If Sustainability married Luxury, the offspring would have to be called Soneva Jani. A paradise on earth that’s subtly luxurious, yet softly treading on earth giving green travel a chance.
So here we were (me and my then nine-year-old) in the thick of the pandemic a few months ago. You see, when the daughter knows her mind and persistently wants to vacation in the Maldives, and the mother also knows her mind and wants to travel consciously, the only possible alternative could have been Soneva Jani, Maldives.
Thorough research went into finding out details of hospitality with a conscience and Soneva is a luxury chain that is 100% carbon neutral. One of the ways they’ve achieved this is by adding a 2% carbon levy to room rates, to offset both direct and indirect CO2 emissions caused by each stay. This includes carbon resulting from resort activities, as well as that created through air travel. As pioneers in sustainability and the only genuine ones in the hospitality space to integrate it with uber-luxury, Soneva’s eco-centre of waste-to-wealth aims to make everything reusable coupled with the fact that they make their own drinking water served in glass bottles. In the past decade, they’ve avoided using 15 lakh plastic bottles.
Thus convinced, off we went…