Review of Selvista Guesthouses

Travelers beware: This B&B is an unregistered business run by a verbally abusive owner and managed by an illegal foreigner who both mistreat local workers and deny them legal benefits. I have witnessed this both as a guest and as a former manager of this project. Behind the seemingly simple and "sustainable" appearance of an isolated farm and rustic accommodations (see photos) is an ugly backstory of dozens of unethical business practices. The American property owner, Christopher Shanks, is well-known for verbally abusing Nicaraguan workers and often cheating employees and contractors out of receiving their fair pay. He has a 10+ year reputation in the local community of Balgüe on Ometepe Island of mistreating workers, denying them benefits to which they are legally entitled, and threatening to replace them if they make any complaints about their job. This has created an abusive relationship of economic dependency with locals having no choice but to subsist off of exploitative wages to put food on the table. Nicaraguan staff at Selvista are consistently under-paid, even less than the already-low legally required minimum wage for the hospitality industry, despite each having 5-10 years of relevant experience and excellent performance. Even today, the employees are paid less than US$1 per hour, which is much less than they deserve and is disgustingly low considering that rooms here often go for US$100+ per night, or even sometimes US$200+ per night. Guests, watch out for this dishonest pricing, and be aware that all of that extra money you pay goes straight to the owner’s pockets. Chris keeps employees at half-time hours or less in order to avoid having to pay them any legally required benefits such as sick days, social security, and severance. He even refuses to provide staff bathroom on the property, obliging staff to literally do their business in the forest. He also repeatedly ordered me and my fellow Nicaraguan co-manager that "If any government people come by, tell them you are volunteers and that there's no employees or guests here, so they don’t find out this is a business and I don’t have to pay taxes. " These are grotesque acts of injustices hidden under the false premise of an "eco-friendly" and "locally conscious" business. Guests should also be aware that since April 2017, the only full-time worker (also the only person that guests interact with) is the English manager Megan Walters, who is a foreigner working illegally in Nicaragua. Since taking control of the Selvista management away from local and more experienced employees in April 2017, she has also taken away their tip-earning opportunities and verbally abuses and shames them on a regular basis, sometimes even in front of guests. FYI to less-informed travelers, it is illegal for Megan (as it is for all tourists) to work in Nicaragua, but unfortunately many businesses in the country choose to operate that way to make more money by avoiding having to train and pay benefits to Nicaraguan employees. This is the unfortunate reality in Nicaragua and is part of what you are voting for with your dollar by choosing to stay at Selvista. Don’t be fooled by the owner’s superficial friendliness towards paying guests, the business’s false claims of "helping" the community, or misleading posts of superficial "aid" — — the degrading treatment of its Nicaraguan employees speaks for itself, as does the fact that since Megan arrived, half of the staff has quit due to frequent verbal abuse from her and Chris. Potential future guests should be aware of all of this before choosing to stay here. Be mindful of the dishonest practices and skewed priorities under which this B&B operates. Selvista Guesthouses is not a registered business in Nicaragua, the owner Chris does not pay business taxes or employee benefits, and nearly all of what guests pay goes straight to the pockets of the non-Nica owner and (illegally working) manager. As long as this business continues to profit off of racism, abuse, and fraud, it will never truly be sustainable nor worth supporting in any way.