Just launched, the all new Vegan Hotels portal aims to be an exclusive provider of vegan hospitality worldwide. For those interested in exclusive vegan travel, this new hotel hub may just be what the dietitian ordered.
The Vegan Hotels landing page
Vegan Hotels hand picks hotels known for their exquisite vegan cuisine, and in the most beautiful destinations around the world. Set to establish this new brand not only focuses on vegan food empowered resorts, but also on the lifestyle philosophy, mindful ever of the holistic elements that lead to a healthier existence. The short version of Vegan Hotels’ value proposition, is they consult travelers much like brick and mortar travel agents, only the team at VH operate in the ditital realm to help plan, book, and experience the vegan lifestyle abroad.
Created by veteran travel entreprenuer CEO Sabine Beyer of Stop Over travel, Vegan Hotels is a niche focused launch into a fairly sparse exclusive vegan marketing sphere. Already the portal reveals dozens of pure vegan hotels and resorts from Italy to the Philippines. Here are a few examples:
- The 1711 TI SANA DETOX RETREAT in Italy – an all vegan and all green resort focused on mind and body
- DIAMONDS THUDUFUSHI in Maldives – A five star luxurious that offers a dive center to go along with wellness and spa activities
- THE BALÉ in Indonesia – another five star resort experience empowered with vegan philosophy
- LATO BOUTIQUE HOTEL in Greece – Crete’s renown Heraklion hotel fueled by one of Europe’s finest Cretan cuisine restaurants
- The ALMODÓVAR HOTEL in Germany – a luxury Berlin accommodation specializing in wellness, vegan lifestyle, and organic cuisine
Lato Boutique Hotel listing on Vegan Hotels
Takeaway: Vegan Hotels only has one serious competitor. Veggie Hotels, however, is more focused on purely the cuisine, minus the luxuriousness and exclusivity. While any Google search can efficiently turn up a vegan friendly hotel, finding a lifestyle experience with consultation benefits, is another matter. Usablility wise, the new site is pretty slick UI wise and for discover-ability. The hotels present will, of course, need to cover all the continents, as will the spiffy blog the creators have added. I like the veggie recipes section, as this is a powerful niche when branded with the wonders of vegan food. Add some chefs, stir, and cook… and Vegan Hotels could be a big hit. On the down side too, as noted by one of our readers, Vegan Hotels is not currently in English, a fact that should be remedied as soon as possible, not to mention other languages.
It remains to be seen how effective such a German startup can be in the space, but the potential is certainly there. I’ll do a follow up in a couple of months to see how the innovative portal is doing.
View Comments (20)
Phil, I love your article. Congratulations on the topic selection. We have included Lato Boutique Hotel in Crete in our recommended list for its kid-friendliness. Now, we have add another reason why we love it... its focused on vegan cuisine! We have an interesting article in our site about Vegan and Vegetarian food in Greece - http://goo.gl/45tt2b - I hope you enjoy it!
Thanks for taking the time to comment Katerina, I certainly will check out your suggestion.
All of the menus I saw online for Lato Boutique Hotel on Crete were full of dairy and meat selections. What am I missing?
Hi Diqui, you are quite right. The newest menu has not been published yet, but Herb's Garden and Brillant have always made it a habit of catering to vegetarian and vegan guests. Custom menu items are created on request, but the newest menus will reveal more veggie love, I already contacted the owners.
As for Vegan Hotels, of course they've some work to do. All these comments should be really helpful too.
With the number of vegans doubling in less than 3 years, this website should thrive in the future. Here's a video to help everyone understand why so many people are making this life affirming choice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKr4HZ7ukSE
Join the revolution! http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/step-by-step-guide-how-to-transition-to-vegan-diet/
Thanks for the suggestion JC, I certainly agree that the vegan way makes more sense for sustainable life on Earth.
Hi there! This is great - thank you so much for sharing! The link at the top of the article doesn't seem to be working and I did a quick Google search for it, but nothing came up. Can you provide the url? :)
Paris, thanks for letting me know about the dead link, here is the link to Vegan Hotels. They are also on Facebook. http://www.veganhotels.com/
Thanks for the article. Can you explain how the place in Greece is vegan? The menu is all about meat and seafood and cheese and....??
http://www.lato.gr/dining-heraklion
http://www.lato.gr/media/property/1/64/site/49/herbs_garden_restaurant_menu_en.pdf
Hi Karen,
As you say, Vegan on Crete is not exactly the cat's meow for a people who love meat more than Americans. This aspect of the Cretan diet, not so many people know. As for Herb's Garden, it's the decidedly eager to please people there that make it a great Vegan choice (considering the aforementioned) ... The salads and special order items are in tune with the Vegan ideal. I have contacted the owner about some pure Vegan items too, so you know.
Here is a nice article by the Nomadic Vegan in tune with my assertion here. Thanks very much for your feedback on this though, the points are well taken.
I wanted to like Vegan Hotels however found that it only has a small number of venues right now. Add to that the issue that the website is in German ... and I don't understand German.
However I had a look at Veggie Hotels - it's in English and has a lot more to choose from. Thank you for the suggestion.
Hi Michael, you're quite right, you know. I use Yandex browser a lot of the time and it does an excellent job of translating. I should have noted the site was in German... Maybe you can understand how I left this off?
I will amend and contact the developers on this aspect too. Of course, like any startup, Vegan Hotels is developing associations.
Thanks for your input, and for prompting me to get moving on this detail.
Always,
Phil
As a vegan travel agent for more then 20 years I love to see more about veganism in mainstream. That said this is not a travel agency or consulting company as I see it. It is more like Expedia or Orbitz where it is a portal. That goes for Veggie Hotels. Travel agents will guide you and help you with your bookings with their knowledge about the property and what is the best fit for you.
We do one on one consultations for our clients to make sure everything is what they expect and with in their budget. We also book tours for them as well.
Thanks for your view Donna. As you suggest, Vegan Hotels is in a niche that is not really covered well, and least of all refined. Also, as you suggest, there is still a huge value for travel agencies for organizing and advising along these lines. Thanks again for your time and comments.
Always,
Phil
So far everything that is listed is for the 1%
Is there no budget hippie vegetarian hostels in the world?
Hey Tom, you make a good point. Since their listings are sparse, perhaps they started at the top :)
Anyway, what you suggest leaves a big vacancy for me to create a Vegan Orbitz :)
Hi Phil, Thanks for mentioning my article on The Nomadic Vegan! I didn't know that Lato Hotel was planning to offer more vegan options on their menu. That's great to hear!
Hi Wendy, you are very welcome, I love your posts actually. Yes, Lato has caught the Vegan bug and is intent on creating some genuine Cretan veggie love. Of course you know, Crete is healthy eating even with the meats they serve cuz of the olive oil etc. However, fine that is for many though, pure Vegan ideals make a lot of sense for the world. Lato and many Greeks are hip to this too.
Thanks for taking the time to comment Wendy.
Always,
Phil
Do you have any video of that? I'd love to find out some additional information.
I am sorry, we do not at present have any video, but I will endeavor to locate same.