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- Please tell me a bit about yourself?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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We\u2019re a family of four (soon to be five!) who chose Sayulita after a really nice run in Idaho. Independently and together, we\u2019ve lived and worked in France, Australia, Spain, the UK, Nepal and a bunch of places in the US. Relentlessly curious and adventurous, we do our best to live by the maxim \u201cRisk everything, regret nothing.\u201d Which can definitely be a challenge, as one of us breathes change as easily as she breathes air, while the other one\u2026 well, let\u2019s just say that he tends to be happy digging pretty deep trenches. <\/p>\n
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- How did you land in Sayulita? <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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We\u2019d spent a lot of time in Costa Rica over the years, surfing, traveling and visiting friends. And we\u2019d long pondered a way to sink roots somewhere near an ocean. We visited Sayulita for a month in April of 2020 with friends\u2026 which turned into two months, which turned into a daydreaming loop about moving here (as one tends to do when exploring a magical and unfamiliar place). The daydreams turned into a conversation with Randy and Arturo at Protierra, who steered us towards a totally sweet small hotel tucked into the jungle near Playa Patzcuaro. A few months later, we found ourselves packing our truck and trailer and heading south. Serendipity? Fate? Or just really good luck? Either way, we\u2019re now living on a lot of stoke, operating a small business in this welcoming community. <\/p>\n
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- How long have you lived in Sayulita? What is your favorite part?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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We moved to Sayulita in early October, 2021, about six months after we travelled here together for our first visit. And our favorite part of being here is simple: the intersection of culture and community. The pace of life, the emphasis on family, the willingness to jettison a \u201cschedule\u201d for an impromptu coffee or cerveza<\/em>, the vibrancy of the town, how hard the people here work\u2026 it all speaks to us in a way that the always-on, financial-first culture in the US never did. And our \u201ccommute\u201d through the jungle remains as magical as it was the first time we hung a right off the Punta Mita Highway.<\/p>\n
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- Can you tell me about what inspired you to start your business? <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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Several years ago, we were chatting about what Jessica might want to do after children (she was a teacher before our first child). She mentioned an idea she\u2019d had to build a business oriented around travel for new moms. Wow. Super cool concept. But, like so many good ideas, we got excited and then\u2026 forgot about it. But when we were here in early 2020, Casa Nawali was right down the hill (and was for sale), her idea resurfaced and we started to daydream. While we haven\u2019t yet figured out how to pivot our business to one that caters to new moms, that was definitely the inspiration. Now? Cinetica is the Spanish word for \u201cKinetic\u201d: energy through motion. And THAT is the inspiration that gets us up in the morning. <\/p>\n
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- What services do you offer? <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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Ha! Honestly, it\u2019s pretty variable. We think of Cinetica as a window into the life that WE have chosen, rather than as a high-touch hotel. We love helping people activate their own vacation, so we don\u2019t do a lot \u201cfor\u201d them. But we provide a platform for them to create their own experiences. Each of our suites and casitas has a full, western-style kitchen, for example, so we attract travelers who like to cook. Almost all of them have laundry facilities, so our long-stay guests can be self-sufficient. We\u2019ll certainly help organize activities (on-site yoga or massages, or a private chef anyone?) and have a lot of recommendations, so there is a bit of a concierge feel to the experience. But we are more of a hybrid hotel\/AirBnB\/guesthouse concept rather than a conventional hotel competing for market share based on providing more services. I guess our feeling is that if you can hang in the jungle and appreciate a bit of unpredictability in your life, we could be your tribe.<\/p>\n
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- Tell me a bit about your background with this industry?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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Absolutely zero. Seriously. Neither of us has ever worked in hospitality. To say that our first year was a steep learning curve is an understatement. It was more of a \u201clearning wall\u201d. But Jessica is blue-printed for helping people feel tended to and loved, so we at least have that on our team. And, really, hospitality is all about that: doing what you can to ensure that your guests have an awesome experience! And, fortunately, we are a tiny property (only 5 casitas and suites), so we really can do a lot to influence how our guests curate and create their experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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- How long has your business been in operation? <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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The previous owners started construction about 20 years ago, and they had earned the coveted #1 position in Trip Advisor several years running. It has been an incredible gift to step into an operation which, while it had been closed for nearly two years and as a result was a bit tired, enjoyed a solid reputation with a built in client base. Everything that we\u2019ve done since we stepped into their shoes \u2013 from making the commitment to become grid-optional, to building a sweet yoga palapa at the top of our property, to converting the pool to salt, to a significant upgrade to the rooms \u2013 has been oriented around a ground-up refresh of the entire business. We\u2019re pretty stoked at how things are shaping up!\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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- What does your business offer that separates it from the rest? <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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There are two aspects of Cinetica that we think are really special:<\/p>\n
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First is our location; tucked between two of Nayarit\u2019s most beautiful beaches (Patzcuaro and Patzcuarito) in a pristine stretch of jungle just south of town. So the buzz of restaurants and shops and bars is an easy golf cart ride away\u2026 but when you return, all you hear are the sounds of jungle birds, the wind rattling palm fronds and the gentle rumble of waves. And the drive itself? Guests have described it as a cross between a Disney ride, a scene from Indiana Jones and a jungle exploration. <\/p>\n
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And second is our unconventional service model: we just aren\u2019t a typical anything! Not as \u201cservice heavy\u201d as a hotel. Not as \u201cyou\u2019re on your own\u201d as an AirBnB. Absolutely nothing<\/em> like an all-inclusive resort. Spending time at Cinetica is sort of like visiting old friends who you haven\u2019t seen in a long time: we live on site, so we\u2019re around a lot, but our rooms are entirely private so a \u201cretreat experience\u201d is super easy to create. <\/p>\n
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- What are your future plans for your business? Any new goals? <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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We are contemplating building three new jungle casitas. In part, we\u2019d do this to support the interest we are receiving from retreat organizers who love our location and setting, but need a bit more room. And in part, because we just love designing and building stuff. If we go forward with the project, they are going to be soooo cool! Think \u201cDwell\u201d meets the Mexican jungle in a tiny home package. Longer term, we are also iterating on a retreat concept that we\u2019ve never encountered before, and which we think would suit Cinetica perfectly. But we\u2019re in stealth mode, so have to wait for that announcement! <\/p>\n
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- Can you share a happy memory with a client? <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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Our happiest memory? Easy. Two of our guests got engaged while staying here. And, yes, they arrived together! But on a more consistent basis, the joy of spending time with repeat guests (some of whom visited more than once last season) is surprisingly profound. It\u2019s an unexpected form of deep confirmation: that we are on the right track, that we\u2019ve made the right decision for our family to move here and buy this business, and that everything will work out. Really, it is more than simply \u201crepeat revenue\u201d. It is a positive feedback loop that operates on a psycho-emotional scale. <\/p>\n
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- Is there anything special that you want to share? <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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This may be a small thing, but we are fortunate enough to have a dedicated fiber optic cable that connects us to the main tower south of town. Basically, this means that we have a pretty big data pipe for our guests. Sayulita WiFi has told us that we enjoy some of the fastest download rates in the entire area\u2026 perfect for remote workers. Which is a small clue for our new business concept. <\/p>\n
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Cin\u00e9tica is an exclusive estate located in the heart of the jungle, just moments outside of Sayulita, and a short scenic drive to the town center. With sweeping views of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6282,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature-post"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sayulitalife.com\/sayulero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sayulitalife.com\/sayulero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sayulitalife.com\/sayulero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sayulitalife.com\/sayulero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sayulitalife.com\/sayulero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sayulitalife.com\/sayulero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sayulitalife.com\/sayulero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sayulitalife.com\/sayulero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sayulitalife.com\/sayulero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sayulitalife.com\/sayulero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Is there anything special that you want to share? <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- Can you share a happy memory with a client? <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- What are your future plans for your business? Any new goals? <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- What does your business offer that separates it from the rest? <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- How long has your business been in operation? <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- Tell me a bit about your background with this industry?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- What services do you offer? <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- Can you tell me about what inspired you to start your business? <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- How long have you lived in Sayulita? What is your favorite part?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- How did you land in Sayulita? <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n