For 21 years Karen Emanuel made the decision to take two one-month holidays a year as she grew her company Key Production from a lone operation to a £4.5m business employing almost 30 people.
"I found it useful to step back and focus the mind," she explains. "If you can't use your business to do something you really enjoy then you are doing something wrong.
"Admittedly as I've got older," says 46-year-old Emanuel, "the choice of accommodation has got more luxurious but always
as sustainable as possible.
"There's a swathe of mid-to-high earners, like myself, who take really nice holidays but are eco-aware and want to enjoy sustainable holidays in places a little less travelled."
In January 2007, Emanuel was sitting in a restaurant in Granada, a city on the coast of Lake Nicaragua, when a poster caught her eye. It read "Island for sale". And Emanuel thought: "What have I got to lose?"
Enamoured by Granada but less so by the colonial grand dame hotel she was staying at – "beautifully refurbished but not up to the standard I look for" – she arranged to visit the island.
"I realised the potential of building a sustainable hotel on an island offering complete tranquillity but with the hustle and bustle of Granada's colourful streets a short boat ride away," says Emanuel.
"The cogs in my head began whirring. I wrote figures on the back of an envelope, researched local wages and building costs. It was as rough as anything."
A Clear Vision
Wasting no time she met British ex-pat Matthew Falkiner, the architect responsible for Morgan's Rock, a sustainable hotel, two hours' drive from Granada where Emanuel had stayed earlier in her trip.
Despite having no experience of running a hotel – Emanuel's main business is CD, DVD and vinyl manufacture, and packaging and print solutions – her vision was clear. "I wanted everything I look for in a hotel – space; beautiful light rooms overlooking the lake; a pool; bar; restaurant and spa."
On Falkiner's advice, she bought a different island, Jicaro which, at 5,000 square metres and previously uninhabited, offered a more agreeable landscape for building.
The price? "It cost US$114,000 which, at the time of purchase in March 2007, worked out at about £60,000 – less than a garage in London," says Emanuel.
But she warns against making rash purchases. "There are
lots of disputed land issues in Nicaragua. Many rich landowners fled after the [1979] revolution and their land was given to the poor by the Sandinista government. Now everything has stabilised you risk them returning to claim back their land. Get a bona fide lawyer to check the titles are clean."
At a distance
With her main business in London it was never Emanuel's intention to stand behind the reception desk welcoming the guests. She employed Costa Rica-based hotel management company Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality, whose portfolio includes high-end resorts of the calibre Emanuel was aiming for.
"I've always treated this as a business not a dream. I knew what I wanted but I didn't know how many sets of linen or chefs we required," she says. "I needed people I could trust in charge. Cayauga got involved before we broke ground and their foresight has been invaluable."
Emanuel praises the local workforce that helped transform the island into a five-star, nine-room upscale escape. "They are incredibly resourceful and hard working."
But she admits the eagerness of Nicaraguans to please can be challenging. "They will often say yes to everything, which is very endearing but it can also be aggravating when yes means no.
"Supply is erratic and there's a lot of 'mañana'," she warns. "A wholesaler might tell you a certain wine is always in stock but the moment it's on your menu you never see it again."
Nicaragua's personnel laws are similar to Britain's with minimum wage and maternity benefits, and everyone gets an extra month's pay at Christmas.
"I pay staff decent wages and I keep everything above board. Don't be tempted to do anything underhand," says Emanuel.
"The beauty of employing a management company is that they know the legal situation."
Going green
Emanuel's desire for sustainability meant most materials were locally sourced but certain goods had to be imported – a process she diplomatically describes as a "difficult beast".
She says: "It turned my hair grey overnight," citing an occasion when Nicaraguan Customs refused entry of a roll of hemp material because of the connotations of cannabis.
She's benefited from tax breaks giving foreigners setting up in tourism – Nicaragua's second-largest industry – tax-exempt purchases and tax-free earnings for five years. But she warns: "You have to wade through a lot of paperwork before making each purchase."
Emanuel's foresight to use some of her own savings to fund construction before receiving support from her bank saved the project during the economic crash of 2008.
"When the exchange rate plummeted from US$2 to US$1.3 to the pound the bank pulled its support and said my British business would disappear."
After changing banks and proving her original lenders wrong Jicaro Island Ecolodge finally opened its doors to paying guests in January 2010 – three years after Emanuel's first visit.
Future ambitions
She is tight-lipped about the cost of the project. "It's above £1m and less than £5m but it might be closer to one than the other," she teases, adding that she isn't injecting extra money into the hotel.
"The hotel is paying for itself but I'm still paying back the bank," she concedes. "We were booked out over Christmas and New Year, and again in February. We're running at around 40 per cent capacity at other times."
She visits every three months and contacts the management company several times a week on a "need-to-Skype basis". For now she's concentrating on growing the British business but hasn't ruled out another project in Nicaragua. And the biannual month-long holidays? "I haven't had one since 2007," she smiles.
Nicaragua Fact File
Population
5,891,999 (2010 census)
Currency
The Córdoba. "We take the Córdoba but for business transactions we use the US dollar," says Emanuel.
Language
Latin American Spanish. "My Spanish is bad," admits Emanuel. "I usually understand what is being discussed but I answer in English."
Sightseeing
Granada is a 20-minute boat ride from Jicaro Island Ecolodge. "The beaches around San Juan Del Sol are astonishing. You can visit the Mombacho volcanoes and forests with sloths and monkeys," she says.
Food
In addition to the meals at Jicaro Island, Emanuel recommends the "phenomenal" steak. "In Granada try restaurant Mediterraneo where I saw the advert for the island or a street-food delicacy called vigoran, which is like pork scratchings served over yucca and salad."
Where to stay
Prices at the Jicaro Island Ecolodge start at US$380 a night based on two people sharing. www.jicarolodge.com
Getting there
Book British Airways from Heathrow to Managua via Miami with American Airlines providing the second leg. Or book through WEXAS at www.iod.com/travel, (020 7838 5989).
Useful numbers
The British Embassy in Costa Rica has overall responsibility for Nicaragua. You can contact the British Honorary Consul in Managua in the event of an emergency (00 505 254 5454 /3839).
