Costa Rica beach resort

During 2005 the hotel was part of the Project “Energy Efficiency in the Hotel Industry”, that was led by the Energy Network Foundation (BUN-CA). Through this project the hotel was able to develop and implement an energy saving plan that includes evaluating and supervising energy consumption, use efficient equipment and devices, providing information to clients and personnel and a preventive maintenance program. The hotel has implemented water and energy saving plans, a recycling plan, and a responsible purchasing plan, among others. We recycle aluminum, plastic, and glass. Only glass is collected, we deliver the rest of our recycling in our own truck to make sure of its destination. We do recycling throughout hotel including guestrooms and public areas. We also have recycling information throughout the hotel and have trained our personnel to instruct and help the guests recycle.

The energy saving projects include changing 95% of the lamps to HID energy saving lamps, changing 10 food refrigerators to a central refrigeration chamber/room and improving the water pump system in the swimming pools. The hotel has set up a schedule to minimize the use of equipment during peak hours. The light switches have small stickers that remind the personnel and guests to turn off the lights when leaving a room. The hotel’s laundry department dries part its clothes under the sun. We have flux meter efficient toilets. We have our own water treatment plant (capacity: 273 cubic meters per day) but we do not recycle that water at the moment. We have a laundry scheme in the rooms where the guests have the option to decide if they want to change their sheets and towels. All the laundry products are eco cleaning. We do not use pesticides and fertilizers but instead we use vegetable/organic manure. The hotel has its own compost bed system and uses all the fruit and vegetable waste produced by the kitchens.

We support various conservation projects:
Blue Flag committee: both financial help and participation in their work and projects. Also we have helped the committee organizing beach cleanups (including the International Beach Cleanup), and planting trees.
National Park system: financial help, i.e. we helped repair one of the national park’s vehicle, provided signs to post the park’s regulations along its trails, provided $2000 for the LAPPAS Association that protects the Red Macaw’s in the area. We also promote visitation to the national parks, and provide the national park’s rules and regulation in the guest information. Also the guests are encouraged to participate by donating funds to the conservation of the Red Macaw’s donating $1 per night through their hotel receipt.
CoopeTárcoles: We support their local artisan fisherman’s cooperative by providing tents and food during some of their events, teaching and giving recommendations of how to improve their food sanitation procedures, and helping them develop an eco-tourism initiative. (CoopeTárcoles is a conservation project that has implemented a responsible fishing code, mapped the area and its fishing species, and promoted the conservation of its natural resources).

We promote local culture and national artists. The paintings in all the rooms are from a Costa Rican local artist. During the year we have live music for our guests (all local musicians). We offer theme dinner nights that include a Costa Rican theme every Friday. We provide information about cultural events on our information board.

The hotel developed and implemented a Campaign against the prostitution, which includes: (a) Not allowing any prostitution related activities in the hotel, (b) Fighting against child prostitution, (c) Training our personnel about this type of issues, and (d) Promoting Jaco as a family destination.

All the personnel are local, including the entire management team. The hotel has a responsible purchasing plan that includes giving priority to local suppliers and products. For example the hotel buys fruit, produce, fish, and other products from local suppliers. Another example is in technology, the hotel uses local developed software for the hotel and restaurant management systems, and the telephone interface systems.

The hotel has been the school of many managers and entrepreneurs in Jaco. For example the director of the local university, the managers of many of the hotels and restaurants in the area, entrepreneurs that have started their own travel agencies, small supermarkets, and even real estate and development learned their ways in the hotel.

Part of the Hotel’s mission statement is to promote human development. We train our personnel on English, skills to perform their work, sustainable tourism, safety and security, personal management, and other areas. We also have special training programs for managers and supervisors: For example management and training skills, leadership, etc.

We have invited people of the community to participate in safety and security training sessions/programs. For example we have held two lifeguard training sessions during 2006 and 2007. The sessions took one week each, were offered completely for free to the new lifeguards, and helped train and certify approximately 20 new lifeguards for the community.

We have implementing a campaign against Dengue Fever. During the last two years the hotel has posted information about Dengue Fever in the personnel’s bulleting boards, has brought speakers to talk about the issue to the personnel, and has held on premise inspections to eliminate possible mosquito nests. A doctor comes one day per week to the hotel. Employees have the opportunity to make an appointment and see the doctor. The service is paid by the hotel. The employees are not charge for the visits.

The hotel also participates actively in community organizations such as the Central Pacific Chamber of Commerce, the Blue Flag Committee, and the Tourist Care safety program.