The following is a guest blog entry from Gaby Aziz, co-founder of Heart Core Hotels.
As the co-founder of Heart Core Hotels, a pioneering fully vegan luxury boutique hotel brand committed to sustainability, my journey has been a blend of innovation, learning on the go, and impactful daily choices. I was also a hands-on manager at our two locations—Hawaii and Southern California—which has given me a unique insight into the hotel industry, the sustainability realm and the vegan community at large. Here is what I learned:
- We get the math wrong.
Well-wishing friends and family had advised us against starting a vegan hotel and serving an all-vegan breakfast. “Add eggs and bacon at least as an option,” they said. “We’ll exclude 90 percent of guests,” they said. It’ll be “bad for business”…
The math just never made sense to us, though. By serving a delicious plant-based meal which everyone can enjoy, we’re actually including our vegan guests. That’s 100 percent of guests who are welcome and don’t need to look elsewhere.
I don’t believe that vegan businesses have been closing down disproportionately because they are vegan. Many businesses have been closing down in general, it’s just that the vegan ones tend to be more in the spotlight. So, let’s stop with the stigma and the finger pointing. It’s been so discouraging for aspiring vegan founders.
Yes, it’s a tough market. Striking a balance between offering competitive pricing and maintaining sustainability standards requires creative solutions and careful planning. Don’t cut corners. Make it so damn good your customers can’t help but love the experience. And if you don’t make it, at least you’ll know it wasn’t you, it was the economy. It’s not because it’s vegan per se.
In fact, I can think of enough examples of thriving vegan restaurants and businesses which don’t advertise themselves as vegan. Stella McCartney is called just that, not Stella McCartney Vegan Designs. Perhaps we should just stop calling it vegan altogether and…
- Make it the new status quo.
This is something we learned by chance. Not advertising our hotel as a vegan one was good for business. The one time I can say it and mean it: thank you, algorithm. A few months into our business operations we realized that the OTAs (online travel agents aka Expedia, Booking, Hotels.com etc.) were not advertising Volcano Eco Retreat as a vegan property, but simply as an eco-hotel.
As a small independent hotel owner, you have shockingly little say over what gets featured in your OTA profile. The algorithm pulls it from different sources. The word vegan didn’t make it. Partly because they don’t even have filters for a vegan friendly hotel search, and partly because, as it turned out, we weren’t using the term on our website that much, either.
The fact is, we never set out to be “the world’s first vegan hotels brand.” We just wanted to provide travelers with a respite from the pandemic madness, and we started making breakfast the only way we knew how—plant based.
Regardless, we didn’t get a steady stream of vegan guests until a few months later. But we did get an immediate steady stream of non-vegan guests—all of whom left more than satisfied. The trend continued. Over 90 percent of Heart Core Hotels guests have been non vegan.
We only ever received one review that was less than the coveted 5 stars: the author of that 4 star review thought we were too deep into the woods (indeed, the Hawaii location is in the middle of the rainforest, which is a part of its appeal)… Go figure. Nobody ever minded the vegan aspect.
- Your guests long to be a part of something greater.
Educating customers creates advocates. Providing information about veganism and sustainability empowers guests to make informed choices. Many leave as ambassadors, spreading awareness in their own circles. Why not use your vegan business, with or without calling it that, to attract a non-vegan customer and start a conversation?
At Heart Core Hotels, every day was a new opportunity to answer all the usual questions: What does vegan mean? Is it the same as gluten free? Can you eat fish? Did you say Meatless Monday? What do you mean meatless? All day? Explaining how our composting and rainwater harvesting systems work was practically a part of the check-in process.
Mindful, responsible travel is all the buzz today. Vegan or not, that’s been our number one target demographic from day one. Travelers increasingly book accommodations that make a genuinely (see greenwashing below) positive impact on local host communities. You need to help your guests leave little footprint on the environment during their stay, and it needs to go beyond simply reusing their towel.
Not everyone can go on a volunteerism trip (and there are so many issues with those, subject for another post), so we made sure our guests get a chance to give back just by staying with Heart Core Hotels. We started a sister nonprofit Heart Core Fund: travel scholarships for kids who never traveled before. Essentially, by traveling yourself you give someone else a chance to travel, too.
You don’t have to start your own nonprofit but do get your guests engaged in the local community. Hosting events and workshops fosters a sense of belonging. It also encourages ongoing dialogue about sustainable and cruelty free living. You should’ve seen the faces of our Sunset Spanish Tapas community happy hour event in Palm Springs when we mentioned that all food served was completely plant-based.
Make people fall in love with your mission. Make eco the new black. Or, as we say at Heart Core Hotels, make kind the new cool… Your customers will appreciate you for it. They’ll have a true sense of belonging, and they’ll be more open to trying your vegan offering.
- Anyone can eat plant based for a few days.
Especially on vacation, when they are being catered to and don’t need to worry about coming up with their own recipes or prep. Just make the experience so special and the food so good that no one will raise an eyebrow.
People are curious. They want to eat healthier, better, more nourishing foods that are good for them and the planet. We are just collectively confused and divided, even though, regardless of our diet, we all want the same outcome.
The biggest success story at Heart Core Hotels to date? A couple from the Midwest who typically eat nothing but steak and eggs for breakfast stayed with us for 7 nights, loved it, then came back for 8 more nights a few months later. Our very first repeat guests were carnivores! It was their first time eating meat-free, let alone vegan. You make the biggest difference by planting new seeds where the soil is the most barren, not by preaching to the choir.
Can this be applied to a restaurant? If you can be locked away that “deep into the woods” with no other breakfast option but vegan for a week, then I don’t see why you can’t have a plate of cauliflower wings when eating out. No matter our diet, most of us should strive to eat more plants and more whole foods. Make the darn cauliflower so tasty and so hearty they won’t miss the chicken. And please, for the love of gods, use cauliflower (aka real plants), not chick’n.
- We’re disconnected from our food.
So many guests requested a recipe for our “turmeric eggs” only to find out our scramble was made of tofu. Is that a complement to our tofu scramble, or a wakeup call that we don’t even know what real eggs should taste like anymore?
Another insight: vegans tend to be the most picky eaters. Our vegan guests would often choose the veganized versions of familiar foods (notably the meat alternatives, even though we used those very sparingly), but leave out the seasonal local produce. Not all of the vegan guests, of course, but a disproportionately large number. The trend among vegans: opt for the processed, leave out the whole foods.
Are we training the vegan palates that way? Have we reached the point where we don’t mind anymore that our food is moving from natural to industrial? Between interacting with our guests and attending food-related events such as the “Natural” Food Expo, I’ve developed a serious concern that we’re becoming immune to just what a wrong turn we’re taking in the name of progress.
Biology is the highest form of spirituality and thus our source of connection. We can’t help the planet (including the animals!) by moving entirely from biology to technology, no matter the intentions. We’re replacing what Mother Nature created with imitations and we’re starting to lose track of what’s real. It’s our collective responsibility to upkeep the distinction.
Our businesses can and should be the first point of contact and inspiration (see #3). Inevitably, as founders, we have to start with ourselves. Take time every day to preserve your individual connection to Nature. Walk barefoot in the grass. Buy a plant. Plant something yourself. Go to your local farmers market and talk to the farmers. Visit a local farm. Adopt a pet. Take a daily walk outside.
Cook and interact with your food more. Learn to eat what’s in season. Whether you’re a vegan or anywhere on the spectrum – add more real plants to your meals (!). BE PLANT BASED – NOT PACKAGE BASED. We ARE Nature. We and Her vibrate as one. We don’t have to travel to an eco-hotel in Hawaii to reestablish the connection, but we won’t find high vibrational nutrition in a package, either.
- We need to embrace vegan interior design—industry wide.
In hospitality AND at home. Integrating sustainability into the core of our hotel’s design was crucial. From eco-friendly building materials (our bamboo in Hawaii is LEED certified) to energy-efficient systems, every aspect was chosen to minimize environmental impact. From cruelty-free toiletries to organic bedding, every detail counts.
But it came with challenges. For starters, there is a real shortage of vegan interior designers. Not even fully vegan but eco- and sustainability-minded ones, too. In fact, they proved impossible to find, which is why I ended up becoming a Certified Vegan Interior Designer myself. And boy, did I learn a great deal.
Turns out there is so much more to vegan interiors than not using leather products and down comforters. Most bed mattresses use wool. Most paints on the market are not vegan-friendly (a common binding agent used is Casein, the primary protein in milk). Then there is silk. For our sheets, we ended up going with the latest cruelty-free TENCEL silk made with eucalyptus fiber.
Our mattress sales guy was shocked when we asked about vegan alternatives, but the next day he had all the answers for us. It was a potential sale of not 1 but a dozen mattresses after all. And that’s how you make a change as a vegan business – by creating demand.
Ensuring our supply chain and design aligns with our values of compassion and sustainability has been challenging but so rewarding. Food is personal and political but paint and toiletries are not. This is the one area we ALL can and must do better at. Asap.
- Greenwashing. There is so much greenwashing.
In recent years, as environmental awareness and ethical consumerism have surged, industries like hospitality and food have faced increasing scrutiny over their sustainability claims. One prominent issue that has emerged is greenwashing, where travel, tourism and food companies alike exaggerate or misrepresent their “green” credentials to appeal to conscientious customers.
Greenwashing in the hotel industry often manifests in claims of “eco-friendly” practices such as reusing towels or recycling bins, which, while beneficial, can overshadow more significant environmental impacts such as energy consumption, water use, and carbon emissions from operations.
Hotels commonly use vague or misleading language to imply sustainability without much to show for it. Glad you’re offering to reuse my towel and not clean my room daily, but don’t you have an 18 hole golf course to water in a draught prone area? For further reading, years ago (it’s hardly a new issue) I wrote a dedicated piece on greenwashing in Costa Rica and here’s one on how Tulum went from eco-chic to eco-chaos.
Similarly, in the vegan food industry, greenwashing can occur when companies market products as vegan solely based on the absence of animal ingredients, without considering factors like sourcing practices, production methods, or overall environmental footprint and impact on our health.
Products labeled as vegan may still have substantial negative impact through packaging waste, unsustainable farming practices, or simply offering a product that’s actually detrimental to your health and wellbeing. We’ve been sent so many samples of products labeled as vegan and cruelty free, often even “school safe” (!), but loaded with cringe-worthy harmful ingredients.
These practices undermine genuine efforts towards sustainability and pose challenges for hotel guests and consumers who seek to make informed choices. Deciphering between authentic sustainable practices and greenwashing can be complex and time-consuming. Especially in an era when third-party certifications can’t always be relied upon, which brings me to my next point…
- Certifications DO NOT reflect commitment.
To combat greenwashing, third-party certifications have been introduced. How ironic. Certifications like LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and Green Keys for hotels, as well as certifications from recognized organizations for food products are meant to provide consumers with verifiable information about sustainability claims. But do they?
In reality, small independent businesses whose very identity is sustainability, may not even have the resources to participate in global certification programs. Paradoxically, they are often priced out of some of the more fancy “badges” and networks. Even though they are the ones doing the least harm and leaving the smallest footprint, by default – if not by design. I’ve seen this happen to countless boutique hotels around the world, both as a business owner and as a traveler.
Along our more than 2-year long journey towards becoming BCorp certified, we encountered hurdles such as our food suppliers not being recognized as credible (hi Mrs. Mei at the farmers market!). You may have a hard time getting the coveted Green Key certification if you don’t have complex administrative systems in place or an EV charger (kind of hard to do in the middle of the rainforest). Here’s the 73 pages of small print for your viewing pleasure while we’re over here, busy composting…
Then there are the “eco” booking sites, too. Heading to Santorini? On ecohotels.com you won’t find MOD Vegan Hotel where our friends Argiris and Christina personally ensure every part of your experience is lovingly crafted with sustainability and veganism in mind. Traveling to Hawaii’s Big Island? You won’t find yours truly on that “trusted” eco engine, but you can book the Kona Holiday Inn. Why? Because the Holiday Inn didn’t mind spending thousands on certifications required to list your property. Oh, but they will plant a tree for every booking…
Noteworthy exceptions: Vegan Hospitality certification and booking sites Veggie Hotels and Vegans Welcome. The founders Meredith and Thomas, respectively, really walk the talk and ensure those are genuine, equitable, accessible to small businesses, easily verifiable, and just overall dependable.
Want an example of a LEED certified hotel? The Venetian in Vegas. A BCorp certified food company? Danone. Have green and sustainable certifications become a victim of their own success? Perhaps. What’s a consumer to do? Use common sense, and when in doubt – go small. Demand transparency, ask questions, support truly sustainable practices and provide constructive feedback on the dubious ones.
And as founders – we have the responsibility to educate our customers (see #3). With a little collective effort, we can drive meaningful change in both the hotel and vegan food industries, and hopefully make greenwashing a thing of the past.
- You don’t have to be a vegan to start a vegan business.
Here’s an invitation to entrepreneurs on the fence: you don’t have to embrace a 100 percent vegan lifestyle in your private life in order to start a vegan business or veganize an existing one. Or add vegan dining options or amenities. Every little bit helps and even the smallest effort counts. Something is better than nothing.
And here’s an invitation to the vegan community: let’s stop the cancel culture, embrace allyship and encourage anyone who wants to veganize their business operations, even if it’s just some of them. And even if they do it imperfectly. Unless it’s greenwashing, in which case do point it out.
Lastly, continuous learning fuels innovation. Never stop educating yourself, reading and following up on the latest vegan news, research and trends. The journey towards sustainability and catering to the vegan guests and customers is ongoing. Embrace a mindset of continuous improvement to keep yourself motivated and ensure you stay at the forefront of positive change.
Conclusion…
Undoubtedly, the intersection of sustainable hospitality and veganism presents both obstacles and opportunities. By prioritizing ethical practices, fostering community engagement, and embracing sustainability as part of our very DNA, Heart Core Hotels not only contributed to a greener planet but also served as a beacon for those seeking compassionate, eco-conscious and impactful travel experiences.
So, if you’re a fellow hospitality business owner on the fence on whether to dip your toes in the vegan waters – do it! Dive right in. The rewards far exceed the challenges. Going vegan is good for your business and the planet. Together, we can redefine hospitality for a greener future, one guest at a time.
About the author:
Gaby Aziz is an impact entrepreneur, a lifelong world traveler and the founder of the first vegan hotel brand Heart Core Hotels: boutique eco luxury plant-powered hotels that promote mindful tourism and support local communities (currently on hold and seeking a new partner). As a certified holistic Health and Nutrition Coach, she brings a sustainable wellness approach to luxury hospitality. Through their sister nonprofit Heart Core Fund, Gaby is on a mission to fund scholarship trips for disadvantaged kids and enable them to experience the life changing power of travel. Gaby offers limited Sustainable & Vegan Hospitality Consulting over at Green With Gaby. Connect on Instagram, LinkedIn and Medium.
