Why the Future of Luxury Hotels Might Not Look Like Hotels at All — with ENVI Lodges Co-Founder Noelle Homsy

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This Week’s Guest:

Noelle Homsy, Co-Founder, ENVI LodgesWebsite: envilodges.com (live-checked October 26)LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/noelle-homsyEmail: hello@envilodges.com

Your Host:

Zach Busekrus - JourneyLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/

Noelle Homsy's friends still aren't sure how she ended up in hotels. She studied architecture, and at 24 found herself the one left in charge of a construction site with four hundred workers. Then came years in dispute resolution, managing egos, reading the fine print, planning for the worst, before an MBA at INSEAD, weekend trips through Southeast Asia's locally run eco-lodges, and a hotel operator job in Dubai eventually led her to co-found ENVI Lodges with Chris Nader in 2021.

ENVI is an asset-light brand and operator of luxury eco-lodges: long-term management agreements, villas-only, low-density properties designed to disappear into their environment. The first lodge, ENVI Paje in Zanzibar (22 keys), opened this summer as proof the model works. Guests choose community excursions over the tourist menu, pack donations for local schools through the Pack for Paje program, and leave, as Noelle puts it, a little kinder than they arrived.

We get into why she believes sustainability is the byproduct of experiences that make people happy, not the goal; why taking care of the local community creates more impact than protecting a single plot; how ENVI wins owners away from the big brands; and what it takes for a lodge to earn the ENVI name. Plus: two lodges coming to Saudi Arabia, one on the shores of Oman, and where the brand goes next.