The World Vegan Travel Podcast
The World Vegan Travel Podcast
Vegan Italy Hotel | Paradiso Pure Living in the Dolomites | Alexander Spögler
In today’s episode, we’re heading to the breathtaking Italian Dolomites to chat with Alexander (Alex) Spögler, co-owner of Paradiso Pure Living — a truly pioneering vegan hotel nestled high in the mountains.
Alex shares the remarkable story of how his family transformed a traditional alpine hotel into one of Italy’s foremost fully vegan establishments — a journey that blends sustainability, art, fine dining, and a deep respect for nature.
We’ll explore what it takes to run a plant-based hotel in a region famous for its meat-centric cuisine, the philosophy behind its success, and how Paradiso and its sister properties — La Vimea and Agrivilla I Pini — are helping reshape the future of conscious hospitality.
There are plenty of fascinating insights and destinations mentioned in this episode, so be sure to check out the show notes and blog post for all the details.
Let’s chat with Alex!
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Ep 0 Alex Spoegler Paradiso Pure Living
[00:00:00] Hello Alex and welcome to The World Vegan Travel Podcast.
Hello
Brighde. How are you? And it's a pleasure to be on.
Oh, I'm very well, thank you, and I'm so happy to have you on. This is something we've been talking about for years. So full disclosure everybody. I know Alex and the team behind Paradiso Pure Living. I've known them for many years, and we have brought many groups to Paradiso over the course of the years.
We're going back there again, next year, in 2026, which I'm very excited about. So I'm so pleased that you're going to be able to share with our listeners some great information about this hotel and the surrounding area around it. Because most of our guests that travel on our Northern Italy trip, they don't really know so much about the Dolomites, and then they come and their minds are just blown. [00:01:00] So, for listeners who may not know, Alex, can you introduce Paradiso Pure Living, now 100% vegan hotel, and how you came to own it and run it, and share the vision behind creating this hotel?
Sure. Brighde, let me, start off. My name is Alexander Spoegler. I ampart of a family that runs various hotels. Almost all of us are vegan. We decided to not only live on a personal way, but then also live our businesses and run our businesses parallel to our beliefs. I run Paradiso Pure living together with my brother Maximilian, who should be on right now, but he couldn't make it. The Paradiso Pure Living, my parents acquired in the beginning of the nineties. It was a traditional mountain hotel. It was built in 1963, and we bought it in 1993. There was a time where we had a management [00:02:00] group managing it because we were all in the US, in Florida, for a long time. When we got back, we managed it directly again, but as a traditional hotel. It used to be called Hotel Paradiso. And, in 2018, we wanted totransform the hotel into a plant-based hotel. I say plant-based because at the beginning, we started vegetarian, so we left out meat and fish. Then a little bit later, slowly every year, we integrated more vegan dishes, up to the point where it was 80% vegan and 20% vegetarian. And now it's been two years, completely vegan. Yeah. And Paradiso was then the third hotel that we run with this philosophy.
Yes. And,your other family members, they of course, run La Vimea, which is a hotel about an hour and a half away from where you are. And also, of course, Agrivilla I [00:03:00] Pini in Tuscany, which we also bring groups to. We come to all of your hotels on our Italy trips. Of course, Agrivilla I Pini and La Vimea have been vegan for a few years now. But it took a little while for you to make the switch. I know there were extra challenges that you guys have in that part of the world compared with, maybe, Tuscany for example, because it's really not a very vegan-friendly place. And I'm sure, a lot of people that go to the Dolomites, and that part of the world, they would, maybe, be surprised at a vegan hotel. Could you talk a little bit about that?
Absolutely, you're right. Paradiso is probably the most complex location, and the most complex hotel. La Vimea was actually the first one. That was in 2016, and it was the initiative of my sister, Francesca, together with the help of my mother, [00:04:00] Valeria, which you know very well. La Vimea became, actually, the first vegan hotel in Italy back then. So it's been almost 10 years. Shortly after that, a couple years after that, Francesca and her husband Benny went to Tuscany, and they restructured the Agrivilla I Pini with the intention of converting it into a vegan hotel as well. It's a smaller location, it's a smaller, structure. So we're talking about 12 rooms - suites, and they did that in, I think it was 2017, 2018. Paradiso is in a very meat-oriented area, very traditional area in the mountains. Every place you go to here in the Dolomites, you find a lot of meat because it's really ingrained in the culture, and it's also what people expect when they come here. We have a classical winter season here, where we have a lot of skiers, obviously. And therefore, we had quite some difficulties at the beginning. And we, me and my brother, and my mother, sat down and we're like, okay, in order to [00:05:00] transform Paradiso into a vegan hotel,
we need to start in a way where we take out the meat and the fish. We market it as a vegetarian hotel, the first vegetarian hotel in the Alps, but 80, if not 90% of the offering is going to be vegan. But we're just going to leave a little bit of vegetarian. So we're not going to risk that nobody is going to come because after all, it's a business. It has to run, and the hotel industry is a very dynamic and very difficult industry. We lost a lot of our old clientele anyways, by turning vegetarian. And we were like, if we turn vegan right away, then it's going to be a blood bath. So we had to really balance these things out, from a business perspective. But it was mostly marketing, meaning that we said, okay, vegetarian. But after all, it was really 85, almost 90% of the offering was [00:06:00] vegan. So we had at the breakfast ,we had a little section with some organic eggs. And still people could order a coffee, latte, macchiato, with cow milk. But that faded out fairly quickly after that. But yeah, it brought a lot of difficulties. Definitely. Yeah.
I can imagine, it would've taken many years of this to help people get to know about this hotel, and try to replace some of the potential customers that you could lose. And of course, the hotel is quite big as well. I mean, Agrivilla I Pini only has 12 suites, where you have many more rooms. That's a lot more vegans to find.
Absolutely. You're right. And what else was important, is in that time, when we renovated and we did the switch to plant-based, COVID happened because we renovated in 2019. So we started off the winter season for two and a half months, where [00:07:00] it was already difficult to create this new clientele, or make the hotel known. So we lost half of the winter season. We lost half of the summer season because they let us open for a while, but then we had to close for the whole winter season, 2020, 2021. So it was really bad. They made us understand that we really have to be careful how we approach the marketing, is very important. We obviously, had a first mover advantage, and we also had the backup of La Vimea and Agrivilla I Pini. We had this circle of clientele that already knew that La Vimea is a vegan hotel. Agrivilla I Pini is a vegan hotel. So a lot of the guests, we had this internal marketing that helped us a lot. I think we communicated it very clearly. We were also very selective, and I don't want this to sound the wrong way, but you have to be a little bit selective in what kind of people you [00:08:00] want to attract, and overall, when it's about a vegan hotel. Because if you get the wrong people that come here, so you get people that maybe don't know the exact offering, then they're not going to be happy. You're not going to be able to make them a loyal, returning guest. We still have some people now, after many years, that call up, and they're like, oh yeah, Paradiso has a wonderful location.It is on the slopes. But hold on, you're vegan. Do you have vegan options or you really vegan? So we are really very careful how we communicate, and also when somebody calls, to give all of the information needed. Because we don't want people to come here and, make an experience that they don't appreciate them. So it's interesting. Yeah.
Yeah. Oh, it's constantly, navigating this for sure. It is challenging. Would you mind describing a little bit about the hotel, and how many rooms, and the different restaurants? You've had a very exciting development this year, in [00:09:00] terms of you have a new restaurant now, and maybe talk about the structure of the hotel, and the facilities that are available. Basically, tell me everything about the hotel.
Absolutely. We have this credo that we really like to surprise our guests every year. I think it's a little bit in the DNA of how we are as a family, we're four of us, there's only one brother. He's not a hundred percent vegan yet. He's getting there.
So we grew up in different countries and different continents. So we had a lot of international experiences, and I think, we're just very curious. We wanted to have a hotel that is not like any other hotel. The location itself, is extremely unique and extremely beautiful. But also, when you walk into the hotel, there is a lot of contemporary art. There's a very special design furniture. It's very different to all of the other hotels that surround us in this area. That [00:10:00] is one of the reasons that we did that, is that in order for our non-vegan guests also to understand the kind of culinary approach that we have here. We wanted to have the first impact when you walk in, to be very different. Like you're in this completely new world, and get ready for something that you don't expect, and get a pleasant surprise. So that's why we decided to, have a very good interior architect, a good friend of mine, that is an internationally acclaimed interior architect based in Berlin. Together with him, we sat down, and we really studied the design, in terms of restaurants. We have the main restaurant because people here book half board. So that means, they have the breakfast buffet and then a five course, mini de gustatio menu, every day. But this year, as you correctly stated, we have a another surprise, which is OMNIA. An OMNIA plant-based [00:11:00] restaurant is a little reality that is only eight covers. So we have eight people maximum, in the restaurant. The cuisine is curated by Chef Aggeliki Charami. She also curates Paradiso, the main restaurant, and also La Vimea. But OMNIA is really this very private experience that the guests have, where before they start the dinner, they go into the kitchen, they meet the team, they meet the Chef. And then it's a 10 course culinary experience at the highest level. The menu is based on the memories, the childhood memories of, Chef Aggeliki, and how she started in Greece. She's from Greece, how she started there, and then finally ended up here in the Dolomites. So it's a very interesting, small, private, upscale dining experience. And that is something that our guests that have half board, they can [00:12:00] get at a discounted price. But it's also open for the external clients. It's been an interesting development. It has a very good feedback, and we're very happy about what it became and how it's evolving. So yeah, we come up every year with a new surprise for our guests. It's part of Paradiso Pure Living. Yeah.
I agree. So we didn't have a trip to the Dolomites in 2025, but I'm so excited to go back in 2026, and just see all of the new developments and hopefully try OMNIA. It's amazing that you managed to get Aggie as a chef because I think she's done some amazing work around the world. And listeners, just go on to OMNIA's Instagram account. The food is some of the most beautiful that I've ever seen. It's really special. I can't wait. We've got to figure out a way for our travelers to experience it next year, even though the little restaurant has only got eight people. We'll find a way.[00:13:00]
Absolutely.
And what about the rest of the hotel in terms of like, is there a pool, is there a gym? Because you are also kind of like a, and this is in a traditional sense, a traditional mountain hotel where you do have some sort of like health and wellness, and spa and sauna possibilities as well.
That is correct. We obviously, being in a very isolated area, very beautiful but isolated area. The hotel needs to offer as much as possible to our guests. So we have a beautiful saltwater swimming pool, a saltwater jacuzzi on the outside that has the Sassolungo and Sasso Piatto ride in, facing the Sassolungo, Sasso Piatto, which are two of the most important mountains of the Dolomites. We have a gym. We have various saunas, We have a steam bath. We have relaxed areas, zero body floating experience. So a lot of wellness offering for our guests, and that is because [00:14:00] most of our guests, they're very active. So they come here to a location where in the summer they go hiking all day long. And in the winter they go skiing all day long. So when they come back to the hotel, before dinner starts, they usually have two, three hours where they want to enjoy and relax in the wellness area. Then we have a bar, a very beautiful bar, where there's a pool table. So also, people after dinner, can have some time where they relax, have a drink, and play some pool. We have a nice lounge area. Once a week, we have live music. For example, a piano or some classical music, in the hotel. So we also have yoga, we offer yoga and meditation for guests. That's all included in the half board formula. So our guests can choose. We have some days with morning and afternoon sessions of yoga. Some days there's only morning, some days there's only afternoon. And then we also offersome meditation sessions for our [00:15:00] guests.
And then the rest of the time, it's really the culinary experience that they have here in the hotel. And then, the wellness spa and yoga offerings that we give here. Yes.
Yes. There's so much to keep guests busy in the area. Let's talk a little bit about the surrounding area. I think Alpe di Siusi or Seiser Alm is very well known to people within Europe, and I'm sure most people that is listening to this, will have seen the pictures of   Seiser Alm because it's one of the most iconic views in the entire world, I think. But can you just explain what the surrounding area is like?
Sure.   Seiser Alm is the biggest, highest, alpine pasture in Europe. So we're talking about 54, almost 55 square kilometers, and so it's extremely extensive, the area. It's a natural park and it is UNESCO [00:16:00] protected. And that has various interesting sides to it. You have a fixed amount of hotels in the area. So there's never going to be new ones. There's no big chain that can come in and say, okay, this area is really hot right now. We're going to build here. That's not going to happen because the area is really protected, and you can't build anything. The area is mostly, you cannot reach it with a car. So there's a big cable way that starts in Siusi, which is the valley down low, and brings people up to Seiser Alm. Only house guests that have the permit to come up because they booked a room in one of the hotels on Seiser Alm, they can come up in the winter, August, for example. They have to leave their car down in Compatsch, which is the little center where the main little village of Seiser Alm. And then we bring them up with snow vehicles or four by fours. Yes. There's really nothing like people here. They have breakfast, they [00:17:00] walk down to the ski pool, deposit, they get their skis, they walk out, they open the door, and they're on the ski slope. So it's really unique. In the summertime, they can come with a car to the hotel, but they cannot move the car during the day because of the protection of the area. The beautiful thing about Seiser Alm, is that you are not in a valley somewhere where you might not even get a lot of sun, and it's a very closed and narrow. Here, you're up on 2000 meters and you have 360 degrees, the most important mountains of the dolomite in front of you. So wherever you turn, you have the Sciliar, you have
the Sassolungo and Sasso Piatto. If you look down to the North side, you're going to see all the way to Austria, to the Austrian Alps. You see the Mamoiada, which is the Queen of the Dolomites from here. So it's the beauty of the size element in every spot where you go. The visual aspect changes and it gives you [00:18:00] new sensations. The Dolomites are in my view, and most of the people share that opinion, the most beautiful and a powerful mountain chain in the world. It really transmits something magic, and you can really feel that magic on Seiser Alm. It has a special aura to it, this place.
I absolutely agree. The views that you have up there are amongst the best that I've ever seen, and I've been lucky enough to come and stay at Paradiso Pure Living several times, during the summer season. We haven't got there in the winter time, which I would love to do because Seb and I, do really like skiing, and you have some of the biggest ski fields in the world. It's crazy when you put them all together. But what I really love, is that the difference throughout the summer season, like when we come with our groups in June, it's just after you open for the season, and the wild flowers, it's [00:19:00] just jaw droppingly beautiful because you are 2000 meters up. So spring is still happening, and the views are just so stunning, and all of the wild flowers, yellows, and pinks and purples, it's absolutely jaw-dropping. People cannot believe it when we take them there. And of course, there's so much to do because it's Europe, and in the mountains. Everything is so accessible and well marked. So you can just pick up a little map from the reception when you arrive at Paradiso Pure Living, and follow these signposted paths. And you can just explore this whole area. And you don't need to pack a tent, you don't even need to pack food for the day because there's all of these other refuges that you can get something out. You can stop for a nice Radler and another place on one of your hikes, and then come back for a delicious dinner. It really is just the most comfortable hiking in the entire world.[00:20:00]
Well, it's good to hear that from you because you guys have seen the most beautiful places in the world. I hear it also from a lot of people, a lot of guests that we have, a lot of international travelers here. They come from all over the world, and they all share this, the same view that this place is really, it's something different. It's something very special. In the summer, as you correctly said, there is also differences because when you come, for example with the whole group,it's usually when the flowers start blooming. So you have a lot of different colors. Then they start cutting. The grass gets really high. That's in July till August. Then they cut the grass, then September comes in, and the colors change again. It can snow also. Sometimes we had snow every month, maybe just for days. But that's also like a beautiful spectacle. When it's August, end of August, and it starts snowing for one day. Yeah. But then it goes away. But still, it's [00:21:00] something so unique andI think, used to be this niche.It's like a place not for the masses. You really have to love the mountain. You really have to love nature but I think it's getting more and more international. Now we're starting to see people from all over the globe, that didn't exist 10, 15 years ago. It was primarily German clientele and Italian clientele. A little bit of Austrians. But now, we have weeks right now, this week we have, I think we have 12 nations in the hotel. So it's crazy. Yeah. And one thing that I have to say, or in general, we have an average of 300 sunny days a year. Statistically, this is not me saying that, that is statistics. That puts us on the top spots in all of Europe. So that helps a lot too, that we usually have beautiful weather. Yes. There's a good chance that you're going to have sunny days, which is very helpful when you are in the mountains. [00:22:00] I also want to let listeners know, that unlike a lot of mountain areas in North America, La Vimea and Paradiso Pure Living is very accessible by public transport. You don't have to have a car at all. We've come to Paradiso by public transport. We got the train to Bolzano, and then we took the bus to Siusi Village. We got off then straight away, directly got up onto the gondola and then walked 20 minutes or so to the hotel. So it's really very accessible. It's not like you need a car, and to travel for hours and hours on gravel roads to get there. It's remote, but it's also accessible, if that makes sense.
That is true. That is true. There is a possibility from Bolzano, if you're taking public transportation from Bolzano. There's a very good, and safe, and efficient bus that connects Bolzano to Siusi. Then there's a cable way to Campaccio, and then we pick the guest up. Another thing is, you can book a private transfer from Bolzano, which [00:23:00] obviously brings you directly to the hotel or if somebody comes with their own car, then they can just, get the permit from us to come up to the hotel. It's very accessible. La Vimea, it's more accessible because that is a village where from Bolzano, you drive to Murano, and then another 15 minutes, you park there and you arrived. Yeah. This is the joy of traveling in Europe. Amazing public transportation. Of course, vegan food is a big part of the experience at Paradiso Pure Living. How do you weave vegan as sustainability into all parts of the guest experience? Do you have vegan-friendly toiletries or do you do lots ofsustainable activities? I'm curious to know.
Yes, sure. It was really important for us to extend the philosophy, not only to the culinary part, the restaurant, but also,you're going to find no leather in the hotel. We [00:24:00] use sustainable materials when we build. We use sustainable ecological colors in the rooms. We have the gray water,the water from the shower, is then going to be reused for the toilets.We try to really work as ethically correct and sustainable as possible. It is not always easy, given the location. Obviously, we still have to use, overall in the winter, dieselengines, for the snowcats to bring the guests up here. So you can't be 100% sustainable in every aspect. But I think we do a fairly good job compared to, I'd say, most of the other hotels. Sustainability for us, starts on the plate, and I know you see that the same way, as vegan. So that is the first thing. But then we obviously, extended the sustainable thought, and ethical thought, we have a zero-waste policy. We try to apply the ethical correct and [00:25:00] sustainable thought in all of the fields in the hotel where we can. And, I think, that works out pretty well. And our guests, they're also very sensitive. Some of them are very sensitive to that. So we have a minimal approach, also when it comes to the rooms. Like, we don't have in a lot of the hotels, upscale hotels, when you go there, you have the toiletries and everything. The flip flops that most of the times, they're not sustainable, but they sustainable materials, and you find them there, just for the comfort. We understood that most of the people don't use80% of theseitems that you find in a lot ofhigh-end hotels. So we, the ones that we do use, they're obviously vegan. Might it be the soaps, the creams, and the flip flop for examples, we keep at the reception.
We don't put them automatically in the room. If somebody forgets their flip flops at home, we put it on our website. If you have them, if you can bring them, then please bring them. And if not, we obviously have [00:26:00] some. So we have biodegradable ones that we deliver to your room. ASAP. The same thing goes with mini bars. Like we've seen, I've seen that also. I traveled a lot, all over the world, in many different hotels, I've seen these mini bars. In every room, you have a mini bar. I never personally use a mini bar, but I understand some people do, which is totally fine, and some people expect it. We're not going to have them in 40 rooms because we have 40 rooms. So we're not going to put, automatically, mini bars in all of the rooms because most of the people don't use them. But if you want one, you tell the reception or you write it an email. Listen, we're going to arrive next week. We need a mini bar in our room. You're going to find a mini bar. We have six mini bars that we keep, ready to go and our housekeeping team will deliver them in five minutes. These are things that we try to work, in a more ethical, correct way, if we do that. Also the electricity, if you think about 40 mini bars that go 24 7 [00:27:00] and 90% of the people don't use them, don't need them. So it's a waste of space, it's a waste of electricity. And it's not very sustainable. Another thing is, we turn off the internet, the wifi at 11:00 PM. We have no wifi in the hotel till seven o'clock. We try to have people have a good night rest without too many external forces, negative forces. Some people are like, okay, this doesn't really make sense. But I think it does to a certain degree. So we implemented that rule, and most of the people are very fine with it. They like that. Another thing is, to extend that thought, we have no electrical outlets for the charging.
I think a lot of times, when people go into a hotel, it is okay, they plug in their phone, they want to charge their phone, and you have it right next to your head while you sleep. But 98% of the people like the idea, and they're cool with it. [00:28:00] Yeah.
Yeah. Absolutely. So I'd love to talk about the upcoming events in the Seiser Alm area because you have got the 2026 Olympics coming, the Winter Olympics, I should say, coming to Cortina, which is not very far from you, as the crow flies. If you go there by road, it takes a little bit longer because of the geography. What role do you see Paradiso playing during this big global event?
Yeah. So it's definitely a very important event, and there's a lot of investments that are being made by the government, and also by private businesses. There's a lot happening in the hotelindustry right now, in these locations. Might be Cortina, but also a lot of the areas that are surrounding Cortina. I'm a big sports fan, and I love the Olympic spirit. I have some doubts. I think a lot of the investments that are being made, they could turn out to be interesting. I am a [00:29:00] little bit scared that things are going to turn out like some of the, if we look at the past, the history, a lot of these Olympic villages, once things are over, once the event is over, they start losing a little bit of shine, and the interest also fades. I don't think that's going to happen in this case, but there is a risk. I think we're all going to see, more international clientele flocking into Cortina and surroundings, also into our area because of this event. For us as Paradiso Pure Living, we are a little world by its own.
I don't think we're going to get a lot of people that come because of the Olympics. It's going to be something for our area also because it's so limited, the amount of rooms that we have in this area. And the winter is very strong anyways. I think it's going to be a little bit more international clientele I hope this event goes well but [00:30:00] I have some doubts.
I know that there's a lot of money being invested because of this, which is normal. It's difficult to have an event like this, to make it really sustainable. You know, because, and, And then Italy, we know is not always perfect in terms of organization, you know, when it comes to, you know, that has, um, and this is just, it goes back to past experiences.
Um, so I'm, I'm, I'm hopeful. But I, I have my doubts as well.
Well, I wish you all of the best of luck with that. I'm sure, it's going to be a bit of a hectic, crazy time.
Sure.
So looking to the future of vegan and sustainable travel, what trends do you think are going to come up in the upcoming decade, and how do you think,
Paradiso Pure Living will lead the way in this era.[00:31:00]
So I definitely believe that there's more and more people that want to see vegan offerings in hotels. And therefore, I think, looking at the Gen Z, and generations to come, they're a lot more conscious of, what they eat, from an ethical perspective. Therefore, there's a growing number of people that want that offering. I think that more and more hotels are going toadopt that mindset to offer more vegan cuisine. It's still a little bit difficult, overall. If you look at what we do, we were the first ones in Italy that really did it on a 360 degree level between La Vimea and Paradise Pure Living.And if I look at what happened since we started almost 10 years ago now, there hasn't been that much other hotels. I'm talking about hotels now, not restaurants. So [00:32:00] really hotels that adopt the 360 degrees formula. Almost every hotel nowadays, they offer something for vegans on their menu.
Yeah.
About that point. So I wish there were more hotels that take the risk to transform the operations to a fully plant-based, fully vegan operation. I think there's three or four other hotels, and they started in the last year. I don't see enough colleagues that do what we do.
It's still very traditional and there's just a lot of meat and a lot of fish. I'm hopeful that it's going to get better. I
Yes, I, agree. we were staying at Paradiso Pure Living for Sebs 50th birthday, three years ago in September. We couldn't hike there where we wanted to go, and back in one day. So we stayed at a little refuge, a hotel further up in the mountains there overnight. And Seb had asked them, can they make something vegan? And they've said, [00:33:00] yes, we sure. And we got there, and it was very disappointing. So the next morning we woke up and ran down the mountain to get back to Paradiso again, for something so much more delicious.
So the one thing that I have to say, there's a lot more interest also from surrounding hotels,and people in general. They come and check out what we do. They come, they book a dinner, they book OMNIA, or they book the main restaurant. They want to see what we do, how we do it. And they ask a lot of questions, and they're a lot more open for it. They also see the difficulties though,in, having vegan. Cooking vegan is a lot more complex. It is definitely more complex because you just have zero animal products that you can use.
And you have to be able to cook five courses every day, and that for nine days, changing every day. So it's not easy. You need a chef that is very creative,[00:34:00] and that knows how to implement. I understand that a traditional chef has some difficulties in adapting to the vegan cuisine. That's why a lot of the traditional chefs might be super, super good in what they do, but they are usually not very open to vegan cuisine because it is difficult. And and it takes a lot of time. So that time that they need to invest in learning how to cook vegan cuisine, either you do it 100% or else somebody says, okay, it's not my cup of tea. So I understand the difficulties, but I'm really happy that more and more businesses and hotels want to check out what we do. There's been quite a few articles now and interviews that we gave, because they look for us, they want to know what's going on here, what are these guys doing. And even the local ones, because interestingly, we are more known to an international clientele than some of the locals. I have this discussion a lot with my brother,that more and more hotels do what we do.
Maybe in five, six months, maybe after the Olympics, things [00:35:00] will accelerate and we're going to see more and more hotels that do similar things as we do, popping up. We would be happy about that. So let's hope.
Well, in the meantime, you can get a delicious pack lunch from Paradiso, so you can still eat deliciously on your days hiking.
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah.
So Alex, you and your family, you have three vegan hotels, like big proper hotels, not just bed and breakfast proper hotels in Italy and most countries in the entire world. I don't even think there's three vegan hotels in the whole of North America. Something I'm curious about, is what do you think it is that has made this be so successful?
So I believe this is a very philosophical approach now, but I think it needs to be set in order to do what we do, and to be successful ,and with something so radical,for the time being, is really the vision. And [00:36:00] I have to thank my mother and my sister. And then obviously, all of us, me and my brothers, turning vegan. But it really is the team, all of the people that we have on board in all hotels, that make this happen on a daily basis. And they have to have the same vision. They have to understand the vision, and they have to, want to be part of not only a hotel operation, but about really something, that goes in line with their beliefs. Also, and this is why 90% of our staff is actually vegan. Or at least vegetarian, but most of them are vegan. And the 10% that are not, they have to be very open for that. And some of them, they start as not vegans, but then they end up becoming vegan. So that was a beautiful thing that happened.
It's about the philosophy and that's why most of the people that work here, they wouldn't work in [00:37:00] a regular hotel, a traditional hotel because they like the fact that here they have certain kind of vision that we have, and they have the same vision, and they help us bring this along. It's a heaven for our vegan clientele here, but for us also, part of the mission is to show to the non-vegan what we can do here.
Absolutely. Yeah. Finding good people that align with your values, with the business's values is not easy, but
important for sure. Alright, so I am sure we have convinced every single person listening to this podcast to put Paradiso Pure Living onto their bucket-list. Could tell us, please, how people can stay in touch with what it is you are doing, your Instagram handles, and probably importantly, the best way to make a booking.
You can get a lot of the updates on Instagram and on Facebook. If you [00:38:00] look atVeganWelcome and VeggieHotels, these portals, obviously they write a lot about us, so you find a lot there.
Our website has a very clear understandingabout what we do about the offerings. The best way to book, is either you book with us directly, which gives you the broadest option of rooms or you can useexternal sites like booking.com, Expedia. But the best thing, is to do it directly with us. Meanwhile, maybe, other channels, they have a limited amount of room types. To get the updates, the best thing is to follow us on Instagram, on our social, and to do the bookings on our website. Keep in mind that we have the off-season. So between summer and winter, there is two months, almost two months, where the hotel is closed. That is from October 6th until December the 14th. And then the ski season starts and goes till beginning of April, and then we close again till beginning, mid-June. [00:39:00] Meanwhile, in La Vimea, there's one long season that goes from April to November, and the same thing applies to Agrivilla I Pini from end of March, beginning of April, till end of October, beginning November.
That's fantastic. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us when you're still so busy in the hotel, Alex, I really appreciate it and I'm so pleased we got to do this.
It was really a big pleasure for me, for us, and keep on doing what you're doing because it's really amazing how well you do it. You're doing an amazing, amazing job.
Thank you. You too.
Thank you.