability efforts,Small Distinctive Hotels prioritizes sustainability not only by supporting a variety of Costa Rican social and environmental organizations, but also by promoting sustainability among its member hotels. An example for this is that each hotel upon entry, must commit to the National Sustainable Tourism Certification (CST) process.

The Certification for Sustainable Tourism Program (CST) is a product of the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT). The program seeks to categorize and certify tourism companies according to the degree to which its operations comply to a model of sustainability, for which 4 fundamental aspects are evaluated: 

1. Physical-biological Parameters

2. Infrastructure and Services

3. External Clients

4. Socio-economic Development

Accordingly, each of our nine hotels has either gone through the process of certification, is still within the process, or is currently renewing it's certification. Within recent months, the continous and dedicated efforts of our member hotels have begun to show rewards, as positive certification results were being awarded as shown below:

Hotel Casa Turire in Turrialba - 4 out of 5 leaves

Hotel Grano de Oro in San José - 4 out of 5 leaves

Hotel Cuna del Angel in Dominical - 4 out of 5 leaves

Florblanca Resort in Santa Teresa - 4 out of 5 leaves

Hotel Capitan Suizo in Tamarindo - 4 out of 5 leaves

The other hotels likewise rank generally high in the sustainability certification:

Arenas del Mar Resort in Manuel Antonio- 5 out of 5 leaves

Playa Nicuesa Lodge in Osa Peninsula - 4 out of 5 leaves

Peace Lodge in Vara Blanca - 2 out of 5 leaves (currently upgrading)

Hotel Villa Caletas in Jacó - 2 out of 5 leaves (currently upgrading)

At Small Distinctive Hotels, apart from offering a collection of the most beautiful hotels in Costa Rica to journey to, we see sustainability as a journey in itself to which we are continuously committed.

Sustainability Efforts at Small Distinctive Hotels rewarded

Since the beginning of Small Distinctive Hotels, sustainability has played an important role, and all member hotels of the group have been actively engaged in diverse social and environmental initiatives. One of the group's entry criteria for new members is moreover the engagement in the process of CST, the national sustainability certification program. CST rewards touristic enterprises with a 5-level certification system based on criteria in the following categories:

1. Physical-biological parameter
2. Infrastructure and services
3. External client
4. Socio-economic environment

Consequently all members have been working with CST, and have recently begun to receive rewards for their arduous work. Three members of the group have received the results of their certification efforts, resulting in the following current situation; the levels are referred to as leaves, which represent the 5 levels (5 being the highest) of the system:

• 5 Leaves - Arenas del Mar
• 4 Leaves - Casa Turire, Grano de Oro, Cuna del Angel, Playa Nicuesa
• 2 Leaves - Villa Caletas, Peace Lodge
• Awaiting Certification - Villa Caletas, Peace Lodge and Florblanca

These results are by no means definite, and while some hotels are currently waiting for their evaluation, all hotels are constantly working on improving the environmental and social sustainability of their hotels. The latest results of Hotel Casa Turire, Hotel Grano de Oro and Hotel Cuna del Angel show that the continuous sustainability efforts are paying off. 

The success of the hotels' sustainability programs however is not expressed in quantities of leaves received but in positive actions implemented in terms of a harmonious relation with nature, content employees and surrounding communities as well as satisfied and fulfilled customers. We believe that by giving back to nature as well as communities, we can truly make a difference not only in our surroundings, but also in the attitude of our visitors who will ideally fly back home with a greater sense of responsibility and appreciation of nature, culture and communities.

We hope that you will have the chance to visit one of our hotels and witness these countless positive projects for yourself! To read more about sustainability at Small Distinctive Hotels, our nine members, we recommend you to have a look at the sustainability section of our website. Thank you for your ongoing interest.

 

Casa Turire obtains 4 "leaves" in the sustainable tourism certification

Hotel Casa Turire, one of the most distinguished hotels in the Turrialba region and member of the exclusive hotel group Small Distinctive Hotels of Costa Rica, is celebrating the fruits of its arduous work, in order to become one of the few luxury boutique hotels in the country, which are committed to sustainable tourism.



Sustainability is a philosophy which needs to be worked on each day; new goals need to be set, ranging from community trainings to large investments in the improvement of the infrastructure in order to use electricity and water as efficiently as possible. Nevertheless, Hotel Casa Turire hopes to continue strengthening its efforts and remain an excellent example within the Turrialba region.

In order to obtain the certification one needs to prove a balanced development within the 4 areas of evaluation: the interaction of the hotel with its biological surroundings, the dissemination of information to create awareness among guests, the social-economic development of the community as well as the efficiency of its installations.

Some examples of the good practices developed by Casa Turire:

* Recycling Program - This is a process of separation of wastes, including organic waste from the hotel and farm are treated to convert into organic compost.

* Local and sports sponsorships as well as organizing activities for educational and social boards that give support to the community.

* The hotel belong to the Cámara Nacional de Ecología (CANAECO), promoting and supporting the nature conservation and cultural values of the country.

* Hotel has reforestation area (12 hectares) and trails area.

* In our farm we produce a lot of fruits and vegetables that are fertilized using compost that is produced by organic waste to the hotel and farm, besides these products the hotel produces eggs, marmalades, cheese and are used in the kitchen to serve the different dishes that are offered at the restaurant.

* Casa Turire works with Jenaro Bonilla Aguilar School of Turrialba supporting the Ecological Blue Flag Program, giving talks and training to school staff.

For further information, please visit the following websites:

Hotel Casa Turire

or

Small Distinctive Hotels - Casa Turire

Arenas del Mar Beach and Nature Resort: Arenas Del Mar Achieves Highest Certification for Sustainable Tourism

Arenas Del Mar Beach Nature Resort has reached its dream of achieving the highest rating for sustainable tourism within two years of operation, and was awarded five “leaves” last week by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), the first resort to achieve this distinction so soon after opening.

Managed by Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality, Arenas Del Mar joins its portfolio now of four properties which have all received five leaves. In addition, Arenas Del Mar, which opened in 2008, was awarded three stars (highest ranking) under the "Bandera Azul Ecológica" (Ecological Blue Flag) program.

 Arenas Del Mar was created with sustainability in mind beginning with the planning and construction phase. The total construction of the hotel covers less than 25% of the property itself; the rest has become a private nature reserve that acts as an ecological corridor to expand the area surrounding Manuel Antonio National Park. Since the hotel’s opening, the resort has been participating in an extensive reforestation program, planting over 7000 native species of trees on the property. Another goal was to have Arenas Del Mar “blend into” the natural rainforest environment.