Meet Our Team

Hans Pfister
Hans Pfister is the President and co-owner of Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality. Hans brings almost 20 years of experience in the hotel business in all capacities from trainee to General Manager, and currently serves as Managing Director working across all projects.  Born and raised in Germany, Hans' career began with the European tradition of apprenticeship as an introduction to the industry, rounding out his education and training with a degree from Cornell's School of Hotel Administration and experience in various properties in Europe, Asia, North- and Latin America. In addition to his native German language, Hans speaks English and Spanish fluently, and is also able to communicate in French for business purposes.  Hans has been on the board of directors of the Costa Rican hotel chamber for five years and served as representative of the private sector (CANATUR) in the Marketing Committee of the Costa Rican Tourism ministry (ICT) for over four years.  Hans is a frequent speaker at sustainability related conferences and was invited to share Cayuga's experiences in the field of sustainable hospitality at the Harvard Business School and Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration. 

Andrea Bonilla
Andrea is Vice President of Operations and co-owner of Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality.  She was born and raised in Costa Rica.  Her passion for service and the hotel industry in general lead her to Cornell University where she got a BS in Hotel Administration. Andrea brings over 15 years of industry experience to Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality, from training positions and internships from MGM studios, Disney World to the Hampton Inn Costa Rica.  As part of her experience, she worked for a year as Operations Manager at Breezes Beach Club in Zanzibar, Africa.  She then moved to the Osa Peninsula where she lived for almost five years working as Administrative and General Manager of Lapa Rios and where her passion for sustainability was fully developed.  Andrea has been instrumental in the opening process of properties such as the Harmony Hotel, Morgan’s Rock in Nicaragua and Arenas del Mar.  Being from Costa Rica, her native language is Spanish, but she speaks fluent English and Italian and is proficient in French.  Andrea is also part of Women of the Osa, a group of volunteers supporting the conservation of the Osa Peninsula.

Jorge Arrieta
Jorge holds a masters degree in International Business Administration from UIA, Texas and an undergraduate degree in tourism.  He has over 15 years of operational experience in hotel operations and consulting. Before joining Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality, Jorge was a professor of tourism at the Universidad Internacional and served as program director of an internationally sponsored program to increase the level of tourism related skills in rural areas of Costa Rica .  Jorge worked at the Lapa Rios Ecolodge as Administrative and General Manager for five years and was then promoted to Director of Operations for Cayuga.  He is responsible for the supervision of the different hotel operations and of offering support to the property managers. 

Millay Kogan
Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Millay Kogan came to Costa Rica and Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality directly after graduating from Cornell University with a degree in Hotel Administration.   She began work as a Sustainability Coordinator at Lapa Rios Ecolodge, where she became a sustainable tourism expert.  She is extremely passionate about sustainable development, the environment and community improvement.  She decided to make the Osa her residence and has become an active member of Women of the Osa and the Asociacion Costarricense para la Conservacion de la Naturaleza.    In early 2008, Millay took on a new position as Sustainability Director for all of Cayuga’s properties.  She is assisting the property managers to make sustainability the “way of life” at all levels of the hotel operations and supervising the CST Certification Process (Certification for Sustainable Tourism). 

Maria Jose Castro
Maria Jose was born and raised in Costa Rica.  She studied Hotel Administration at the Universidad Interamericana de Costa Rica.  As her first assignment, she took on the role of Operations Manager at the Harmony Hotel.  She was then promoted to Operations Manager at the Cayuga Corporate level and is currently supporting the hotel managers with the implementation of systems and has become our operations expert with great attention to detail and excellence at the day to day operations.  Maria Jose also supports the corporate Cayuga marketing activities and upcoming technology upgrades.   Maria Jose is fluent in English and Spanish and understands German.  

Fabian Palma
Fabian was born in Costa Rica; he studied hotel and restaurant management at the ULACIT University in San Jose, Costa Rica.  He has been working in the hospitality industry for well over 10 years.  He started out as an entrepreneur in the restaurant business and has a strong Food & Beverage background.  He worked as the hotel manager for Cruise West on board of the Seattle based Pacific Explorer cruise ship and  re-launched the Harmony Hotel in Nosara as General Manager as his first assignment for Cayuga.   Fabian has become an expert in Hotel openings as he was also responsible for the opening of Arenas Del Mar Beach & Nature Resort located in the rain forest of Manuel Antonio where he currently serves as General Manager.  Fabian is fluent in English and Spanish.

Andrea Miranda
Andrea, better known as Angie, was born in California but she was raised in Costa Rica.  From a short age she was taught to cherish and respect nature and life in general.  This, along with her passion for cooking led her to study Hotel Administration at the Universidad Interamericana de Costa Rica. Before joining Cayuga, Angie went through culinary training in various management positions in Costa Rica.   Angie joined Cayuga as Operations Manager where she had exposure to the operations of 7 Cayuga hotels in Costa Rica and Nicaragua.  She then took on a new challenge as General Manager of the Harmony Hotel in Nosara taking this unique hotel to the next level in service quality and sustainability. 

Juan Pinto
Juan Pinto joined Cayuga as the general manager of Lapa Ríos in the Osa Peninsula, after two years of being responsible for the agricultural department of the touristic theme park PANACA.  Juan graduated as an agronomist from E.A.R.T.H. University with an ample knowledge on Costa Rican fauna.  He is authentically fascinated by nature and wildlife and is genuinely committed to conservation and sustainability.   He is a unique manager in the way that you might very well see  him holding a snake to show to guests at the ecolodge and trekking behind a heard of howler monkeys in the rainforest.  Having been born in Costa Rica his first language is Spanish and he is also fluent in English.

Ingrid Alfonso
Ingrid was born and raised in Bogota, Colombia.  She studied Hotel Administration at the Business Administration School in Bogota.   She has been working in the hospitality industry for almost 15 years.  Her experience involves working for large hotel chains such as Intercontinental, Sofitel and Radisson as well as managing a small lodge in the Cloudorest of Monteverde in Costa Rica.   Ingrid currently serves as the Operations Manager of the Arenas del Mar Beach and Nature Resort in Manuel Antonio.  She is fluent in Spanish and English and speaks basic German. 

Elsa Goicoechea
Elsa joined the Cayuga Team after working for at the Marriott Courtyard and Costa Rica Marriott as Group and Events Manager.  Elsa was born and raised in Costa Rica and studied Hotel Administration at the Universidad Latina in San Jose.   Elsa’s first assignment was as Operations Manager and her attention to detail and passion for her work  made her a great asset especially during the opening process of Arenas del Mar.    She is currently the Operations Manager at the Harmony Hotel in Nosara.  Elsa is fluent in English and Spanish and proficient in Italian. 

Arnay García
Arnay Garcia was born in Guanacaste, Costa Rica.  He then lived the first 13 years of his life in Puerto Jimenez, Osa Peninsula.  As a teenager, he moved to San Jose to finish high school and study Economics. He has ample experience in the publishing business, as he was the production and distribution manager for one of Costa Rica 's most important newspapers.  His dream to be reunited with his family and the nature of the Osa Peninsula, after many years of living in San Jose, motivated Arnay to join us at Cayuga.   Arnay is currently the Administrative Manager at the office of Lapa Rios in Puerto Jimenez.   He is fluent in English and Spanish.