The Zeavola Resort, located on the island of Koh Phi Phi in southern Thailand scooped the global prize for the World’s Best Sustainable Boutique Hotel at the World Boutique Hotels Awards ceremony in London recently.
The exclusive black tie event was held at Montcalm Hotel, Marble Arch and featured representatives from resorts worldwide that had already won country specific awards in various categories.
APF Group Chairman Mitsuji Konoshita (right) celebrates with Zeavola General Manager Florian Hallermann at the awards ceremony in London.
“It was Zeavola’s night,” said General Manager Florian Hallermann. “All the team have worked tremendously hard and I am very proud of them all. This is for them,” he said.
“We operate on an island and we need to live sustainably, close to nature and to the environment. For us it is not an option to operate otherwise. But, it is important we work smartly and cherish our natural resources and at the same time deliver a five-star barefoot luxury experience to guests.”
Zeavola, owned by Japan’s APF Holdings Group, is located on the shores of Laem Ton beach and is built around a sustainability ethos with features such as a water reserve system that includes four deep wells and a reverse osmosis plant to minimise unnecessary water consumption at the resort – efforts which have earned the resort a membership in the international ‘green’ hotels group Green Pearls.
The Zeavola Resort on Thailand’s Koh Phi Phi.
The resort was also recently awarded the PADI Green Star Award, for outstanding contribution to the environment through the resort’s project Coral Freedom. This is a project focused on reversing the devastating effects of coral bleaching, a consequence of high carbon footprints and increasing global warming, and has so far seen over 10,000 coral fragments replanted around Phi Phi that were regenerated in Zeavola’s coral nursery.
Zeavola is also part of the Green Fins project, which is coordinated by the United Nations Environmental Programme as part of a global effort to increase public awareness, and resort management practices that will benefit the conservation of coral reefs and reduce unsustainable tourism practices.
