Noverian Bios: Harry's Vision for Santorini’s First Vegan Boutique Hotel

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Today, we’re thrilled to explore the world of vegan hospitality with our special guest, Harry, the visionary behind Noverian Bios, Santorini's first entirely vegan boutique hotel.
In this episode, Harry shares his journey from managing luxury hotels to founding Noverian Bios, driven by a personal commitment to veganism inspired by his daughter. We dive into how Noverian Bios fills a unique niche in the travel industry by offering a fully vegan and sustainably designed retreat. Discover how the hotel combines ethical practices with luxurious accommodations, local plant-based cuisine, and eco-friendly design to create an unparalleled experience for vegan travelers.
Tune in to learn about the challenges and triumphs of establishing a vegan sanctuary in a renowned destination like Santorini and how Harry’s dedication is shaping the future of ethical travel.

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Transcript

Brighde: [00:00:00] Hello, Harry. Welcome to the World Vegan Travel Podcast.



Harry: Good evening.



Brighde: I am so excited. 



Harry: How are you? 



Brighde: I'm fine, thank you. I'm so excited to have you on the podcast to talk about a new addition to the vegan hotel movement. We're going to talk about this incredible new hotel that has either just opened or is very close to opening in Santorini, Greece. I'm so thrilled about this because I've always wanted to go to Santorini and now there is a bigger hotel. That's great. So, Harry, would you mind telling our listeners a little bit about your professional background, and your vegan background, and how you came to decide to build this vegan hotel in Santorini?



Harry: Yes. I started very young to deal with the tourist business. As a young boy, every time I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was, 'A hotel manager.'



Brighde: Wow.



Harry: It had always been my dream since a [00:01:00] young age, but due to the difficult time, I decided to start with a summer job in the tourism industry. So for three months, when I was young boy, 15 years old, during my school holidays, as an assistant waiter, something like this, just to help my parents. That was my first experience in the hotel industry, as well as my first step towards my dream. At that point, being completely certain about what I would like to do in the future, I made the decision to attend the Institution of Higher Hospitality and Tourism Education in Rhodes, which was the highest school in Greece.



I continued my studies in Germany. When I attended a postgraduate course in economics, and after having returned to Greece, I started filling my dream, being for many years a hotel manager in different five star hotels, and luxury hotels in Greece. In 2006, I decided to establish my own company, CHC GROUP, and now I have under this [00:02:00] umbrella, 40 hotels, two belongs to me, four is management, and the rest are contracting and sales.



 I was not a vegan until some five years ago. My daughter decided; younger daughter; I have two daughters, one is 37, one is 32. The older one followed the same business as me. She was my assistant for 10 years, and after she had her family, she decided to start her own company. So now, there are two competitors in the market of Greece, the same family name. Competitors, okay, we can say it's not competitors, but okay. My younger daughter decided to be vegetarian and then vegan, the last four years. After I had discussion with her, I decided to do the same.



Brighde: Wow!



Harry: And the last three years I am vegan.

That's amazing! I love that it was your daughter that inspired you to go vegan. That's so cool and it just proves that we can have such an impact on the people around us, [00:03:00] even our parents who sometimes don't like taking advice from their children. It's really nice to see. So, you have this huge background in hotel management, what was it that inspired you to create a vegan hotel?

Because I was in the tourism business, I realized that if people who were vegan were going to come for holidays generally in Greece, they will not find somewhere to eat or to stay, but at a real vegan hotel. Not because you can find restaurants who have vegan food. So this is not, in my opinion, correct. Anyway, this was the reason that I decided to make a hotel, 100 percent vegan. Especially Santorini, because it's a place that many people visit. Another quality of guests visiting this place. So I decided to do a small hotel there because most Santorini hotels are very small.So I decided to make a small hotel to reduce also the risk [00:04:00] to not to succeed.



Brighde: Yeah of course!



Harry: I got some certification for mattresses, for everything, to be sustainable like vegan mattresses for example, especially for the restaurant, I had the address of the restaurant and the name is Happy Cow. So many people asked if we get guests from outside, not from the hotel, and they come and visit. The reviews are very good;almost 10 in Google, and in Happy Cow, of course. 



Brighde: So, can you tell us the name of the hotel and why it is called that? Is there a meaning behind the name of the hotel? Noverian Bios Santorini 



Harry: Vegan Boutique Hotel. That was the name of the hotel. And vegan, of course, because it's only for vegan guests. If somebody, who is not vegan, would like to come to the hotel, he can come. But [00:05:00] we don't say we don't accept you, but you must know that our food is vegan. 



Brighde: It's like you want to put the word 'Vegan' in the tagline underneath the name of the hotel, so there can be no misunderstandings. Right. And people will book and they will know that it's vegan. So that's so cool. So, of course Noverian Bios is a unique hotel in Santorini because it's a little bit of a larger hotel and it's of course vegan.



Harry: Can you share with us some other things that make this hotel unique compared with other Santorini hotels? The difference is, first of all, we have vegan excellence. That means comprehensive plant-based philosophy, embracing a vegan lifestyle. All food and beverage offerings provide exclusively plant-based, [00:06:00] locally sourced menus, featuring ingredients from Santorini and generally Greece. This is the most important, that everything is local, also wine, vegan wine from Santorini, and most of the ingredients are from Santorini, and all of them from Greece. For sure. Then it's 100 percent sustainable, architecture and design, inspired by traditional techniques. Use of natural materials, like stone and wood. As you can see, and completed by eco-friendly practices. This is something that you cannot find in other hotels in Santorini. You can find luxurious hotels, you can find more expensive, you can find everything, but not this that I stated before. 



Brighde: That's amazing. I'm really excited about the fact that you have a restaurant in the hotel and I believe our dear friend Camilla [00:07:00] from Vegan Set came out to help you just before you were opened and you had long discussions with her, or your team had long discussions with her. If you were to explain how the menu is, what type of food experiences people might have, is it buffets, is it like family style, is it set menus, fine dining, casual, is there like a pool menu, can you talk to that?



Harry: Miss Camilla, helped us a lot on that. We appreciate it and we owe a lot to her about this, because we don't have so good experience about that. She helped us a lot. The accommodations main restaurant is a pure vegan restaurant who has his own Facebook and Instagram separately from the hotel. Serves breakfast with a la carte options featuring local vegan products and creative recipes emphasizing pure ingredients and local [00:08:00] produce. 



Brighde: Oh, fun. 



Harry: You can stay at the pool to order whatever you like from the menu. Yes, pure vegan food. There are 60 vegan choices blended with the original products and cuisine into a refined experience. Everybody who visit the restaurant gives congratulations to the cook, who is a real Greek cooker. The internet outdoor spaces provide a comfortable, elegant atmosphere for a delightful culinary journey. That is our restaurant.



Brighde: I love it, and I'm just looking through your menu here. We've got an eggplant burger, Cretan pumpkin balls, there's a lot of Greek specialties made vegan; Santorini split peas, artichoke salads, all dishes that I think, are really going to help vegans enjoy Greek food. 



Harry: Quinoa salad, it's with nuts. Everything is fantastic.



Brighde: I'm very excited about the baklava. 



Harry: [00:09:00] Yes, I eat.



Brighde: Yes.



 Yes 



Harry: I eat it every day. 



Brighde: I love it. Okay, so can you talk a little bit about the atmosphere of the place. So I have not been to Santorini, but I think I have a bit of an image in my mind as to what it feels like in Santorini, and I'm curious about what I might experience and feel as I'm walking through the hotel and going into my room and what I might see. Could you tell us that please?



Harry: Yes, the location is in Fira, five minutes walking from Caldera, by the main. Caldera is the most famous place of Santorini. We have our parking there, which is very difficult to find parking in Santorini, but we have our own parking. It's very relaxable, and you have whatever you like there. The rooms, are comfortable. They have a TV.  They can [00:10:00] choose either fan or air condition. It's up to them. Half of the rooms have a view to the sea and to the pool. The rest have a coffee maker. They have a boiler for hot water for tea. If they don't have, they can order and we bring it.



Brighde: Oh, so you have room service too.



Harry: Yes, of course, especially the beginning of the season when we don't have so many guests. It's logic. We had room service for the breakfast. We give them the list. What would you like to have and we bring in your room?



Brighde: I love it. And I'm looking through the gallery of your website right now and I'm seeing that you're really trying to incorporate the famous blue colour of Santorini into the deco. All of the light fittings, I see a lot of wood, like you mentioned; the building is very white, the rooms, I wouldn't say they're minimalistic, but they're certainly not cluttered, [00:11:00] they're just very nice.
Do the rooms have views of the water? 



Harry: Some of the rooms overlook the sea, but the other side of this, not Caldera, the other side of the sea and also for the pool. And we have four rooms with jacuzzis. Mini spa in the room. Two rooms are suites, big, very big rooms. They have jacuzzis, and two rooms to the second floor, they have a view to the sea and a jacuzzi outside on the balcony. The rest are normal rooms. 



Brighde: The Rooms are lovely. I can't wait to come and check it out, and I just love the pool. 



Harry: Anytime you are invited to be on complimentary based from us, as many days as you like.



Brighde: Wow, that's very generous.



Harry: Of course, it's better to see the hotel and to fill the hotel by your own, and to know exactly what we say is true, and to enjoy and to see, to taste the quality [00:12:00] of the food, and to get your opinion for vegan food.



Brighde: I absolutely love it. I'm a person that will go very far out of their way to go and stay in a vegan hotel because I'm in the vegan travel industry. But you know, maybe not everybody is quite like me. They would go to a place just because there's a vegan hotel. So I'm curious, and you do mention this on your website that you have; you suggest a number of experiences that guests coming to Santorini to your hotel, might undertake. Some excursions, for example. Can you tell us some other reasons why people would want to come to Santorini other than staying in your hotel?



Harry: Yes, from the hotel we have a service that VIP transfers or any kind of transfer that they want to go around Santorini. There is Oia, the most famous place to sit for the sunset. The sunset of Santorini [00:13:00] is very famous. To see famous beaches we also have a management in the hotel there, which is in Perissa and it's Santo Mangata, new hotel, two, three days now, it's opened. It's on the beach of Perissa. Perissa is a 3000 meter beach; fantastic organized beach. Very nice with also a lot of restaurants there that has no vegan food, but okay, they have good food, but not vegan. There are many things to do in Santorini. Most of the guests who visit Santorini come for two, three days, because they think it's enough. Of course, it's enough if you want to see sights of Santorini, but if you want to relax also, you must stay one week in Santorini. It's worth it. they have a traditional, beautiful, site that has the small narrow streets with steps, for all the way of Caldera. It's to put your hand on the sea when [00:14:00] you walk in the small roads of Santorini. It's very nice. 



Brighde: Only to see all these things in Santorini take two days. And are there any cultural sites that are worth seeing in Santorini? I'm thinking maybe some ancient Greek ruins or any museums or a particular type of dancing or perhaps wine experiences that people might have.



Harry: There are, yes. Also in our hotel we do wine tasting two times per week in our restaurant. But there are some wine cellars where you can go to have a taste of the wine. For example, you can choose different kinds of wines.  The view of these places is fantastic. And there you can see also how do they make the wine, which is Santorinian wine. It's one of the best quality of wines in Greece.



Brighde: Oh!



Harry: Very [00:15:00] famous, yes, in Santorini, especially rose wine, yes.



Brighde: Rose, looking over the views of Santorini on a warm evening, or at lunchtime, sounds absolutely perfect. 



Harry: Also the black sand of the beach in Santorini. It's fantastic. You can go from there, opposite to another smaller island, which is also has a big history there. If you would like to spend two weeks, you can find places to visit in Santorini.



Brighde: I love it. And I notice that you do have like spa treatments as well available in your hotel? 



No, we don't have in our hotel, but we are in cooperation with a company, an experienced company, who come in the hotel, or they pick the guests up and they bring them to the spa area.



Brighde: Perfect. 



Harry: My cousin's company, very famous, who has almost cooperation in 300 hotels, not only in [00:16:00] Greece, and also outside of Greece.



Brighde: Goodness me, wow. Yeah, it just sounds like this island and your hotel is such a wonderful place to go to really relax and enjoy a beautiful setting. A question I have, because I have heard that Santorini can be very busy. I believe that cruises often stop off there and do little visits around the town, the main town, if I understand well. When would you say is the best time to come in terms of, less busy, and weather.



Harry: Look, it's according to what do you prefer. For example, in July, August, is a very good period, very good weather, especially this year, it's 40 degrees, 35 to 40 degrees, but it's too expensive. So, a better period is June, May, [00:17:00] September, and October. Last year, I visited Santorini end of October, and I was surprised at how many guests I have seen. It was almost full. I have made a decision, and I'm going to proceed for the next days. I would like to leave the hotel open for winter time.



Brighde: I was going to ask you about that.



Harry: I will see the results for the first year and then I will decide also for the next years, but I will try this.



Brighde: I think that's a great idea, because many non-vegan visitors to Santorini. I'm guessing that a lot of hotels and restaurants close in the wintertime but as a vegan, I wouldn't want to go and eat anywhere else, or if I was staying for a week, maybe I would go and have lunch in some places. It wouldn't matter to me that [00:18:00] lots of other restaurants were closed, because I only want to eat at your restaurant. And I'm guessing the pricing will be cheaper as well at that time. So really get good value during that time. And I'm guessing the weather is probably fairly cool, but certainly not  cold. I would guess.



Harry: If I leave the hotel open, I will leave also the restaurant open.



Brighde: Right.



Harry: For sure, it's no way to leave, to have a vegan hotel open, without the restaurant, especially winter time, and as you correctly stated, in Santorini, almost everything will be closed.



Brighde: Yeah. Okay, that's so interesting. And I have a question in terms of, how it's going so far. So the hotel is now open, people can make bookings, is that right? 



Harry: Yes, of course.



Brighde: And how has the reception been? How have bookings been? What have people's [00:19:00] response been to Noverian Bios so far? 



Harry: I found some difficulties because I have a managed to open the hotel 1st of May, and finally the hotel opened, 10th of June. As you understand, that caused us problems because we lost personnel. We lost the staff. Of course, they went somewhere else to work, so the opening was not so good. But now everything is okay. 



Brighde: That's great. And where have most of your guests been coming from? Are they mostly Greek or are they from Europe?



Harry: No Greek, Italian, Germany, Israel, Dutch people, that kind of people, also from France, unfortunately not from USA, because the USA guests start to book very early. For example, they start now to book for next [00:20:00] year. Or they start July, August, September to book for the next year. I was not ready. I didn't have the hotel. I made the hotel January of 2024, so I didn't have the possibility to advertise the hotel in the USA, but now, of course, I'm sure that we will have a lot of people from USA next year.



Brighde: Amazing. 



Harry: And a question that I have, Harry, is, I'm thinking for some people, maybe who are more on a budget, they might not necessarily be able to stay in the hotel, but they would love the opportunity to come and dine, maybe even for breakfast, lunch and dinner, or maybe even get a pass for the pool.



Brighde: I don't know whether you offer that. Can you share whether that's possible for guests? Of course. 



Harry: All from our all day menu, breakfast, etc., every vegan taste. Also. They can have the [00:21:00] possibility to visit the wine tasting that we have for two days per week. Some guests from another hotel, they visited already.



Brighde: I love it. I love it.Harry, I want to thank you so much for being on the World Vegan Travel Podcast. I can't wait to come and visit you, your hotel and in beautiful Santorini. Would you please tell us again any social media handles or the website and how people might make some bookings at the hotel?



Harry: They can book the hotel through Facebook, through our site, 'Directly Bookings', through Booking. com, through any online seller, they can find a hotel to book it. And also the restaurant, they can make a direct booking to the restaurant, there is a platform that I have, and they can book it by themselves, a time, day, and everything.



Brighde: Amazing. listeners, you can go to [00:22:00] novarianbios. com to see the beautiful website that they've created and get a real sense of what the place is like. Harry, thank you so much for joining me on the World Vegan Travel Podcast.



Harry: I thank you, especially you, because you help us a lot and I appreciate it.
And I'm looking forward to welcome you in our nice place.



Brighde: I can't wait. Thank you.



Harry: You're welcome.