Pathways to Sustainability: Jennifer Blizard Of Casa Xixim On How They Are Redefining Eco-Friendly Travel and Tourism
An Interview With Russ McLeod
Center Guest Experience Within Sustainability Standards
The travel and tourism industry is undergoing a significant transformation as more companies prioritize sustainability. These efforts are crucial in addressing environmental concerns and promoting responsible travel. Sustainable practices in this sector not only help protect our planet but also ensure that future generations can enjoy the beauty and diversity of global destinations. I had the pleasure of interviewing Jennifer Blizard, proprietor Casa Xixim, an eco luxury villa located on the pristine Soliman Bay in Tulum, Mexico.
Jennifer Blizard is a graphic designer and co-founder of Casa Xixim, a bespoke vacation home forging a new wave in sustainable travel. She and her husband David are the creative partners behind the design, brand and vision featuring high-end curation and authentic eco-friendly practices. Jennifer’s role ranges from design and marketing to curating the client experience, partner relationships and creative direction for the villa.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you share a bit about your background and what has led you to creating this eco-luxury villa, Casa Xixim?
Thank you for including me, I appreciate this opportunity to share about myself and Casa Xixim. My background is in graphic, brand and interactive design for startups and tech companies in the SF Bay Area. I have also considered myself more of a fine artist at times, and have been a steady gardener who’s dabbled in permaculture and medicinal herbal studies. I currently bounce between designing Casa Xixim materials and guest experiences, carpooling soccer kids, and walking our doodle up and down our hills. My husband David is also in the creative side of high tech, and had the early insight to purchase this plot of land, located on Soliman Bay in Tulum, several years before we met. Eventually we decided it was time to do something with the lot or sell it — and we decided we’d rather try creating a sustainable vacation experience ourselves than sell it off to someone not knowing what they’d end up doing with it. We also recognized this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to build a modern eco-friendly retreat on the beach to share with a wide audience. Our only condition was that it needed to be designed with sensible green practices that could thrive in this region.
What inspired you to start this endeavor and what is its core mission?
It was very much a conscious choice. We’ve done a bit of travel and always felt a renewed faith in humanity on our adventures. We saw this project as an opportunity to amplify a style of travel where one can get away and truly reset without trampling over everything in the process. In particular, we are inspired by this location with its pristine wilderness, rich culture and adored cuisine which all together feels truly magical. The name Xixim (pronounced “she-sheam” and rhymes with dream) is an ancient Maya word drawn as a conch shell glyph representing zero. The design of our logo uses the shape of the xixim glyph conch, which are then arranged to transform into the wings of the locally abundant and lighthearted butterfly. We chose the xixim conch, this rare and endangered sea creature, to remind us to be true to our sustainability goal of aiming for zero. We feel it is important to respect this land’s ancestors while doing our best to represent new and eco-friendly beginnings. Our belief is that travel helps expand one’s perspective, get to know each other, get to know nature, and better understand our collective impact. Core to our mission is the goal to to capture a meaningful amount of the daily resources needed, work in harmony with the earth, and leave a light footprint all without sacrificing modern comforts. When you stay at Casa Xixim we hope you feel, first hand, that living gentler and kinder in the world is entirely doable.
What unique challenges have you encountered in making sustainable practices central to your travel/hospitality establishment, and how have you overcome them?
This is a great question. I think there are three key areas that illustrate how the challenge of sustainable practices touches every aspect of our business — garbage, energy and water. First, due to our remote location we’ve experienced unreliable garbage collection and a lack of recycling services. We’ve explored composting practices in our kitchen to reduce outgoing waste and have relied on a local farm-to-table market to be willing to accept our compost contributions. For the lack of recycling (which is a whole other controversial subject) we practice “reduce our use” and have a no-single-use-plastics rule for guests, especially concerning water bottles. As a solution we have a large water-cooler delivery service for drinking water for our guests to use by filling a glass or their travel bottle. We’ve also partnered with a local party decorator to utilize natural materials for guest celebrations. This avoids plastic trinkets, party decor and balloons littering the jungle and ocean. Regarding sustainable energy, we’ve had to navigate limited access to capable solar installers and technicians. Additionally, finding energy efficient appliances that can stand up to the jungle climate and sea air has also been a bit of a battle. As these technologies become more widely adopted, we benefit as more options become available. Last but not least, water has been a central issue because we are off-grid, so the design of our house for collecting rain water reduces our need for trucked in water but still poses the challenge of safe drinking water. That ties back to our no-single-use-plastics rule and providing large water coolers. There is a balance to maintain and we often aim for the right choice even if it may not be the most convenient. On all of these issues we’ve come to learn that collaborating with local partners and our guests is our path to success.
How do you balance the need for growth with the imperative to minimize environmental impact in your operations?
Our need for growth is not simply increasing sales or opening more locations — which we are considering — but asking ourselves what defines growth. Can growth have a positive environmental impact? The health of our beach dune and sea turtle hatchlings is growth we celebrate. Hosting guests who say this is the first true and best vacation they’ve ever deeply experienced is growth we take pride in. Identifying the opportunities to implement green technologies, stacking functions and reduce redundancies is growth we intentionally design. As a vacation home there are only so many days of the year we can rent, and in our scenario we have the benefit that growth starts to take on more dimension as both a wide and nuanced aspect of business.
Can you share a specific example of an innovative solution you have implemented to reduce carbon footprint or promote eco-friendly travel?
We designed the house with sliding walls that open to let the ocean breeze come through every room. This helps us be less reliant on AC — which has high energy use even with our bi-directional net metered solar system. The trade-off we faced is that we host guests during hot seasons and some base level of comfort is prioritized, therefore we do have individual ACs in each bedroom that we ask to only use at night. We feel this effort to ensure guests can vacation comfortably in a home without full AC not only shifts mindsets but expands their perspective to value being acclimated and in tune with nature. Reducing reliance on AC is a huge win in reducing our carbon footprint, and has the added benefit of tangibly enriching our guest’s experiences.
How do you engage and educate travelers about the importance of sustainability, and what impact has this had on their behavior?
All of our materials help set guest expectations and provide valid reasons for our practices and guard rails. Guests feel part of the solution when they arrive and begin to participate in The Xixim Way. That said, much of what we do remains behind the curtain and is second nature to us and I suspect that oftentimes our guests may not even notice. It’s like a graceful swan gliding on the surface, with all the hustle invisible below the surface. Regardless, guests are drawn to us because of our authenticity and are there to enjoy themselves. Lack of recycling, scarcity of water and the value of energy always leaves a lasting impression. We try not to preach, and instead model the behavior. One of the most direct ways our guests are impacted by our practices is when we have sea turtle nests on our beach. Our motto is “mama get’s priority” and we cordon off her nest area. While our guests may lose out on some beach space, they are always gracious and excited to know they are contributing to the nest’s protection. One of our more high profile guests generously donated to our volunteer sea turtle nesting program. Another family excitedly texted me in the middle of the night that a nest was hatching and asked for advice on what to do (which was to turn off the lights, give them space, and let nature do her thing).
What role does technology play in your sustainability efforts, and how have you leveraged it to enhance eco-friendly travel experiences?
Our bi-directional net metered solar system with battery storage was the first such system on Soliman Bay and is the largest example of green technology we use. This innovative approach not only reduces our environmental impact but also ensures a reliable and cost-effective energy supply in an area where power outages are common. Our small battery storage is designed to support basic necessities such as the refrigerator and critical lights during outages, avoiding the need for noisy and dirty gas generators. By generating our own solar power, we reduce reliance on fossil fuels, which significantly lowers greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. This contributes to a cleaner environment for our guests and the local community. Distributed generation from small-scale producers like Casa Xixim helps stabilize the local grid, ensuring a more reliable power supply even during peak demand or outages. As more travelers prioritize sustainability in their choices, the tourism industry must adapt to meet these new expectations. By staying at Casa Xixim, you’re not just enjoying a luxurious getaway — you’re participating in a model of what sustainable travel can and should be.
What partnerships or collaborations have been pivotal in advancing your sustainability goals within the travel and tourism industry?
Local partnerships are the backbone to our success. On the operational front, finding an expert solar partner has been pivotal in ensuring we can deliver on our sustainable energy goals. In terms of delighting our guests, our local coffee partner, Santiago Sota of Drip Cafe Especial, has been the perfect fit for our sustainability vision. He has been instrumental in alchemising our goals into a daily enjoyment guests love. Santiago’s careful attention to detail spans every stage, from farming, to roasting, to brewing, where he brings out the coffee’s nuanced flavors and harmonious taste. The values of quality and sustainability are woven into Santiago’s approach to selecting beans. Beyond his own farm, Finca Sofia, he sources coffee from small niche producers from various regions across Mexico that are known for their excellent growing conditions. Our Casa Xixim chefs are under his mentorship and are in constant contact with him to ensure they have quality freshly roasted beans prior to each group’s arrival — continuing the lineage of the farm to cup story for every guest. By supporting Santiago and these producers, we are together creating a more equitable coffee industry, which has a direct impact on our sustainability goals of leaving a lighter footprint within the travel industry.
What role does community engagement play in your business model, and how have you successfully integrated feedback from those you aim to serve?
Community engagement is the lens from which we center our guest experience by providing something uniquely regional and eco-friendly. Everything we do comes from a question of who is benefiting, and how we can engage intentionally. Our choices inform everything from hiring local artisans to build our furniture, to the Maya community beekeepers that steward the honey we serve, to supporting our beach volunteers protecting the sea turtles, to the tours we send our guests on, and the care of our staff. We aspire to the business practice of the triple bottom line — people, planet, and profit. This all manifests in our guests being able to rely on us to deliver sustainability that’s well tuned into our unique location. Our partners within our local community strengthen as we all grow stronger and more resilient together.
In terms of what our guests can expect from us, I have direct communication with every guest and group that visits Casa Xixim. Our team of five full time staff are highly engaged during each stay. While most of our guests sought us out for our sustainability, our goal is to ensure they are well informed on our practices and we set expectations. We start out with our custom Guest Planning Portal to capture their group details and build their itinerary based on our curated and pre-vetted experiences and services, then we move to texting on their day of travel and throughout their stay. Upon departure I send a follow up email to button up any last topics and encourage them to fill out a short departure survey to help us know what’s working well or what could use adjustment or improvement. Overall, with so much reliable contact we are well aware if anything comes up and can solve it on the spot. It’s such a pleasure to host guests who feel well taken care of, recognize our sustainability efforts, and who love their time with us. The survey has been a great way to find patterns or common themes which has given us clear evidence to adjust the frequency of maintenance, make larger changes, and hear what left a lasting impression on them.
What are your “5 Things You Need To Create a Successful and Sustainable Travel/Hospitality Business”?
1 . Commit To Your Standards
I’ve found it’s easier to be crystal clear with our sustainability standards and hold strong rather than pick and choose when to compromise. Consistency helps bring everyone into alignment and reduces doubts. During sea turtle nesting season our staff knows to automatically tape off the regions around the nests which might mean our guests lose access to bits of our beach or the ability to use our shade structure. We’re in communication with our guests about this possibility and they happily agree it’s a necessary concession and take pride in their part of the story. I always get a photo text of a new nest that appeared overnight. We love the saying, how you do anything is how you do everything.
2 . Center Guest Experience Within Sustainability Standards
What is the intersection between sustainable travel and an amazing guest experience? In our case this means fresh local ingredients transformed into three glorious gourmet meals each day that no one in your travel group had to reserve, shop for, cook, serve, or clean up after. Our chefs are mentored by the renown Chef Joaquin Cardoso of Mexico City who has helped shape our plant forward menu. We’re supporting small producers, highlighting local flavors, and sharing cultural favorites on the daily. Our guests are simply tasked with experiencing the art of receiving, and are given the precious time to connect and unwind with their loved ones. They have full bellies of healthy delicious food sourced directly from fishermen, farm-to-table markets, and everything made from scratch.
3 . Build A Trusted Community
A strong, trusted community builds resilience. Much of our staff have been with us for several years, and some of our maintenance crew and service partners came into the picture during our first year of business. In times of need we have been able to rely on people that know us personally and trust our intentions, and vice versa. A solid reputation goes a long way, and there is no shortage of pitfalls to survive. Corruption, greenwashing and greed are sneaky and persistent. We’ve benefited from finding new opportunities through trusted partnerships that come pre-vetted by the company they keep.
4 . Trust The Process
Don’t get stuck in habits that no longer serve, and keep a beginner’s mind. We’ve lost count of the times someone has told us to trust the process. It goes against our high-tech, high-stress careers that prioritize roadmaps, deadlines and milestones. Sometimes it’s best to take a deep breath and let things evolve organically. We found a group of artisans who hand carve wooden jaguar heads, and 20 of them now grace our wall. When our guests started asking how to find one for themselves we decided to simply allow them to buy one off the wall. We have a few replacements on hand, and when needed we call in an order to get replenished. There is no long distance shipping, packaging or waste involved. We’re supporting local artisans, and our guests are going home with an authentic piece of local art as a memento from their stay. It would be hard to set out to do this from scratch and it’s the perfect example of trusting the process. It’s working well right now, and we’ll go with the flow.
5 . Be Brave Enough To Adapt
Trust what you’ve built and be brave. To encourage our guests to connect with nature we started out with limited wifi, a projector and screen for movie nights, no TVs, and a bunch of beach gear, books and games. We still have no TVs but we now have fast wifi because ultimately that’s what guests want in this new work-from-anywhere world. We have a strong vision for The Xixim Experience but we are willing to be open minded to grow along with our guests. Fast wifi doesn’t compromise our larger sustainability vision and we view it as an opportunity to appeal to and serve a wider like minded audience that will get to experience our slice of paradise. Even with fast wifi, we’ve been told over and over the shock from parents that their kids and teens haven’t been on screens in days, and instead are building sandcastles, snorkeling all day long, and playing board games — just like the good old days.
How do you address the potential trade-offs between offering luxury or convenience and maintaining strict sustainability standards?
We don’t take trade-offs lightly and we’ve tried to remain true to our vision of aiming for a light footprint. We are located on Soliman Bay in Tulum, which is off-grid from any municipal water or sewer systems. Due to regulations many homes in this situation rely on septic tanks for wastewater, which are known to leak and cause environmental pollution. While wanting modern bathroom facilities for our guests, a septic system wasn’t a trade-off we were comfortable with considering our sensitive location between the mangrove and ocean. Thanks to my permaculture studies and more flexible regional regulations, I knew about an alternative approach for implementing a safer way to treat household waste water. We utilize a constructed composting wetlands system which results in plant-filtered water draining back into the ground — mimicking natural wetlands. While this specific design has been around for decades, it was a novel concept for our architect. We were lucky to find a local permaculture designer to collaborate with who had been designing these systems in the area for years. It’s been exciting to capture rain from the sky, use it, and return it back to the land. It has been a fantastic component of our sustainability practices and it has the added bonus of being a beautiful lush garden to enjoy. The real life trade-off has been a bit more work on our side with proper maintenance, but it’s well worth the effort. On one occasion we had the unpleasant experience of the system getting backed up, resulting in digging to discover a coconut husk was lodged and blocking the drainage. We all got a good laugh about this renegade coconut and life in the jungle. It’s become a bit of a running joke when something goes awry, we now ask did you check if there’s a coconut? It’s our equivalent of “did you turn it off and on again?”.
Can you share a story of someone who has inspired you in your journey?
It’s hard to pinpoint it on just one person. Our initial inspiration came from a collection of writers, environmental activists, nature lovers, artists, teachers, travelers, chefs, farmers, bee keepers, shamans, our own dreams, and most recently a sea turtle we named Frida. It’s not a happy story about Frida, who washed up severely injured entangled in plastic on our beach, but she was a visceral message we received loud and clear. Somehow she chose us, and we tried to save her, but she didn’t survive. It was my first experience seeing a sea turtle in the wild. It wasn’t a feel-good ending at all and I think that loss has lodged itself deeply into the DNA of our business. Her story made it into the local news. Now, whenever faced with a difficult decision I come back to the idea of doing what’s right for Frida, and that dedication to what’s right is what keeps me going.
How can our readers further follow your work or your company online?
www.casaxixim.com, follow @casaxixim. Read Casa Xixim’s blog post on sustainability practices” https://casaxixim.com/the-thoughtful-design-of-casa-xixim-a-blend-of-eco-luxe-and-sustainability/
This was great. Thanks for taking time for us to learn more about you and your business. We wish you continued success!
About the Interviewer: Russell McLeod is an experienced business leader, social entrepreneur, and mentor. A champion of profit with purpose, the circular economy and of collaboration for positive progress. Russell is the founder of Mightyhum a Toronto-based impact enterprise dedicated to supporting growing organizations. And, while it’s not a requirement, the Mightyhum team has a passion for collaborating with purpose-driven businesses. Mightyhum specializes in providing consulting services and turning hairy audacious concepts into achievable ventures & projects. The Mightyhum team work with C-suite executives and leaders, developing new product offerings, effective go-to-market strategies, building for profitability, and streamlining operations. Before Mightyhum, Russell was involved in the world of social enterprise as the Executive Director of ME to WE, one of Canada’s best known and most awarded social enterprises. While at ME to WE, the team demonstrated that being profitable and impactful was indeed possible. During his tenure, ME to WE delivered $20M in cash and in-kind to WE Charity, helping transform the lives of over 1 million people through access to clean water; the lives of 200,000 children with access to education; and 30,000 women-led businesses launched globally.
Russell’ personal mission is to inspire others that there is ‘a better way to do business,’ ‘that through business we can solve some of the world’s problems at the same time.’ You can follow Russell’s work at https://www.linkedin.com/in/russell-mcleod1/ or www.mightyhum.com.
Pathways to Sustainability: Jennifer Blizard Of Casa Xixim On How They Are Redefining Eco-Friendly… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.