Dubai’s home-grown hotel group FIVE is looking at potentially expanding beyond the emirate into the world’s largest hospitality markets. This includes a potential resort in party haven Las Vegas and in the conservative Gulf kingdom Saudi Arabia.
Dubai Startup Envi Lodges Is on a Global Sustainability Mission
21.11.2023 - 15:03 / skift.com / Josh Corder
Dubai hospitality has always gone for high impact. Whether it’s billion-dollar resorts on man-made islands or luxury hotels colloquially known as seven-star properties, they have served to put the emirate on the global tourism map.
However, startup Envi Lodges is taking a “low-impact” approach, managing a string of eco-lodges that will be geared to blend into local environments, support area communities, and educate intrepid travelers.
Founded in 2021 by two long-time hotel execs Chris Nader and Noelle Homsy, Envi Lodges has signed five properties so far, including two in Saudi Arabia, another in the mountains of Oman, and two as far-flung as Costa Rica and Zanzibar.
Two years into her mission, co-founder Homsy said the sustainability-focused company is gearing up for global expansion, with lodges spread over each continent and a dispersed network of investors and staff to help her.
“We’re where we wanted to be, we’re on track. We had a lot of challenges along the way [and] projects that didn’t materialize but eventually we’ve got there. We have a very clear vision in terms of our expansion plan and our team is growing accordingly,” Homsy told Skift.
She added: “With our projects in Zanzibar and Costa Rica, we were being opportunistic. Onwards, we have a clear vision: We’re clear on Africa, on Europe and in the Middle East still. We also are looking at growing more in Latin America as well.”
The first of her lodges open next year, one along Saudi’s Red Sea coast and another within a date farm in Al Asha. Envi Al Jabel Al Akhdar is slated to open in Oman’s Hajar mountains area next year as well. Key counts are low, and so are effects on the environment, the company says.
For the coastal project, the lodge is set to comprise around 40 modular pods, manufactured off-site and transported to the location. These pods will then be assembled on individual decks, aiming to reduce environmental impact and minimize disruption to the site. The project is committed to meeting Envi’s sustainability standards, which have undergone scrutiny by Beyond Green, a sustainability alliance.
Homsy explained: “Our goal is to stay true to our vision and values: We want to create very experiential eco-lodges. We build with a sense of place, we integrate well with the environment and we actively try not to stand out. If you take a drone shot [of our lodge] we don’t want it to show there’s something built there.”
“The guest experience is the starting point for every project. We’re not selling room nights, we want to sell an entire journey – from airport arrival to when they leave. Everything will be sold as one.”
Asked how her small brand would compete with the mega-hotels the Middle East is so often associated with, she
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