united to provide donations to area schools in La Fortuna. Courtesy of Mario Mikowski.
These are questions that Mario Mikowski has been exploring for years—first as a tourism leader, and now as a board member of Amigos of Costa Rica.
Born and raised in Costa Rica and now based in Washington, DC, Mario spent more than 30 years as a director at Tabacón Thermal Resort & Spa in Arenal, founded by his father, Jaime, in the 1980s. He is now a board member at Nantipa - A Tico Beach Experience in Santa Teresa, Hotel Presidente in San Jose, the Costa Rica National Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR), and the Santa Teresa Chamber of Tourism.
Tabacón began its partnership with Amigos during the COVID-19 pandemic when the renowned hotel spearheaded a fundraising campaign for a community in crisis. The partnership grew when Tabacón and its sister hotel, Nantipa, in Santa Teresa, developed a successful Checkout Donation Program that invited guests to join the hotels’ philanthropic efforts.
Today, as an Amigos board leader, Mario hopes to pay it forward by sharing the Amigos Checkout Donation Program with more of his peers in the tourism industry, providing structure and support so that companies and their guests can make a real impact on communities.
Mario spoke with me over Zoom about his experience and Amigos’ new offering. Excerpts follow, edited for clarity.
How did Tabacón first get connected with Amigos of Costa Rica?
Amigos of Costa Rica board member.
Back in 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism shut down. We were struggling as an industry to keep people fed: maybe 95% of the people that work in tourism lost their revenue source. So the idea came up to try to do a fundraising campaign, which I had absolutely zero experience with.
Through a common friend, I reached out to Emily [Arnold] and learned about Amigos, and we set up a very successful campaign. We worked with the local Development Association and through the Chamber of Tourism to identify those in need and who we could help, and we raised over $40,000, which went towards buying food and necessities for a lot of the tourism-related people in La Fortuna.
Was it a big leap for the company to do that kind of outreach?
My dad really had a community approach since he first opened Tabacón. We continued with the practice and the value for the company… but over time, we learned that we should start bringing in outside directors. People who are unattached emotionally to the business, who could give us a different way of looking at things. One of those board members looked at our sustainability or corporate responsibility program and said, "This is very nice, but you're doing it all wrong."
The problem was that we were all over the place. We were not focused. We started to reshape our program. There are 100,000 opportunities in every community, so you need to prioritize and see what the needs are and then how those needs are affecting your business. You need to find a way that your investments actually ensure the long-term health of your business and, of course, the community.
What happened when Tabacón started taking that more analytical approach to its outreach?
After the pandemic, the biggest need in Fortuna was education: dropout rates, maintenance, infrastructure. We built a classroom, bought the materials, taking advantage of all those relationships that companies have already built locally. And when our managers met with the 26 educational institutions in the district of Fortuna to find out what their needs are, we were very surprised to learn that one of their biggest challenges is low morale among teachers and principals—mostly because of limited budgets, aggressive students, uninterested parents.
So in addition to building classrooms or buying desks and materials, we also wanted to do something to recognize them.
We implemented a program called “Excellence in Education,” and once a year, Tabacón holds an event in a local hotel ballroom where we reward the top students, top teachers, and top principals.
awards event in February 2025. Courtesy of Mario Mikowski.
How did you get Tabacón guests involved in this?
You start reading about the trends in tourism and how after the pandemic, a lot of visitors actually want to get involved and give back. It's a huge opportunity for people to actually feel like they're not just visiting, but also helping.
We implemented a Checkout Donation Program of $5 per room per night, and it is an opt out: it shows up in your invoice at checkout as a donation to the foundation. If people ask what it is, the front desk is not only trained but has all the support materials: a video of the classrooms and the equipment and the school supplies for families in need, and eventually the Excellence in Education event. Our success rate has been approximately 65% at Tabacón and 95% at our sister hotel, Nantipa.
"It's a huge opportunity for people to actually feel like they're not just visiting, but also helping."
- Mario Mikowski
move from hotel stays to lasting community impact.
What was the effect of all this on your guests—and your staff?
There were a lot of guests who from the very beginning were really expressing how valuable this was to them to be able to contribute. There is a teacher in a really rural school in Chachagua, just about 10 miles from La Fortuna, who has done amazing work, and a few of the tour operators stop by as a part of one of their excursions; let's say they're going rafting, and on the way back to the hotel, they stop by the school for a few minutes and they get a little tour guided by a student who's already fluent in English. And these visitors started donating money. Again, this is where Amigos can come in: if somebody gets really inspired and wants to do an important donation, it would be better to do it through an entity like ours as opposed to just giving a check to the principal of the school.
The staff are obviously the ambassadors of your brand and your programs—but also, they see your efforts. When you're investing in their children's schools, they appreciate it as well. So they get motivated by seeing how you're, you know, building new classrooms where the kids go or rebuilding classrooms or buying new desks or whatever support you're bringing to their kids' schools is improving their kids' education and opportunities.
Education has become a central focus of Tabacón’s outreach. Courtesy of Mario Mikowski.
What message would you give to other people in the tourism industry who might be considering implementing the Checkout Donation Program?
It’s extremely rewarding. I know we're struggling with lower numbers in tourism and it's a challenging year, so it's not a good moment to go ask hotels to give money—but it is a good time to go tell hotels to get involved and ask their guests for the donations.
In 2024, Tabacón raised over $100,000, just from guest donations, which was invested in local education. But there are a lot of causes you can get involved in.
Checkout Donation Program, with strong guest participation
and matched contributions. Courtesy of Mario Mikowski.
For us, education was the highlight, but if you are in Tortuguero and the turtles are your highlight, be my guest.
You’ve got to analyze what the priority in your own community is and then support that cause.
That's where Amigos comes in: we have 120 affiliates, so you can really help support any cause that you want.
---
Learn more about the Amigos of Costa Rica Checkout Donation Program in this presentation — [Checkout Donation Program-English] [Programa de Donación al Check Out-Español].
Please contact us with any inquiries.
