The next ecotourism lodge in Costa Rica could be financed through a method that involves funds pledged by many people whose return-on-investment (ROI) expectations are minimal. Gecko Tail Holdings is a tour and hotel operator based in San Jose and Toronto that is launching a crowdfunding campaign to help raise money for a down payment on a new hotel.

 

Though many crowdfunding projects these days are handled through popular platforms such as Kickstarter, Gecko Tail Holdings seems to be handling its own campaign. The Costa Rica Star has previously written about crowdfunding in our country, which is growing at a measured pace. The most successful project to date has been the excellent film The Return by Hernan Jimenez. Other notable projects include the unique mobile games TweetLand and Pota-Toss as well as the sLAB recycling center in Nosara.

 

As of September 2014, 19 Kickstarter projects featuring Costa Rica have been successfully funded; scores more, however, have gone unfunded, including the massive mobile video game Micromon, which is sailing ahead nonetheless.

 

The full press release from Gecko Tail Holdings about its crowdfunding campaign follows:

 

San Jose, Costa Rica, September 12, 2014 –(PR.com)– Gekkotel appeals to the public to raise the down payment to acquire their first hotel hopefully in advance of Costa Rica’s 2014 high season. Those who pledge at http://gekkotel.com/quest will instantly become part of an eco-community of like-minded individuals who want to help preserve and promote the 5% of the world’s total biodiversity that exists in tiny Costa Rica.

 

Matt Becker and Andres Pang have built Gecko Tail Holdings Inc. SA over the past two years looking at properties and filing legal paperwork. “Our grassroots effort is paying off with a healthy network on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. Time to launch the crowdfunding and buy the hotels we should start running,” says Becker.

 

The couple hopes to raise enough funds to demonstrate support for seriously developing Gekkotel, the trademark for lodgings owned by Gecko Tail Holdings Inc. SA.

 

“Our customer base will move beyond an online following, but this eco-community already in place will really care about what’s happening. They’ll have input into what we do while we turn mildly profitable boutique hotels into wildly prosperous eco-hotels,” explains Andres Pang. Ecotourism is the travel industry’s fastest growing sector. Travelers are now in favour of improving the well-being of the local people and minimally impacting the environment. “If we do this at all, it must be ‘eco’.”

 

Gecko Tail Holdings Inc. SA is based in San José, Costa Rica and Toronto, Canada. ‘Gekkotel’ is ‘gekko’ (Spanish for ‘gecko’) referencing the flora and fauna of Costa Rica, merged with ‘tel’ (from ‘hotel’) to conjure the image of an environmentally friendly getaway in the natural setting of Costa Rica.