Business View Carribean l January 2023

23 24 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 1 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 1 THE CAYUGA COLLECT ION At Arenas del Mar, we reduce our carbon emissions by bottling our own water, beer and sodas At the Cayuga Collection, each hotel has it’s own greenhouse where we grow many of the vegetables & herbs we serve at our restaurants. The second piece of the company’s sustainability puzzle is a focus on local sourcing. “We strongly focus on everything related to the local, including local employment, local architecture, local design, local ingredients, and local beverages wherever possible. We try to keep things as local as possible while continuing to ensure our sustainability efforts revolve around local communities.” The company’s local focus includes utilizing local building materials, architectural influences, and the prevailing design sense. “Sometimes you go to a boutique hotel here in Central America, and you’re greeted by doors from Morocco and Buddha statues from Bali. Although this practice is fashionable, you won’t find that at a Cayuga property. We try to use local materials and focus on local design aesthetics. The same goes for our furniture and fittings. Some of our properties produce furniture from fallen trees on the island.” “In other cases, we’ve repurposed old buildings to become a Caribbean-style hotel, providing an authentic experience that guests enjoy.” These sustainability efforts align well with the company’s focus on outward-facing activities that allow guests to interact with the environment and local communities. “Our guides take guests out on nature walks and hikes,” Hans says. “These excursions can focus on birds, national parks, night walks, hiking, or interpretation-focused rainforest exploration. “We’ve incorporated culinary or cultural tours in the last few years. Instead of only seeing monkeys, toucans, and anteaters, guests can visit the local cheesemaker, experience coffee growing, or visit a local spice farm.” “We want our guests to get out and explore the area and experience all it offers outside of the resort’s amenities.” For example, a young woman walked into one of our lodges at 17, and at 27, she was the general manager. Another was a construction worker when the hotel was built 15 years ago and is now the operations manager.” This unique approach to staffing has helped Cayuga Collection demonstrate that it is possible to work with locals and that luxury tourism doesn’t mean you have to bring in ex-pats. The hotel management company extends this employee-centric model by retaining its staff through low seasons, bucking the trend where most hotels fire most staff during low season and rehire them at high season. “We provide year-round employment,” explains Hans. “There are some challenges with this, but also some benefits of not having to retrain, cultivating loyalty among long-time employees, and boosting overall employee retention.”