Stay In Good Company

We’re taking a moment to transition between our seasons - to pause and reflect on so many places visited, memories made, communities changed - to share the stories of the people I’ve met and made friends with around the world, mindful travelers like you and me.  These guests have so much credibility and creativity in their own rights, building their own travel and hospitality focused podcasts and...

We’re taking a moment to transition between our seasons - to pause and reflect on so many places visited, memories made, communities changed - to share the stories of the people I’ve met and made friends with around the world, mindful travelers like you and me.  These guests have so much credibility and creativity in their own rights, building their own travel and hospitality focused podcasts and...

“My life story and career has had a lot of twists and turns. I think just starting super young,I knew I wanted to create something, to build something, to ultimately to start a business and be an entrepreneur. It just took me a long while to figure out what that was and what the thing was that I truly loved and was passionate about. All of the different aspects of my path have influenced and led t...

“There's so many craftspeople and artisans up here. Everyone up here has a shared appreciation for seasonality and the quality of ingredients and that sort of lifestyle. And then visitors are coming to be a part of that. So we were really drawn to what a unique location that was, to not separate the agricultural side from the experiential side.” We’re in great company with Kyle & Katina Co...

“So my passion for wine got deeper. I was fascinated about the whole production here in the new world, because the new world is different. You see the people and the tourism and the wineries with huge passion. Everybody loves to talk about the wine they produce because they put their whole soul in it. And if you do a wine tasting maybe in France or in Italy, it's different, they have a differe...

“It's a lot different than going to a museum. You can't touch anything in a museum, you are there for an hour and you probably get bored if you're like me. The cool thing about a lot of our houses - I think 10 out of 12 are owned by the original families and many of them live on site - so there’s a good chance that you're going to get to meet Lord and Lady Howard, or The Earl of Sa...

“What is essential is the hosting, is how you meet your guests, like having a dinner party. Either you set up the date, you buy the food and serve it, or you take days in preparing how the flowers are going to be, how the music is going to sound. Seeing that whole little journey of senses and touch points. And that for me is completely the same as staging a production in a theater.” As we celebrat...

“We are 100% organic. It’s amazing what these women do, they do it all by hand. There's no machinery. It’s all muscle and all hard work, and the guests love to see that. They see what that produces and the value in doing it the way that we do it. I think a lot of people take that home with them. That's an experience that really can transform the way you do things when you learn where your...

“You can look in your bedroom and it looks old fashioned, yes there might be a TV and a kettle, but fundamentally, you feel like you’re stepping back in time. We really want you to come and feel relaxed, almost as if you are in a different age. People will come and say it's like stepping into an Agatha Christie novel, and that to me is a sign of success.” We’re in great company with Steve O’Su...

“In general, when you live in the United States and in Canada, I think to some degree we take for granted how we’re brought up with education around the environment. And I’d say the thing that we’re most proud of is that, in us building this way, has also created in the community an understanding for environmental practices which I don’t know were necessarily there before.” We’re in great company...

“We created a wellness paradigm that is very different from the first wellness establishments - from a yoga studio, to a wellness resort, to apps - and created a holistic approach that makes scientific sense, that makes common sense. That actually makes people understand the reality of what we are in today, rather than worry about the symptoms that they are feeling.” We’re in great company with Vi...

“At the time I knew I was going to be a father, I started thinking to myself what I really wanted to give as an example and a legacy. Not in a material perspective, but in terms of what I wanted to do with my life. Having kids increased that intergenerational perspective. I changed from a short term vision to a long term vision.” We’re in great company with Pedro Franca Pinto, Chief Dream Officer...

“After almost one century, repurposing the building was also very significant for the people, especially the older ones, that used to remember the place from their childhood as a working factory, in its full glory. It was like reviving history in a different way with a different use.” We’re in great company with Nikos Karaflos, Imagineer of Dexamenes, a well deserved title for someone who took his...

“It slowed me down. It made me realize so many beautiful things around me. I paid more attention. I paid more attention to what the fire crackling sounded like, to the chipmunks outside, the snow falling around me.” We’re in great company with Emily Padan and Mauricio Padilla, Co-Founders and Owners of hinter, where they design innovative spaces hidden in nature with minimalist design and a climat...

“For me it was important to have this beautiful example of generosity from my family, from people in Puglia. And even if they have nothing, they always want to share what they have. And of course they always want to know everything about you.” We’re in great company with Chiara Tommasino, who alongside her brother, Walter and parents, Maria Grazia and Paolo, steward Masseria Potenti, a 16th centur...

“Throughout the last two centuries you have had many generations of craftsmanship that never changed. We looked at that and thought, ‘This is exactly how we have to base our work, we’re going to bring this property back to life using the same techniques and the same families who built it initially.’” We’re in great company with José Antonio Uva, the 8th generation of his family to steward São Lour...

“When people drive up through the gates, and they come up to the reception and have their first welcome drink, they cancel virtually everything they had planned outside the gates. Because they realize, maybe these 3 to 4 days they’ve decided to stay at Borgo, there's so much to do and there's so much they would like to experience.” We’re in great company with Claus Thottrup, Founder and Ow...

“You can propagate the work by sharing the work. And so its exciting for me to sit down with all walks of life - every genre of person possible, professionally, athletically - and this translates to them.” In honor of National Honey Month, we’re in great company with Daniel Sullivan, Owner of Shipwreck Honey and Resident Beekeeper of three iconic Pacific Northwest lodges - Salish Lodge & Spa,...

“Could a group of people come together to do the right thing for the environment, the right thing for the community, the right thing for the people that work there, the right thing for the guests and have a sustainable business?” We’re in great company with Chet Pipkin, Founder of the recently realized Desolation Hotel in the Sierra Nevada region of California, with two distinctly different nature...

“It’s someone's 50th wedding anniversary. They’re celebrating a new baby. We’ve had surprise engagements. We’ve had people mourning the loss of someone they loved. Every human emotion and experience you can imagine is being shared around this table. And I feel it is this huge responsibility we have to care for that, to nurture it. To create lifelong memories for our guests.” We’re in great com...

“It's a big challenge to get somebody who, and rightly so, is trying to enjoy their honeymoon or family vacation, to take time to think about nature, to think about the community. Some people may just be there to raft and zipline, to have a nice meal and a massage, to enjoy the hot springs and move to the beach. It’s a project of trying to get your guests first informed, second to raise enthus...

“And you have to try new things, and Costa Rica is the place to do it safely. Fear of heights? Go ziplining. Issues with the ocean? Take a surfing lesson. Eat new things. There's so much interesting stuff that you can try. If you don’t like it, spit it out. It’s fine. It’s barefoot luxury, nobody’s going to judge you.” We’re in great company with Harry Hartman and Mario Mikowski, good friends...

“It became this trifecta: gardens, farming and architecture. And then the pressure was on. We couldn’t use food that we were buying from Sysco Foods, it had to be food off this property and food from the Rio Grande River Valley. The land was challenging us to do the right thing, the place was challenging us to do the right thing.” We’re in great company with Matt Rembe, second generation Owner and...

“So we have a lot of differences, our own individuality, but we enjoy the common ethos and mission that binds us. And that is to bring people into the natural world and have them experience why we live this way and what we find valuable in it. And we want to show people and share with them, and that binds us all together.” We’re in great company with Kirsten Dixon, Founder and Head Chef of Within...

“As far as the people that have to do with Cuyama Buckhorn, the ranchers and farmers that have been there for a long time, you will never leave a dinner with them where you don't get some new story that is worthy of a chapter in a book. They’ve been out there their whole lives and it's always fun to hear what they have to say.” We’re in great company with Jeff Vance and Ferial Sadeghian, O...