Eco-luxury new priority for hotels group

The Canticum Hotels Group of Canticum, S.A. (Costa Rica) has revamped its membership and prestigious image, but with a twist: sustainable luxury.

The Canticum Hotels Group provides marketing and booking services to a select group of small hotels, inns, and villa/vacation rentals including properties in Canada, Spain, Turkey, and Costa Rica. The company began operations in 1999.

The new eco-friendly image is backed up by requirements that member hotels demonstrate the use of specific sustainable practices in their day-to-day operations without loosing sight of luxury treatment and services for guests. The Group makes the point that luxury travel and sustainable travel are not antithetical.

For example, member hotel Trout Point Lodge of Nova Scotia publishes a list of committments to the environment, and has received a high rating from the Hotel Association of Canada's ECOmmodation program. At the same time, the ecolodge has received the highest rating possible from Frommer's guides.

Another example, the Inn at Coyote Mountain has merited inclusion in Travel & Leisure magazine's 2007 book The World's Greatest Hotels, Resorts, & Spas, in yet has also received praise from Lonely Planet, Green Places to Stay, and ethicalescape.com for its eco-practices.

The company looks to attract the market of those wealthy and exclusive travellers who also care about the environmental impact of their vacations.