Sustainability Café on March 9th to look at “Twigs, Pigs and Garbage”

Contributed by Marian Brown on 03/03/10

The Sustainability Café on Tuesday, March 9th will feature Hans Pfister, president and co-owner of Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality, speaking on integrating sustainability into the hospitality industry. The Café will be held in Friends Room 309 from 12:10 – 1:00PM. The unique name of this Sustainability Café is taken from the "Pigs, Twigs and Garbage Tour" at Lapa Rios Ecolodge in Costa Rica, where guests learn how they can incorporate elements of sustainability into their personal lives.

Hans Pfister, a committed conservation tourism professional, heads Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality, a company dedicated to the management and development of hotels, lodges and other tourism-related projects in Latin America and the Caribbean that have an ecological, conservationist or sustainable aspect to them. Currently, Cayuga manages six hotels in different regions of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, offering direct employment to more than 300 locals.

This event is free and open to the public.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Marian Brown at 607-274-3787 or mbrown@ithaca.edu. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.

“Teachable edibles” – local, organic and/or seasonal snacks – for the Spring 2010 Sustainability Café series are being sponsored by Ithaca College Dining Services whose motto is “Sustainability – Healthy – Fresh.” Please bring your reusable mug and fill up at the nearest drinking fountain or provide your own beverage of choice.

Drink in a new way to think in the Sustainability Café.

Sustainability Entrepreneur Hans Pfister to Speak at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration

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Ithaca, NY, March 2, 2010 – Hans Pfister is putting his own shade of green on the hotel and resort landscape across Central America. Pfister will talk about his professional journey next Tuesday, March 9, as the featured speaker in the Conversations with Entrepreneurs series presented by the Leland C. and Mary M. Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship at Cornell University. He will present from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m. in 198 Statler Hall and will dine with selected students after the event. The following day Pfister will meet with students, staff, and faculty.

As founder and president of Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality (www.cayugaonline.com), Pfister oversees the management and development of world-renowned projects such as Lapa Rios on the Osa Peninsula, Morgan's Rock in Nicaragua, and Costa Rica properties The Harmony Hotel, Arenas del Mar Beach & Nature Resort, and the Finca Rosa Blanca Coffee Plantation Inn. Cayuga offers operational expertise to hotel owners and developers looking to enhance their performance in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.

Born and raised in Germany, Pfister earned his degree from Cornell's School of Hotel Administration. During his undergraduate years, he spent summers working in hotels, first in Germany and later in the U.S. and Hong Kong. After graduation, Pfister managed properties in Costa Rica and Germany before launching Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality in 2003.

In addition to German, Pfister is fluent in English and Spanish and is also able to communicate in French. He speaks often at sustainability-related conferences and at academic institutions such as the Harvard Business School and Cornell's School of Hotel Administration.

The Conversations with Entrepreneurs series is sponsored by Hotelie Entrepreneurs, Cornell Hospitality Advisors, and eClips.

Unique Wellness Destinations

If you are looking for guidance to plan a wellness vacation in Costa Rica or Nicaragua, we recommend you visit our website Unique Wellness Destinations. After successfully launching a website to assist in the planning of sustainable honeymoons, this website will help potential travelers to understand the concept of wellness in a broader way and make the right travel and lodging decisions. We especially recommend to consider the newly opened Jicaro Island Ecolodge in Nicaragua for a wellness vacation. If you need help organizing a Wellness Vacation, feel free to contact us at travel@cayugaonline.com or here.

Nature Family Vacations

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Cayuga recently launched a website that is targeted at families looking for an active outdoor vacation in Costa Rica: Nature Family Vacations. Besides useful information about traveling as a family to Costa Rica and recommending destinations and experiences, the site built in a quiz about Costa Rica facts and could be great fun for children to review before coming to Costa Rica. If you need help organizing a Costa Rica Family Vacation, feel free to contact us at travel@cayugaonline.com or here.

Monthly Meeting and Lunch

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Last week we had our monthly Cayuga Corporate Meeting and, as it is a little hard to get together for all our team since we are usually at the hotels, we had lunch and celebrated Silvia's birthday.

Happy Birthday Silvia!