Every hotel in La Fortuna talks about being close to nature. Fewer can point to sixteen years of decisions that back it up. At Arenal Manoa Hot Springs Resort, sustainability isn’t a page on the website or a badge on the wall. It’s a program that started small in 2009, grew alongside the hotel, and is still being written today.

Here’s how it happened, and what it means for the guests who stay with us.

How it started: facing up to the hotel’s real footprint

In 2009, the team at Arenal Manoa took a hard look at what it actually takes to run a resort in the rainforest: water, electricity, fossil fuels, food, packaging, and dozens of other resources consumed every single day. That audit was the starting point. Once the impact was visible, the response was straightforward: operate with more responsibility.

From there, change happened gradually rather than all at once. Department by department, everyday procedures shifted toward better practices around water savings, energy use, waste management, care of green spaces, wildlife protection, and getting both staff and guests involved in the process.

A practical example: presence sensors in every room

Good intentions only go so far without systems to back them up. One of the clearest examples of that shift is the presence sensor technology installed in guest rooms. When a room sits empty, the sensor detects it and temporarily shuts off the air conditioning, cutting unnecessary electricity use. As soon as someone walks back in, the system reactivates automatically.

It’s a small piece of technology, but it captures the underlying approach: guest comfort doesn’t have to compete with responsible energy use. The two can work together.

Building sustainability into the business itself

As the resort grew, so did the number of projects and the responsibilities that came with them. That’s why sustainability was formally written into Arenal Manoa’s 2024-2028 organizational strategy. Folding it into the strategy made it possible to set real objectives, organize initiatives with intention, and track progress more rigorously.

That shift also surfaced a gap: sustainability needed someone accountable for it. In 2024, the hotel identified the need for a role dedicated specifically to managing sustainability across the property, and created one.

A shared responsibility, not a single job title

Having a dedicated sustainability lead doesn’t mean sustainability lives with one person. It’s a shared responsibility, reinforced through the hotel’s sustainability committee, which brings together all six departments at Arenal Manoa:

• Operations
• Human Resources
• Food & Beverage
• Commercial
• Administration and Finance
• Engineering and Maintenance

Each department proposes and carries out initiatives tied to its own processes. That structure matters. It means sustainability isn’t a top-down mandate that looks good on paper, it’s a set of actions shaped by the people who actually run each part of the hotel, responding to the real needs of their area.

Where the story goes from here

The sustainability story at Arenal Manoa is still being written. The goals ahead are clear: use resources responsibly, strengthen participation from every team member, develop projects that create lasting environmental and social benefits, and document that work so it can be shared, not just practiced quietly behind the scenes.

For travelers weighing where to stay near the Arenal Volcano, that ongoing commitment is worth factoring in. Choosing a hotel with a real sustainability program, not just a marketing claim, is one small way a trip to La Fortuna can leave a lighter footprint.