Marking the first anniversary of Kind Traveler’s ‘Every Stay Gives Back’ program, Casa Chameleon guests raised over $13,000, providing school supplies to more than 1,300 students in the region.
Las Catalinas, Costa Rica – Casa Chameleon at Las Catalinas, the renowned Relais & Châteaux luxury boutique hotel nestled in the heart of the Costa Rican coastline, is proud to announce the support of more than 1,300 students through their community-driven partnership with Kind Traveler and Abriendo Mentes, Guanacaste. Raising more than $13,000 via Kind Traveler’s Every Stay Gives Back (ESGB) community impact program, guests of Casa Chameleon positively impact local communities with every stay. The property’s collaboration with Abriendo Mentes supports the organization’s mission to empower individuals from rural and underserved communities in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, to develop the skills they need to seize educational and economic opportunities for themselves and their families.
Advancing sustainable and regenerative tourism principles, Kind Traveler’s Every Stay Gives Back program creates a formalized, third-party validated giving program for hotels to mobilize funds to local destination-driven nonprofits with every guest stay. Kind Traveler verifies monthly donations and publishes a live ESGB dashboard to make it easy to communicate the importance and impact of the donations with measurable impact metrics. The dashboard also helps empower travelers with education to learn how their travel dollars are being reinvested back into the communities they visit while offering additional ways for guests to get further involved in a ‘How to Travel Kindly’ section of the dashboard. At Casa Chameleon, 100% of a $3 nightly community impact guest donation goes to Abriendo Mentes, providing supplies for over a thousand students in an after-school program fighting against poverty and high dropout rates in schools.
“Travelers are continually seeking inspiration to make responsible travel choices, and through Kind Traveler’s Every Stay Gives Back program, we’re thrilled to partner with Casa Chameleon Las Catalinas and Abriendo Mentes. This partnership gives visitors an impactful opportunity to make a difference during their vacation in Costa Rica. By supporting educational programs promoting job skill development, women’s economic empowerment, and community enrichment, guests can contribute to a powerful legacy of purposeful travel that positively transforms people and place,” said Jessica Blotter, Co-Founder & CEO of Kind Traveler.
Abriendo Mentes (Opening Minds) was founded in 2009 in response to a request from the community of Playa Potrero in the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica, an area where children only attend school three hours a day, the high school dropout rate is 22%, and 30% percent of local Guanacastecos live in poverty. The towns where Abriendo Mentes operates are small, coastal villages where fishing and agriculture were the way of life until the tourism industry took over in the 1990s. The economic shift from agriculture to tourism and service left many locals unemployable as they lacked the skills required to work in the new industry. Abriendo Mentes was founded to give locals the opportunity to build those skills, specifically English and computer skills.
In addition to the monetary support for Abriendo Mentes, guests of Casa Chameleon at Las Catalinas have the option to support the local community by teaching English classes every Thursday, assisting with sports and recreational activities on “Fun Fridays,” supporting a weekly “Chase the Ace” fundraiser in Perlas, and visiting The Shop in Potrero, where the sale of handcrafted goods by local women helps fund community programming and give local families access to quality affordable clothing.
On-site, Casa Chameleon at Las Catalinas provides world-class internships for students studying tourism, hotel services, kitchen, maintenance, and accounting in the Guanacaste area. These training opportunities lead to hiring internally at the property and prepare participants to enter the workforce with skills that translate to various roles in luxury hospitality in Costa Rica and beyond.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
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