Certification DetailsDate: 04/03/2018Evaluator: Gerardo BolanosView Bio

500m West and 350m South of Cafe de Paris
Playa Guiones, Nosara
Provincia de Guanacaste, Costa Rica 50206
info@olasverdeshotel.com
+(506) 2682-0608

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Olas Verdes Hotel
Nosara, Costa Rica
Life Can Wait, Pura Vida Can’t

The Olas Verdes Hotel was built with sustainability in mind from the ground up—literally. Sitting at the edge of the Ostional Wildlife Refuge in an undeveloped lot, the owners—some who owned a business in Nosara for over 10 years and others who had been taking their families to surf there for just as long—knew they had a huge responsibility to develop their dream with the utmost consideration for the environment.

Two years after breaking ground in November 2013, the Olas Verdes Hotel opened as the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum hotel in Costa Rica and the first LEED certified surf hotel in the world. In addition to retaining 90% of the existing trees on the property, the hotel features rooftop solar, solar hot water, rainwater storage, native landscaping, recycled glass mosaics, and wastewater treatment systems with greywater recycling for irrigation. Not only that, but each of the five buildings on the property represents a different part of Costa Rica with unique color palettes and decor from each of the respective regions so you can learn about the country’s various cultures and landscapes.

As for the surf, take a five-minute stroll through the wildlife refuge straight from your room to the four-mile beach break known as Playa Guiones where swell is common year-round and waves are on tap for all abilities. Bring your own surfboard or rent a Firewire Timbertek model from Safari Surf School on-site. Yoga sessions on their recycled plastic yoga deck are a great way to unwind—that, or a cocktail and an authentic Tico dish from the lovely ladies at the organic farm-to-table restaurant and poolside bar, El Manglar.

Olas Verdes Hotel and Safari Surf School were certified together and conduct several initiatives that complement each other. View Safari Surf’s profile for the complete picture.

Sustainability Management
Section Performance - 76%
Social and Economic Impacts Management
Section Performance - 86%
Cultural Heritage Impacts Management
Section Performance - 80%
Environmental Impacts Management
Section Performance - 92%
Stoked? Check out the surf!
Commitment to a Sustainable Future

We take great pride in our culture as Costa Ricans as well as the culture of sustainability and community we have built here at Olas Verdes together, which has been a seamless fit with the STOKE program. As the first STOKE Certified hotel in Central America, we are honored to hold this title as recognition of our sustainability management practices in tandem with our status as the first LEED Platinum hotel in Central America. Thank you to the incredible and passionate team at Olas Verdes and to the owners whose dream for the property and commitment to sustainability is what led us here.

STOKE has been part of OV since before we broke ground and it’s been a lot of work to get to this point, but we’re only just beginning and we’re excited to see our relationship with STOKE and Safari Surf School continue to evolve into new best practices.

  • Continue to train our staff to learn new sustainability skills and inspire them to take action locally outside of the hotel and stewards in the region.
  • Find a way to capture travel emissions data from our guests from various booking mediums.
  • Facilitate the creation of a local carbon offsetting project in Nosara (perhaps blue carbon).
  • Continue to work with local stakeholders to develop a zoning plan for the region for responsible development and conservation easements.
  • Enhance passive interpretation about the wildlife refuge and our culture.
  • Develop a comprehensive socioeconomic impact reporting system to quantify our impacts on the community in more than dollars and cents.
  • Start tracking rainwater usage, add more rainwater storage, and treat greywater for reuse in the laundry machines.
  • Enhance yard waste composting and begin tracking these volumes more accurately.

Thanks for following our journey and taking an interest in the community and environment of Nosara. We hope to see you soon at Playa Guiones.

Luis Pardo, General Manager