The Luxury of Giving Back

How a Central American hotel group is redefining luxury through environmental restoration and local empowerment

In a world where luxury often means excess, Hans Pfister, President & Co-Founder of the Cayuga Collection, offers something refreshingly different. His company manages eight sustainable luxury hotels across Central America, with properties in Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, and most recently, Guatemala.

“We’re a management company of small sustainable luxury hotels in somewhat remote locations—on islands, in the mountains, on the coast,” explains Pfister. “It’s a luxury product, but it’s not your typical Dubai luxury. The focus is more on experiences, on authenticity, on connecting with the place where you are and with the people.”

This philosophy was crystallized in September 2023 when the Cayuga Collection launched “Luxury Rewilded”—a concept that reframes what luxury means in the hospitality industry. “It’s a return to a deeper, meaningful connection to the natural world, to each other, to ourselves,” Pfister says. “When we think about tourism and mass tourism, we sometimes think that we want to rethink what luxury means; does it really have to be about artificial environments and imported goods? We believe it’s time for a new model.”

For the Cayuga Collection, luxury isn’t defined by imported Italian marble or French champagne. Instead, it’s measured by the authenticity of experiences, the regeneration of natural environments, and the positive impact on local communities. This approach resonates with a growing segment of travelers seeking more than just comfort and indulgence—they want purpose and connection in their journeys.

“Our guests are part of a growing movement that reimagines luxury as something that leaves a positive footprint, something that contributes to the land and the people it touches,” Pfister notes. The timing couldn’t be better, as post-pandemic travel trends show increased demand for meaningful, sustainable tourism experiences that offer genuine cultural immersion rather than standardized luxury.

The Collection and Its Unique Properties

The Cayuga Collection portfolio showcases the diversity of Central America’s natural splendor, with each property offering its own distinct character while adhering to the company’s sustainable ethos.

“All our hotels are small, luxury products in remote locations with different owners,” Pfister says. “The owners trust us with their baby—often they’ve built it, conceived it, they’re very proud of it, and we take care of the management.”

Among the collection’s standouts is Isla Palenque Resort in Panama, a 400-acre tropical island sanctuary featuring secluded beaches and archaeological sites. In Costa Rica, Kura Boutique Hotel perches in the Uvita rainforest with panoramic views of the famous Whale’s Tail sandbar, while Arenas del Mar offers the rare combination of luxury accommodations within walking distance of Manuel Antonio National Park’s beaches.

The newest addition to the family, the Bolontiku, opened in Guatemala in late 2023. “It’s a really special place located on Lake Peten in northern Guatemala, close to the border of Belize,” Pfister explains. “It’s the gateway to some of the most amazing Mayan ruins. We’re just an hour away from Tikal, but there are many other ruins like El Mirador where we offer helicopter tours.”

The strategic location offers more than just archaeological access: “The lake is clean, safe to swim, safe to kayak and standup paddle. It’s a great base to explore all these Mayan ruins and culture, then come back to a place where you can unwind, hang out by the lake, have great food, and very comfortable rooms.”

The collection also includes the distinctive Jicaro Island Lodge in Nicaragua, offering views of the Mombacho Volcano, and Hotel Aguas Claras on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast—a beachfront arts hotel where each room serves as a living art installation.

Transforming the Land: Environmental Stewardship

The Cayuga Collection’s approach to luxury begins with healing the land. Their properties speak of remarkable transformations of degraded environments into flourishing ecosystems.

“Imagine a piece of land that was once barren and overused, cleared for agriculture, stripped of its natural life,” Pfister says. “At Arenas del Mar in Manuel Antonio, the land was a sheep pasture. At Aguas Claras on the Caribbean coast in Puerto Viejo, it was a cacao plantation. Those places had lost their vitality.”

Today, these formerly depleted spaces teem with wildlife. Lush gardens have replaced agricultural monocultures, creating habitats that support local biodiversity. “We’ve been able to bring back thriving private nature reserves,” Pfister notes. “Wildlife has returned. Where there were once fields, there are now vibrant ecosystems full of color and sound.”

This regenerative approach encompasses building practices as well. Rather than demolishing existing structures, the Cayuga Collection prioritizes rehabilitation. “We didn’t just build on this land, we healed it,” Pfister explains. “Many of our buildings that are now luxury hotel rooms were once abandoned and run down. Instead of demolishing them, we restored these structures because true sustainability isn’t about starting fresh, it’s about revitalizing what already exists.”

Their Senda Monteverde Hotel exemplifies this philosophy. “It was a hotel that was run down and wasn’t operating as a hotel. It was just sitting there for 10 years, and we rebuilt it and made a luxury hotel out of it,” Pfister says.

Even their landscaping focuses on restoration. “In our gardens, we plant native species that attract local wildlife, requiring little or no irrigation,” Pfister explains. This approach has created such successful habitat restoration that one property now serves as a release site for rehabilitated wildlife.

“In one of our properties, there’s an organization that rescues sloths if they’ve fallen or gotten electrocuted or have been hurt in some way,” Pfister says. “They’ve chosen our hotel to set those sloths free because they know we won’t mistreat them, we’ll take care of them, and then they can adapt back to wildlife.”

Empowering Local Communities

For the Cayuga Collection, environmental restoration goes hand-in-hand with social responsibility. With approximately 400 employees across their properties, they’ve created a significant economic impact in the rural communities where they operate.

“Our philosophy is to work only with local employees, and that includes management positions, chefs—it’s not only the gardeners and the maids who are local, but everybody,” Pfister emphasizes. “It’s really powerful because when employees see that their bosses are locals, it drives them to say, ‘That person is the general manager, and they grew up in the same town that I did, so I have an opportunity.'”

This localized employment approach creates meaningful career pathways. “We’ve seen a young woman at 18 coming in as a receptionist and 10 years later becoming general manager of one of the hotels,” Pfister says. “Or construction people who worked building the hotel, stayed on and worked their way up through bellboy, reception, into operations management. Or a gardener who’s now operations manager.”

Beyond employment, the Cayuga Collection nurtures entrepreneurship. Pfister proudly shares success stories: “Take Gerardo, for example. He started with us as a sustainability manager, passionate about the environment. Today, he has planted 70,000 native trees along the Pacific coast, helping to restore ecosystems one sapling at a time.”

Another employee transformed a simple idea into a thriving business: “He began his journey with us as a gardener. He had a brilliant idea, and today he runs his own business selling bamboo straws to hotels across the region, including ours.”

Perhaps most touching is their employee family program. “We invite our employees to experience what they’ve built once a year. They bring their families to stay at the hotels where they work. They’re treated like VIPs by their colleagues,” Pfister explains. “It’s an experience that allows them to proudly share the place they’ve helped shape—something they could normally never afford. It creates that connection to the land.”

Creating Authentic Connections

The environmental and social initiatives of the Cayuga Collection ultimately converge in the guest experience, creating something markedly different from conventional luxury.

“The Cayuga Collection is not for everyone,” Pfister readily admits. “We attract a very special kind of guest, the kind who seeks to discover what truly matters, the kind who understands that true luxury isn’t about perfection, it’s about connection.”

These guests aren’t looking for the choreographed perfection found at many high-end resorts. “We’ve had guests move their reservations from ultra-luxury resorts to stay with us. Why? Because they said the other place was too perfect,” Pfister says. “Perfection can be sterile. Authenticity is alive.”

The collection fosters genuine cultural exchange rather than staged performances. “We share our traditions, our music, and our culture with our guests, not as performers, but as people,” Pfister explains. Local partnerships enrich these experiences, from spice farm visits to folk dance performances by nearby school groups.

“We don’t want our guests to be locked into our hotels like all-inclusive resorts,” Pfister says. “On the contrary, we want them to go out and experience and see what’s going on. We give them recommendations—we definitely want the local experience to be there.”

This might mean taking guests to local farmers’ markets, arranging visits to indigenous mask painters, or recommending authentic local restaurants. The approach appeals to travelers increasingly seeking meaning and connection in their journeys, a trend that has accelerated since the pandemic prompted many to reconsider what they value in travel experiences.

The impact often extends well beyond the vacation itself. “Many of our guests leave with more than memories. They leave changed,” Pfister says. “We’ve seen guests become advocates for sustainability in their own lives, taking home the lessons they’ve learned with us. They’ve planted native species in their own gardens, they’ve changed how they travel.”

This transformative quality represents a fundamental shift in luxury hospitality, moving from consumption to contribution. As Pfister puts it: “It’s luxury that revives, that restores—it’s Luxury Rewilded.”

Looking Forward: The Future of Luxury Rewilded

Though the “Luxury Rewilded” concept only formally launched in September 2023, it represents the culmination of the Cayuga Collection’s two-decade journey in sustainable hospitality. Now, they’re focused on both refining this philosophy and expanding its reach.

“I think what we’re learning is that every time we talk to our guests or our employees more, it becomes validated,” Pfister says. “The employees take this very seriously. When they see guests feeding wild animals, they go up to them and say, ‘Hey, don’t do that. You’re hurting that animal.’ Or when they see that in other hotels, there’s a practice of feeding animals to attract them, they say, ‘No, that’s not right.'”

This ethical stance covers all aspects of operations. “We’ve always done this, but even with more pride now—taking part in beach cleanups, planting trees, just really trying to make a difference one step at a time,” Pfister explains. “Then it becomes contagious, and the guests feel, ‘Okay, we’re not just in a resort here. We’re part of something bigger where we can contribute.'”

Looking ahead, the Cayuga Collection has ambitious plans for growth while maintaining their core values. “There’s always work in the hotels to improve the guest experience, to improve our sustainability experience,” Pfister says. “There are a couple of hotels where we’re actually adding rooms and wellness features.”

Beyond enhancing existing properties, expansion is on the horizon. “We’re also looking at adding more hotels to the collection. There’s one in the pipeline in Panama and one in the pipeline in Guatemala,” Pfister reveals, with a property in Antigua, Guatemala expected to open next year.

Throughout this growth, the Cayuga Collection remains focused on local sourcing and community development. “The two main priorities of our model are local and people,” Pfister emphasizes. “For us, luxury is not bringing things from far away, it’s bringing things from as close as possible because it’s fresh and it’s better.”

At a Glance

Who: Cayuga Collection

What: A management company operating multiple sustainable luxury hotels in South and Central America.

Where: Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, and Guatemala

Website: cayugacollection.com

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