“It's not really the place that you're going, it's the stories that reveal themselves in the place that you're going. You're fascinated by the lives and the experiences that people had before you, because you're finding this connective tissue emotionally to another generation, another decade, another era.” We’re in great company with Tereasa Surratt, the Founder and Owner of Camp Wandawega, who was persuaded by her husband, David, twenty years ago to save this pocket of American history...

“I'm an extreme version, but the water is my life. It's where I live. It's what I do to work out. It's where I go to think. So it solves pretty much all aspects of my life of what keeps me motivated, keeps me fit, keeps me well minded. And I think naturally, most people would say the water has some special power of connecting and making someone feel good.” We’re in great company with Brian Meyer, the Co-Founder and CEO of FLOHOM, a collection of immersive waterfront experiences for...

“We want people to take away a new perception of ‘off-grid living’ and what that means. So when you first think of off-grid, especially when I did it, I was like, ‘Okay, off grid. You're roughing it. Is there going to be hot water? You don't know. Is there a toilet? You don't know.’ And so we wanted to make it have zero compromises in terms of what you're experiencing.” We’re in great company with Hillary Flur, the Co-Founder of Folly Collection. Tucked away and surrounded by endless vistas,...

“So it's a very special experience because you're suddenly connecting to a species which you feel you know. The gorilla looks at you and you look at them and there's a very strong rapport. A kind of connection saying, ‘Haven't we seen each other before?’” We’re in great company with Praveen Moman, the pioneer in Great Ape tourism, celebrating the 25th Anniversary of his conservation and ecotourism brand, Volcanoes Safaris, where he has been at the forefront of reviving the post-conflict...

“They have to find their own path. So maybe they go back home and then they start to be a bit more conscious about where they live. Maybe they realize that, ‘Oh, there's an amazing foundation in my village or in my town,’ and they start to support that foundation. And that's perfect. You know, our seeds of love make them a bit more human.” We’re in great company with Petit Miribel, the Founder and Owner of Sol y Luna, a luxury hotel nestled in the Sacred Valley of the Incas at the foothills...

“Fanø and Esbjerg are my home, but you need to get inspiration abroad as well. And when we lived in Copenhagen, we came once a month here to slow down, to set a different pace than we do in our daily lives. Now we live here, we visit Copenhagen, we visit Hamburg, we travel the world, because we still need that energy.” We’re in great company with Mette Hyttel, the Creative Co-Owner of not one, but two boutique hotels on the western coast of Denmark, Fanø Krogaard and Hjerting Badehotel -...

“It would have been cheaper, by far, to tear this building down and stick up a metal structure. However, there's no character in that. And the people from Deary who've been here, they highly appreciated the saving of this building. We have a group of older men who meet for coffee there every morning and they can remember, when they were kids riding their bikes through the shop, and there used to be another group of old men who met there for coffee.” We’re in great company with Webb French,...

“Under Canvas had been a very light footprint, very ecologically sound, sustainable business.  But we realized there was another step - we could also build a regenerative company. And that's what we're trying to do now with our newest company, Few and Far, which is create an extraordinary five star experience, but at the same time, invest in the land, restore the land, regenerate the area in which we are at work, rather than being a business that is just trying to do no harm. And that's the...

“The whole experience isn't really supposed to be programmed. It's actually meant to get lost. And that has multiple meanings. It means to get lost in time. Like what era is it? Am I in the twenties, the thirties? This building has gone through a hundred years of history and we pick up on different decades at different parts in time in the property. We don't have clocks in the room, so it doesn't matter what time it is. It's Miami beach, you're on vacation. But more so than that, it's also to...

“It's sort of the same thing that happened with electric cars. Early on, the electric cars were seen as slower and less sophisticated. And now, the most beautiful Porsches, BMWs, Audis and Teslas, they're all electric. And so we're trying to do something similar for hotels to show that  you can offer hospitality for the planet and actually offer better comfort and experience for your guests.” We’re in great company with Bruce Becker, the Owner, Architect and Developer of Hotel Marcel, a...

“There's something we've always told people we aspire to, which was we wanted it to be a microcosm of the best of this region, right? So we travel a ton to this day and the food in the Pacific Northwest is unmatched. The coffee is unmatched. And we did the design ourselves, the architecture was there, the energy efficiency is unmatched. And so I do think that the things that our region is known for, which is mainly food and craft, it's a little bit of a microcosm of those values in the...

“But then we realized that the best way to show this wine and the best place to show this wine was really in front of a vineyard. And my father lived his life traveling all over the world, bringing Prosecco to people, but in Venice, there's people who take planes from all over the world to come to visit Venice.” We’re in great company with Matteo Bisol of the famed Prosecco family, who have been leaders in this winemaking practice for 5 centuries, producing what is widely regarded as one of...

“And really the ethos of the company has been about placemaking, has been about bringing people together doing projects in areas that have been underserved. And it was really a little bit less about what types of projects they were doing, but it was more about how they were doing it and what they were offering to the community.” We’re in great company with Adam Larkey, COO of family-owned Zeppelin Development, an award-winning Colorado-based neighborhood development company behind the sister...

“Some people who come and cook, they have never been to Italy or they have never been to Sicily. So it's also very interesting how people with little idea of the produce, are creating things with their heritage, with their memories, with their experience, with their creativity, how they approach the same tomato in a different way. And I must say that after two years, I’ve been blown away by so many people and what they create. How inspiring is that?” We’re in great company with Lukas...

“And many want to go hiking, go surfing, go diving, go snowshoeing, go skiing. But they really want to be active. It's really about hitting the nerve of the guest. And there are so many different aspects of how they want to explore. We are more or less tailormade adventures for each and every guest coming in.” We’re in great company with Kristian Bøe and Guri Jentoft, the husband and wife duo behind Hattvika Lodge, where they are bringing a new sense of adventure to their fisherman’s village...

“I'm supported by everything that I do, by my passion. And at the same time I'm learning every day to be patient with myself and to be nice with myself. Just to try to be here now. And when I come to HOY, that's what it's all about. So, maybe destiny gave me that name, or put it in front of me, just so that I could see every day that the only thing that matters is ‘today’ and it's now.” We’re in great company with Charlotte Gomez de Orozco, a visionary Franco-Mexican with a passion for...

“We are here to connect people to nature and beautiful places in an effort to help build an army of guests and followers that want to preserve them. And so doing it right from the beginning was very important to me. Focusing on how to create guest room structures that have little to no impact on the land. Focusing on how to actually design physical and experiential aspects that connect the guests to nature.” We’re in great company with Peter Mack, Founder and CEO of Collective Retreats, the...

“With slow travel I associate that you are not feeling that you need to be somewhere or to do something special. You take the time to feel the vibe of a place, you read a book, you take a short walk with your partner. The small things become the most important things and there's little focus on reaching a destination, to me. We discovered that in the campervan, living simplified.” We’re in great company with Jeremy & Erle, Founders and Owners of WonderInn, where they decided to build...

“If the walls could talk, they would probably say ‘Sit a spell, sit down, have a cocktail. Talk to your neighbor.’ One of the things that's really special that hasn't changed about High Hampton is the sense of ‘love your neighbor’. Get to know who's at the inn with you while you're here. Sit out in the lobby and play board games together. Walk the lake trail together. I think there's something really special about the people who are here, who come as strangers and leave as friends, and then...

“When I was a very young girl, I used to tell my mom that my dream as a grownup was to have breakfast in a hotel every morning, every day of the year. And that actually turned out to be true. But I didn't think I would work in the family business in the beginning. It was like a love story in the end. It's unexpected who you fall in love with and I think I fell in love with hospitality, and then here I am.” We’re in great company with Sara Maestrelli, the mysterious “Lady of the Palazzo,” and...

“When I go to a standard hotel, it's the inside that counts 100%. It's the services, the room, the food and everything. But at Treehotel, the outside is as important as the inside. Because it's an experience. And I often talk to different architects about the ‘outside room’, how important it is. This walk from the guest house up to the room, that's an experience and you have to make sure that our guests feel safe, that they feel they're on the right track, that they feel a wow factor.” We’re...

“The journey starts there, into the forest. And that's just breathtaking. You're driving on this road, it's just you. You go through this forest land and then suddenly this black building out of nowhere just stands there, waits for you. It's a huge contrast. I think it's fun. It's challenging. It's evoking something in you when you don't expect something like that just standing there. Because it's actually out of this world in terms of  the view of it when you arrive.” We’re in great company...

“When I'm traveling to a place where I look around, I can tell this is a popular place. This is a place that people like to go to, to hang out and to meet others. It feels like this place that I'm now coming to for the second or third time. That's really important to us, truly embracing community, becoming a place that's a gathering place for the community so that if you're there as an out-of-town guest, you're really feeling like a local. This is a place that locals want to be.” We’re in...

“And while Thyme has changed a lot over the years and as a place, it has grown and built into something much bigger, the ethos is absolutely the same. It's all about slowing down and connecting to the land. And it's also very much an extension of our home. Those are the two things that give the experience here and the place here a fundamental difference. We want people to come and there's a sense of familiarity and a sense of homeliness.” We’re in great company with Caryn and Milly Hibbert,...