Five new hotels excelling at sustainability join the Small Luxury Hotels of the World Considerate Collection launched last year.
After announcing the inaugural 26 hotels in the eco-conscious Considerate Collection last December, Small Luxury Hotels of the World has added five more to the portfolio.
The newcomers include three existing SLH properties, the Castello di Reschio in Lisciano Niccone, Italy; the Dar Ahlam in Ouarzazate, Morocco; and the Paradise Cove in Anse La Raie, Mauritius. Two new additions joining the collection and SLH for the first time are the Amilla Maldives and the Aristide Hotel in Syros, Greece.
The Considerate Collection
“We’ve carefully curated the Considerate Collection to spotlight luxury boutique hotels exemplary in their sustainability efforts, making it easier for customers and the travel trade to make better-considered choices,” Daniel Luddington, VP of Development, Small Luxury Hotels of the World, said in a statement last year.
“Staying in small, independent hotels goes hand in hand with traveling sustainably and all SLH hotels are already steeped in the many facets of sustainable hospitality, so we haven’t had to look far outside of our portfolio for the launch collection. We also have an exciting pipeline of new hotels to add in the coming months,” Luddington added.
According to Luddington, the Collection launched as a way to emphasize the brand’s commitments and values that have played crucial roles in its success over the past 30 years. It brings a focus to the “independent spirits, community-centric, questioners, storytellers and the ultimate belief that Small is beautiful and a better way to travel.”
SLH sustainability standards
SLH sets high standards for its hotel members regardless of sustainability initiatives, but joining the Considerate Collection means they’ve either achieved a GSTC-recognised certification or passed an assessment by SLH’s Sustainability Advisory Panel, with independent and impartial review by the GSTC. They are visited, vetted, and verified against these criteria and other quality goals, the company says.
Hotels in the Collection meet an extensive list of sustainability criteria in alignment with the United Nation’s Sustainability Development Goals and the Global Tourism Council’s Framework.
SLH says small hotels are typically sustainable by design. Its “anti-chain, anti-same” ethos emphasizes bespoke stays in unique destinations around the world.
“Most of our hotels have no more than 50 rooms, they are all independently owned and many have been in the same family for generations,” the company says. “From a biodiversity-promoting rainforest lodge in Costa Rica to a culture-preserving Provençal château, they are often repurposed or renovated properties—reinvigorated and revived—rather than large scale new builds. People are the heart of our hotels. They champion their local community, and cherish their culture and environments.”
Amilla marks the first Maldives hotel on the list, but the region’s hotels and resorts have been increasing sustainability and conservation efforts recently.
“This is such incredibly good news for us, especially as no other resort in the Maldives is in this collection,” Amilla’s Sustainability and Wellness Mentor, Victoria Kruse, said in a statement. “It is a culmination of the hard work of our whole team in reaching for and achieving the sustainability goals we enacted 2 ½ years ago.”
Kruse and her husband Jason took over the hotel in 2020 and have since initiated more than two dozen sustainability projects on the property including growing organic produce for use in the restaurants to reef protection and habitat preservation for long-tailed tropicbirds.