11 Sustainable Hotels That Are Setting a New Standard in Hospitality
A version of this article was originally published on Condé Nast Traveller U.K.
Now more than ever, travelers are holding themselves to higher standards of social responsibility as they plan their trips and set forth on their journeys. And while hotels use an abundance of resources, there are many standout properties that are implementing new solutions and utilizing new technologies to make a more positive environmental and social impact. Below, we've called out 11 sustainable hotels from around the world to take notes from.
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Shinta Mani WildShinta Mani Wild, Cambodia
Eco focus: Rainforest protection
When architect and designer Bill Bensley acquired nearly a thousand acres of rainforest on the border of three national parks in Cambodia, swathes of ancient hardwoods were saved from logging and mining. The decadent forest hideaway he created in 2018 works in tandem with the Wildlife Alliance, which has anti-poaching rangers patrolling for traps who dismantle about 32 feet of poachers’ snares daily. Amid all this, Bensley’s joyful side shows: Shinta Mani Wild's guests can arrive by a 1,300-foot zipline over the Tmor Rung river canopy, should they fancy it. Butlers service 15 waterside tents filled with quirky objets d’art. Days are spent cruising the river on a pontoon, being magicked to jungly dreamscapes for picnics, splashing about in the freshwater swimming pool or fly fishing.
Hotel address: Prey Praseth Village, Ou Bak Rothed Commune, Kampong Seila District Preah Sihanouk Province, Cambodia
Price: Tents from about $2345 all-inclusive
Greg Funnell/AsiliaAsilia Usangu Expedition Camp, Tanzania
Eco focus: Water conservation
Now part of the Ruaha National Park, this wetland area has long been a source of hunting trophies, but it also feeds into river systems throughout Tanzania. As a result of the expansion of large rice farms nearby, vast interconnected rivers have started to dry up, affecting people and wildlife. The new Asilia Camp—with four simple tents, showers and camp-style fireside food—is at the heart of a project intended not only to protect this key resource and bring jobs, healthcare, and education to the community through tourism, but also to encourage guests to play a key role in citizen-science projects. Activities include setting camera traps, helping scientists collar lions and wild dogs, and taking plaster casts of animal footprints. With 2,300 square miles of protected wilderness, there’s a great variety of landscapes to enjoy: on game drives, walks, and boat safaris.
Hotel address: Ruaha National Park, Iringa Tanzania
Price: From about $700 per person per night full board (minimum stay three nights)
Hotel MarcelHotel Marcel, Connecticut
Eco focus: Passive house power
Two miles from the Yale University, this long-empty 1970 Brutalist monolith by Bauhaus master Marcel Breuer—same as of the Met Breuer in New York City—has been reborn as a hotel. Connecticut architects Becker and Becker acquired the building from Ikea, ripped out asbestos, and restored the distinctive gappy façade. NYC studio Dutch East Design turned offices and research labs into minimalist grey-and-caramel rooms and lobbies. Now the 165-room Hotel Marcel is under the Tapestry Collection by Hilton. Breuer’s pre-cast concrete design lends itself to centuries-old efficient heating and cooling methods, according to Dieter Cartwright of Dutch East. Solar panels and a clever Power over Ethernet lighting system provide energy, which is also conserved through electronic shade treatments and all-electric kitchens. Hotel Marcel is on track to qualify as the USA’s first net-zero hotel by May 2023, creating a crucial blueprint.
Hotel address: 500 Sargent Dr, New Haven, CT 06511, United States
Price: Doubles from about $205
@valentinasommarivaOasyhotel, Italy
Eco focus: Not-for-profit rewilding
La caccia—the hunting of red stag, roe deer and wild boar—is as woven into Tuscan culture as truffle-snuffling pigs. But amid the old hunting ground of the Pistoia Apennines, a small miracle has taken root. Oasyhotel is a 16-lodge concept for the WWF-affiliated Dynamo Oasis, a 1,000-hectare parcel of the San Marcello Piteglio nature reserve. Sustainable wood was repurposed to create minimalist retreats with large verandas and views of chestnut, beech, and fir forests. The hotel is part of a wider project that rolls in eco-sound agriculture, breeding programs and scientific research. Wolves, deer and wild boar have returned, woodpeckers sing, and golden eagles swoop. Days are spent exploring peaks, meadows, lakes and rivers, with activities including hiking and biking, wolf-tracking and foraging, lake swimming and kayaking. Yoga, guided meditations, and saunas are laid on by the lakeside. The bounty of the reserve’s farm can be tasted at Le Felci farmhouse restaurant or alfresco Casa Luigi, where guests gather to salute the Tuscany of the future over organic wines.
Hotel address: Via Privata San Vito, 1, 51020 San Marcello Piteglio PT, Italy
Price: Lodges from about $310
Tim Mckenna/The BrandoThe Brando, French Polynesia
Eco focus: Renewable cooling
A parallel universe awaits guests whisked by plane from Tahiti to this private island—one of bobbing palms, a forest spa in a suspended bird’s nest, and a jungle-wreathed freshwater lake topped with lotus flowers. The Marlon Brando bequeathed it in his will to now-owner Richard Bailey. Unsurprisingly, The Brando is beloved by A-listers (Margot Robbie, Barack Obama and Ellen DeGeneres once bumped into each other in the gym). Clean-energy solutions abound: the refined 4,000-plus solar panels and a customized battery energy-saving system standout in French Polynesia. The Sea Water Air Conditioning set-up is a pioneering technology that slashes energy use by up to 90 per cent and has been adopted by other properties including InterContinental Bora Bora Resort.
Hotel address: Tetiaroa, Arue 98702, French Polynesia
Price: One-bedroom villas from about $2,800 all-inclusive
Copyright 2021 AVABLU / Ryan ForbesPlaya Viva, Mexico
Eco focus: Biophilic design
Six new bamboo treehouses have landed at this light-touch eco-lodge in Juluchuca on Mexico’s Pacific coast, close to major Aztec archaeological sites. Playa Viva offers total immersion through biophilic design, shielding guests from the elements while getting them viscerally close to nature. Enormous care has been taken to fuse the structures with the setting, using prefab bamboo panels and paraboloid roofs that slot into place with minimal disturbance to the ecosystem. “It is a rare privilege to spend time in a space free of whirring or buzzing,” says Louis Thompson, CEO of Nomadic Resorts, who designed the treehouses. “We underestimate the value of not hearing a single man-made sound. As the shelters project towards the sea, all you hear is the ocean—no distracting motorized noises.” The solar-powered rustic resort is totally off-grid, with soft lighting so as not to disturb nesting turtles on the protected beach.
Hotel address: Juluchuca, Zihuatanejo, Playa Icacos, 40834 Gro., Mexico
Price: From $205 per person per night all-inclusive
Even TryggstrandHolmen Lofoten, Norway
Eco focus: Minimal foodprint
This remote clutch of centuries-old rorbuer cabins, built to shelter migrant fishermen on the Lofoten Islands, has expanded gently to include contemporary eco-friendly suites. But even with 26 guests in residence at full tilt, Lofoten remains close-knit, hyperlocal, wild, and rugged in its Arctic Circle landscape, its spirit, and its menus. Valentine Warner helms the outstanding visiting-chef program and curates the Kitchen On The Edge Of The World long weekends, when general bookings at Holmen are suspended and everything falls sway to the sacred experience of eating that’s attuned to the landscape. Exclusive, immersive experiences are the mainstay and include foraging and fishing.
Hotel address: E10 3180, 8392 Sørvågen, Norway
Price: three nights from about £1,480 per person half board
Wilderness SafarisWilderness Vumbura Plains, Botswana
Eco focus: Community support
Wilderness Safaris is a standard bearer for stylish Botswana adventures, and its rebuilt Vumbura Plains—a contemporary retreat that seems to float on the floodplain—shows its heart. Vumbura exemplifies Wilderness’s partnership with the Okavango Community Trust. Chef Ipeleng Gloria Gasimodimo, whose popular water-lily stew graces the menu, has been with the company for 38 years. Joining her are sisters, aunts, cousins, and childhood friends who work together with a closeness palpable at the Monday boma, or campfire gathering. Locals intrinsically understand this vast microcosm of lagoons, swamps, and floodplains, where crocodiles bask on sandy banks and hippos groove water channels.
Hotel address: 2VCV+5CG, Lechomos, Botswana
Price: from about £1,375 per person per night all-inclusive
Nathan Whittaker @manc_wandererHotel Brooklyn, Manchester
Eco focus: Accessibility
It’s hard to miss the vintage yellow New York taxi parked outside this boutique hotel in Manchester. What you may not notice is that the whole place has been designed to be accessible across a spectrum of needs—wide lifts, level public spaces, a lowered reception desk, adjustable clothes rails, and clear color contrast throughout. The hotel group worked with Motionspot, specialists in this type of design (other clients include The Newt in Somerset, while a second Brooklyn has just opened in Leicester). Rather than the dutiful addition of a couple of bedrooms at the back, there are 18 Liberty suites dotted about—nine of them wheelchair accessible, with support rails, slip-resistant tiles, shower seats, and lever taps, and two with overhead hoists tucked into the ceiling. Unsurprisingly, Brooklyn has Blue Badge and Catey awards on its lapel. This is what happens when accessible design is considered from the start, without compromising on style or fun.
Hotel address: 59 Portland St, Manchester M1 3HP
Price: Doubles from $190
Shawn HeinrichsMisool Resort, Indonesia
Eco focus: Biodiversity boosting
Balinese-style bungalows made from reclaimed driftwood and local materials overlook the shores of a former shark-finning camp. Being here is about reef exploration, and the experience is meticulously curated for divers. Beneath the bungalows are turtles grazing on seagrass, vibrant schools of clownfish, giant clams, and manta rays; more adventurous guests can snorkel by torchlight after dark. There are many sustainability wins, including hydroponic gardens, natural waste-water treatment, a solar farm, a vegetable co-op run by women, and a recycling project—but what is most impressive is the 248 per cent increase in fish biomass since 2007. This was done by creating the 300,000-acre Misool Marine Reserve, patrolled 24 hours a day by workers, many of whom were once poachers.
Hotel address: Yellu, South Misool, Raja Ampat Regency, West Papua 98483, Indonesia
Price: Seven nights from about $3,255 per person full board
Tom de Peyret courtesy Grupo HABITATerrestre Hotel, Mexico
Eco focus: Solar smarts
This otherworldly brick-and-concrete Tetris is set in the scrub—surf, jungle and mountains softening its monolithic edges. It is pitch-perfect beach modernism for the 21st century from Grupo Habita, the Mexican hotel outfit that has eschewed faceless resorts for something new and sustainable. Terrestre is fully solar powered. Passive cooling and native planting invite birds and butterflies. There are 14 rooms in the main building and guests socialize in a large alfresco restaurant where chefs prepare plantain patties and herby salads. Punta Pájaros, a 40-minute drive from Puerto Escondido, was once the reserve of fishermen and surfers. Now digital entrepreneurs and Californian mini-breakers seek upmarket cultural stays, and Terrestre Hotel is part of the forward-facing new options. (More on that, here.)
Hotel address: Carretera Salina Cruz- Pinotepa, 71983 Puerto Escondido, Oax., Mexico
Price: doubles from about $382