Second Act Success: Business Tips & Career Change Advice for Women Betting on Paradise: How One Couple Left Corporate Careers, Moved to Costa Rica, and Built Their Dream Life | #210
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Sep 1, 2025 Meet Luke Shantz, a former corporate sales pro who co-founded and renovated a boutique hotel in Costa Rica, and Steph Sitt, a hospitality expert who left corporate life to rebuild and run the property. They share leaving 9–5s, buying and TV-renovating a rundown hotel, parenting through big change, filming for HGTV, and launching transformational Costa Rica retreats.
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From Teaching Abroad To Luxury Hospitality Careers
- Steph and Luke met while teaching English in Asia and later rebuilt hospitality careers in Canada before longing for another adventure.
- Steph worked her way up to Four Seasons while Luke moved from tree-climbing and barista jobs into corporate sales at Indeed.com, showing varied roots.
Pandemic Push That Sparked A Family Move
- The pandemic triggered their leap: layoffs at Steph's hotel and a reset for Luke led them to sell everything and book a flight to Costa Rica with two young daughters.
- They arrived without prior visits, using Airbnb to choose a town and embracing uncertainty to start over.
Bought A Run Down Nine Room Hotel By Impulse
- In Costa Rica they planned a small Airbnb but kept noticing a rundown nine-room corner hotel and eventually bought it to secure a sustainable income.
- They realized a hotel is very different from an Airbnb and quickly found themselves wildly over their heads renovating nine horrific rooms.