{"id":97899,"date":"2024-01-12T22:50:44","date_gmt":"2024-01-13T03:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.tablethotels.com\/en\/?p=97899"},"modified":"2024-03-18T22:53:52","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T02:53:52","slug":"do-the-right-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.tablethotels.com\/en\/2024\/01\/do-the-right-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Do the Right Thing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Isla
Isla Palenque \u2014 San Lorenzo, Panama<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sustainability is crucial at Cayuga hotels. But you don\u2019t have to worry about that. Here, you get the finest jungle luxury experiences whether you care about the future or not. (Editor’s note: you should definitely care.)<\/h4>\n

The Cayuga Collection is a series of fantastically luxurious and fantastically sustainable small hotels in Central America. Stay at any of their hotels \u2014 three of which, Isla Palenque<\/a>, Hotel Aguas Claras<\/a>, and Kura Boutique Hotel<\/a>, are in our selection \u2014 and on your night table sits a 40-page journal chronicling each of their sustainability programs. <\/p>\n

We won\u2019t try to list them all here. But suffice to say, while some hotels are just finally phasing them out, it\u2019s been almost 20 years since a Cayuga hotel gave a guest a plastic bottle. It\u2019s been over ten since they introduced sustainably farmed bamboo straws (and launched one gardener\u2019s new career in the process). Perhaps most unique, no Cayuga hotel hires expats \u2014 their staffing relies on, and invests in, their local communities. <\/p>\n

There aren\u2019t enough hoteliers like Cayuga. As we started this story, we wanted to know why. What makes sustainability so difficult? The first thing we learned: it isn\u2019t. <\/p>\n

\u201cDoing sustainability isn\u2019t that hard,\u201d Hans Pfister, founder of the Cayuga Collection, told me one morning. \u201cIt\u2019s just common sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe to him. Talking to Pfister, you get the sense that this sustainability veteran has forgotten how easy it is to take short cuts. Within minutes of our conversation, Pfister had referenced the \u201cfamous salmon example.\u201d The fame of this anecdote is debatable \u2014 but it\u2019s certain proof of how entrenched Pfister, who\u2019s been in hospitality since 1999, is in the game of green. To him, it\u2019s common knowledge that serving salmon in this part of the world is malpractice of the highest order. <\/p>\n

\"Isla<\/p>\n

\"Hotel<\/p>\n

\"Kura
From top: Isla Palenque, Hotel Aguas Claras, Kura Boutique Hotel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That\u2019s because when you’re served salmon in the tropics, it’s usually been caught somewhere across the globe \u2014 then frozen and highly packaged to make it to Central America. Restaurants do this simply because salmon is a filet with luxury cachet, despite plenty of delicious local fish available in home waters.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll never find it at a Cayuga hotel. Their places practice strict dock-to-dish, eliminating not just double and triple plastic packaging but transport emissions to boot. And trust us, their restaurants are no less luxurious for their use of local seafood.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s a sacrifice there, Pfister doesn\u2019t see it. Maybe a marketing professional would. After all, plenty of strategy (however obvious Pfister says it is) goes into staying green at each Cayuga property. Compare that to the way each hotel is sold to prospective guests. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t say, \u2018stay with us because we\u2019re sustainable,\u2019\u201d explains Pfister. \u201cIt\u2019s the quality of the experience. We want to give you the best vacation possible.\u201d There\u2019s a hint of pragmatism \u2014 cynicism, if you dare \u2014 to the strategy. Remember: Pfister and Cayuga aren\u2019t new to the game. He\u2019s seen for years what he calls \u201cthe say\/do gap.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cGuests say, \u2018I want to stay at a sustainable hotel,\u2019 but when it comes to really making the booking, sometimes that’s not quite happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fortunate then that each property under the Cayuga umbrella has plenty more to its appeal. Isla Palenque<\/a>, on a private island in Panama, is just eight casitas and one villa with access to seven private beaches. Hotel Aguas Claras<\/a> is a tiny place in Costa Rica, where its founder imported her own artwork and turned the suites and bungalows into something like an art museum on the Caribbean coast. Kura Boutique Hotel<\/a>, in the same country, is a tropical-minimalist luxury fantasy at the top of a mountain looking over the Pacific. <\/p>\n

\"Isla<\/p>\n

\"Hotel<\/p>\n

\"Kura
From top: Isla Palenque, Hotel Aguas Claras, Kura Boutique Hotel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before joining the Cayuga umbrella, each was willed into existence by independent owners who dreamed of living and working in the place that invigorated them. Aguas Claras is the product of an artist and her daughter. Kura of a couple, a biologist and an architect. And Isla Palenque is the life\u2019s work of another architect, this one from Chicago, who read Robinson Crusoe and moved to a beach to sleep in a hammock.<\/p>\n

The Cayuga Collection was a good fit for these dreamers. If you\u2019ve made it your life\u2019s work to open a boutique hotel in a setting that inspires you, it\u2019d be a karmic hell to watch your dream contribute to its demise. It\u2019d be unconscionable, in places like these, to work under any but the strictest sustainable principles.<\/p>\n

And still, Cayuga doesn\u2019t deliver their sustainable message with a semi-truck to the face. They simply let you see it. Facing that kind of commitment up close, you reflect. That\u2019s how Cayuga hopes to make a broader impact. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf guests take their inspiration from their vacation and make changes in their day-to-day life, that’s when we feel like: okay we did it. You know, we made a difference.\u201d \u25aa<\/p>\n

 
\nBook Isla Palenque<\/a> on Tablet Hotels.<\/em>
\nBook Hotel Aguas Claras<\/a> on Tablet Hotels.<\/em>
\nBook Kura Boutique Hotel<\/a> on Tablet Hotels.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Isla<\/p>\n

\"Hotel<\/p>\n

\"Kura<\/p>\n

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