Travelers looking to put their tourism dollars towards a good cause have seemingly ever-increasing opportunities to do so. Eco-tourism opportunities abound and you can now contribute to environmental charities to offset carbon emissions from your flights, But a number of hotels and lodges around the world are taking the the whole “doing good” mantra a step further by operating on a non-profit basis and putting positive returns back into the community instead of the owner’s pocket. Plus, they’re all incredibly beautiful and make for a worthwhile stay even on top of their do-good efforts.
Photo: Singita
These 6 Non-Profit Hotels Give Back to Their Communities
1. Hotel Con Corazon
Locations: Granada, Nicaragua, and Oaxaca, Mexico
Hotel Con Corazon is on a mission to send kids to school. Every dollar in profit that the hotel makes from its two locations is invested back into programs within the local community that assist children in completing school, setting them up for a brighter future. They support an average of 250 children each year by sponsoring costs incurred through their education.The brand also has a penchant for sustainability — their Oaxaca location features low-flow faucets and showerheads, and the hotels source products locally whenever possible. The brand plans to open ten additional locations in the coming decade, with two currently in the works. Its second Nicaragua location will open in León, along with its first Costa Rica location in Rincón de la Vieja.
2. Rockhouse Hotel
Location: Negril, Jamaica
Photo: Rockhouse Hotel
The Rockhouse Hotel is also out to provide educational benefit. In 2004, the hotel’s owners kicked off the Rockhouse Foundation, which has remodeled a number of schools in Western Jamaica and has invested in literacy programs for the area’s youth.
3. Hotel Sol y Luna
Location: Catacaos, Peru
Photo: Hotel Sol y Luna
The founders of Peru’s Hotel Sol y Luna use their profits to fund the Sol y Luna Intercultural School, which provides educational opportunities not otherwise available to many kids in the country’s Sacred Valley.
4. The Purpose Hotel
Location: Nashville, Tennessee
The Purpose Hotel isn’t built yet — but the idea for change struck such a chord with the public that the project’s Kickstarter campaign raised over $679,000 — nearly twice the hotel’s baseline target amount. The idea of The Purpose Hotel is to use each room, and everything inside the hotel (art, bed linens, soaps,etc.) to raise funds for charities such as Compassion International or The Giving Keys.
5. Cicada Lodge
Location: Nitmiluk National Park, Northern Territory, Australia
Photo: Cicada Lodge
The Cicada Lodge puts their profits where their business is. The lodge, run by Australia’s indigenous Jawoyn tribe, invests in the Jawoyn Association’s efforts to train local youth in hospitality career fields and benefit the surrounding national park.
6. Singita Pamushana Lodge
Location: Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve, Zimbabwe
Photo: Singita Pamushana Lodge
Singita is a brand known for offering tours that contribute to local wellbeing; they recently ran a safari in Serengeti to benefit women’s empowerment in the region. Their lodge, which offers access to the The Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve’s 130,000 acres in southern Zimbabwe, seeks to benefit a landscape increasingly vulnerable to habitat loss. The Malilangwe Trust, set up by the owners of the Singita Pamushana Lodge, receives the profits from the lodge to put towards conservation programs and reintroducing endangered wildlife to the area.
If you want to make a difference on your next trip but aren’t traveling to where one of these hotels is located, check out Hotels For Hope, an organization which works directly with hotels to partner them with nonprofit organizations in need of funds. 