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GHP 090: Watersports, nature and wellness at La Tour d'Eole, Morocco
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Welcome to episode 090 of the Green Healthy Places podcast in which we discuss the themes of wellbeing and sustainability in our built environment. For this episode I’m in Morocco talking to Jerome Schanker, Founder & CEO of La Tour d’Eole in Dakhla, an upmarket eco-resort with a strong wellness and outdoor watersports angle, specifically kitesurfing, windsurfing and surfing. Jerome launched his hotel development and operations business in 2017 after a successful career in finance, trading equity derivates. Today it is a thriving enterprise set to expand into on-site residences as well as a second site in Cape Verde. Our conversation covers everything from sustainable design that integrates into the landscape; water conservation in the desert; the connection between nature and outdoor wellness; social equity and staff training; as well as Jerome's expansion plans.
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Transcript
Introduction to Episode 90
00:00:00
mattmorley
Welcome to episode 90 of the Green Healthy Places podcast, in which we discuss the themes of well-being and sustainability in our built environment. I'm your host, Matt Morley. And for this episode, we're in Morocco talking to Jerome Shanker, founder and CEO of La Tour de Ol in Dakla, an upmarket eco resort with a strong wellness and outdoor sports angles, specifically to do with kite surfing, windsurfing and even some surfing in there too.
00:00:29
mattmorley
Jerome launched his hotel development and operations business back in 2017 after a successful career in finance trading equity derivatives. And so, Jerome, welcome to the podcast.
00:00:40
mattmorley
Great to have you.
00:00:40
Jérôme
Okay, thank you.
Sustainability Initiatives at La Tour de Ol
00:00:43
mattmorley
I'd really like to start, you know, so much of what you seem to do is about sustainability and connecting with nature and this kind of eco positioning that you've got as an eco lodge using sustainable materials.
00:00:57
mattmorley
How else have you worked to integrate sustainability into your business from the beginning? Or was it something that evolved over time? Or did you start with that idea?
00:01:06
Jérôme
We really start with this idea. I mean, from day one, sustainability wasn't something we added up on the project. It was really like the starting point. DALA is fragile environment and it was obvious to us that building here means building responsibly.
00:01:25
Jérôme
Otherwise, the project simply wouldn't make sense. And one of the first strong choices we made was to build largely in wood, not only because it's a warm and natural material, but also because it's a lower environmental impact when it's sourced properly. So we were very careful actually when we chose the wood because we wanted to be sure that it doesn't contribute to deforestation. So for us, the material choices are never just aesthetic, they come with real responsibility.
Challenges in Developing Sustainable Systems
00:02:01
Jérôme
And also we invested a lot in technical system, especially around water and energy. We use, for example, solar panels to heat water and we treat all our waste right here so it can be reused for irrigation for our plants and gardens. And today, 100% of our gardens are watered this way.
00:02:26
Jérôme
So we are really proud to use this water and we managed to have gardens and it's growing well in the middle of the desert. We are really proud of these features of the hotel.
00:02:36
Jérôme
And actually, it wasn't easy at all at the beginning. When we first opened the hotel, the system wasn't efficient at all. So we stopped and then we kept investing, adjusting and improving over time. And today it's like a very reliable system.
00:02:53
Jérôme
So, yeah.
00:02:55
mattmorley
How long did that last? How long did it take for you to really kind of get the system to the point where you were happy and satisfied with it?
00:03:02
Jérôme
To be clear, when we opened the hotel at the very beginning, we had it. It didn't work. So after one year, it was smelly. It brings flies. It was really not working properly. To be honest, the system is efficient in six months. So it's quite recent that we have a really reliable system.
00:03:20
Jérôme
But now it's like 100%
Design and Architecture for Eco-Friendliness
00:03:22
Jérôme
efficient. It took time because when you use wastewater, it can be smelly, you can have flies. It's not straightforward to be sure that it's working properly. And now, yeah, it's reliable, really. So it took us a few years actually to adjust and to have the right system working properly.
00:03:40
Jérôme
I became now a specialist of first wire system.
00:03:44
mattmorley
Well, it shows, it reflects your belief and determination to stick to the, to let's say the right way to do things, right?
00:03:52
mattmorley
It's not always easy. It's, there are much simpler ways to do it maybe that are more damaging for the environment, but you made a decision early on and you kept to it.
00:04:00
Jérôme
Yeah, exactly. We really kept going in these directions. And yeah, and it's not only... So for example, we also developed an organic garden on seeds. So we grow lettuce, tomatoes, pumpkins, melon, zucchini. I mean, and parts of what our guests eat come directly from this garden.
00:04:22
Jérôme
So yeah, we can speak more about sustainability actually because it's like, DALA is like, yeah, we can do a lot about sustainability in DALA because it's fascinating from a climate perspective because the sun is strong and the wind is cooler.
00:04:38
Jérôme
So this allows us to work extensively with natural ventilation. So if we combine this with low emissivity windows and wooden cloths to protect from the sun,
00:04:49
Jérôme
we can create very comfortable rooms without air conditioning. And this is something we are really pushing even further today. We are building new suites now in the hotel, and it's really entirely designed around this principle.
00:05:05
Jérôme
And with no air conditioning at all in Dalai, you can be good all year long.
Community Integration and Local Sourcing
00:05:10
Jérôme
It's really interesting, the combination of the wind and the sun in Dalai.
00:05:16
Jérôme
So it's good. So we are, and not only from air conditioning, we are generally speaking, we are very careful about energy consumptions in daily operations. So every time, for example, we invest in a new equipment, we pay close attention to power usage and we systematically choose the lowest energy options that will make sense operationally.
00:05:39
Jérôme
Yeah, so what I can speak about stability is maybe to speak about local sourcing. So it's another key aspect of our approach.
00:05:47
mattmorley
Thank you.
00:05:50
Jérôme
And what's interesting is that in Darla, they produce incredible fruits and vegetables like tomatoes, melons, blueberries, and sometimes just like literally like a few kilometers away.
00:06:04
Jérôme
And when we started operations, we realized that most of these productions in Darla was dedicated exclusively to exports. So imagine you have like one kilometer away from the hotel, an amazing farm, but you cannot buy it. So it took time, but we really managed to build relationships with local farms. And now we source directly from them.
00:06:28
Jérôme
So today, like some, most of the produce actually comes from farms located less than two kilometers from the hotel. Yeah.
00:06:40
mattmorley
And the idea of perhaps someone who hasn't seen photos or videos of your location, but could you just describe context of what you have around you understand you're effectively in the desert?
00:06:50
mattmorley
And then how did the architecture and the landscaping try to integrate into that space or the specifics of the context that you have around you there?
00:06:59
Jérôme
Yeah, so the hotel is like really in the middle of nowhere. You have no infrastructure around. It's only us in the middle of mountains facing lagoon.
00:07:11
Jérôme
So it's a lagoon, so it's a fragile environment, that I was saying. That's why sustainability is key. And it's really in the middle of nowhere. And the landscape is absolutely stunning and beautiful. You don't want to touch, actually,
Wellness and Outdoor Activities at the Resort
00:07:24
Jérôme
this nature. It's so beautiful, and it's totally untouched. So really, from the very beginning, ambition was for the hotel to be a completely...
00:07:35
Jérôme
integrated into the landscape. And wanted it to be almost like a mirage. So if you look at the dominant color here, it's like soft oak tone. There is sun, rock, through the light. And build the hotel, we choose Douglas Wood partly for that reason, because the natural color of Douglas blends beautifully with environment.
00:08:00
Jérôme
So over time, it ages and it becomes even more discreet. And it's really like a continuity of the landscape and the environment. Architecturally, we wanted everything to be low and horizontal, so there's no vertical statements, no buildings that try to dominate the seats. The volumes are really spread out and stay close to the ground.
00:08:25
Jérôme
So it's really following the horizon. So when you arrive, the hotel really doesn't impose itself. It slowly appears and disappears. So I give an example. It's still nowadays when you kite surf, for example, I'm kite surfing and I look at the mountains.
00:08:41
Jérôme
I even myself, I cannot see the hotel. It's like, it's really totally, totally integrated. Like the color is the same color as a, as a mountain. So it was really our objective and, and it works like really well.
00:08:53
mattmorley
Thank
00:08:56
Jérôme
So, yeah. And yeah.
00:08:58
Jérôme
Yeah. Sorry.
00:09:00
mattmorley
There's like full integration into nature, right? That seems to be one of the key ideas behind what you're doing. And am I right that it also connects with how you think about wellness, your health and wellness piece is also connected to nature and to the outside world. You take this view of getting people out, connecting with the sea, with the water, with the wind, right? So it's perhaps getting people outdoors and again, breaking down the barrier between the hotel guests inside and what's happening outside.
00:09:28
mattmorley
Right.
00:09:29
Jérôme
Yes, totally. And nature is really the foundation the world experience here. So for us, I mean, wellness doesn't start in the spa. It starts really outside.
00:09:41
Jérôme
And water sports play indeed like a central role because whether it's kitesurfing, wing foiling or windsurfing, these activities are all about connecting with the elements, the wind, water, and space. Many of our guests come here for the sports, and the daily reads they create is very, I would say, powerful. You have physical effort, concentration, time, in the ocean.
00:10:09
Jérôme
So you spend hours fully present, focused on the conditions, and that has a very strong impact on both body and mind. I mean, that's really our strength. You can see me. I'm every day on the water, and I feel so good, and I feel so lucky about it to be every day on the water. I can see that people walking in big cities are amazing. They feel when they come in Latourdes, to be connected with the nature, to do the sports every day.
00:10:35
Jérôme
And yeah, the connection with nature is something strong. And for the wellness approach, we built a wellness approach that focused mainly on recovery and balance. So we offer yoga, stretching, mobility, and as well, massages and recovery treatments. and these are designed to support the body after water sports but also for guests who uh yeah simply spend long day outdoors and want to uh to slow down
00:11:04
Jérôme
So, yeah, and nature is integrated everywhere in
Local Community Engagement and Employment
00:11:07
Jérôme
the experience. We were speaking about the nature. I mean, it's, for example, we have our infinity pool. When you swim, you are facing the origins, the sun, the oceans. It's like you are totally immersed in the landscape.
00:11:20
Jérôme
It's not like just a simple swim. It's a moment of connection with
00:11:26
mattmorley
You mentioned that you'd also adapted the sort of, let's say, the wellness offer specifically around recovery, spa and yoga to align with and to match the requirements of your niche audience, who usually people who have some interest or they're traveling as a group and people within the group have an interest in training.
00:11:48
mattmorley
or surfing. And so have you, I know we've spoken about the idea of creating a gym, did you leave the gym out because you thought well perhaps it's all about the outdoor sport and then just yoga and recovery or is there now also demand from guests saying we'd also like to be able to do some strength work while we're here? Have you found that that's a needed part of the overall offer? Has it come from there or is it more your own thoughts around perhaps as a piece that's missing that you'd like to add in?
00:12:17
Jérôme
The idea of building a gym really comes from our guests already use the place. We welcome very active and sporty people. 95% of our guests are active, they do sports.
00:12:34
Jérôme
It's true that most of the time they are on the water, doing kite surfing, wing falling, wing surfing. But sometimes the wind drops. It doesn't happen often in Darlap, but it does.
00:12:46
Jérôme
And when it does, people still want to move. So today, guests, they already access to the swim, to the pool, to swim, yoga, like sessions and outdoor spaces. And can say that the gym is really the missing piece that completes overall experience, raises and replacing anything.
00:13:06
Jérôme
And obviously we want the gym to stay aligned with our Cade surfing late identity, but it will still feel familiar. We want like a few high quality machines, some cardio equipments and space dedicated to mobility and functional training.
00:13:25
Jérôme
We don't want, like, yeah, it's about offering the right tools, you know, and we want, like, obviously the design very clean and natural with wood design and finish to match the architecture and identity of the resort. But that's why we also chose, we contacted BioFit because it's, like, it's important for us that the gym fully fits the ecology philosophy of Latour des Halles.
00:13:49
Jérôme
And you can see that the approach of BioFit is really current with our DNA, with sustainability. It's really in your core thinking. And also the gym reflects our guests.
00:14:02
Jérôme
I mean, it's evolving. We are welcoming more families and mixed group and not everyone kind. So you can have a family of, don't like we have villas and we are building actually more villas. And some guests, they prefer yoga training and are simply moving in a different way.
00:14:18
Jérôme
So our ambition is to really be a resort built around sports and wellness in a broad sense. where everyone can find their own balance.
00:14:30
Jérôme
So, yeah. yeah.
00:14:32
mattmorley
I think that's exactly where the industry is going.
00:14:35
mattmorley
You set out early and you've really established this positioning, your DNA built around sports and adding a small fitness piece in for rest days or off days or days when there's no wind makes complete sense. I wanted to also just, you mentioned the idea of connections with the community.
00:14:53
mattmorley
and the idea that you are in some way you've had to open up a path to, for example, sourcing local ingredients for the kitchen of the hotel.
00:15:01
Jérôme
All right.
00:15:04
mattmorley
How else have you worked to integrate or bring in elements of local culture into the space? I imagine with the philosophy that you're describing, you don't want to be this isolated entity that has no connections, right?
00:15:18
mattmorley
That's the opposite of what you want. You want to almost become a part of what's going on around you. So how has that process been? Has it been, was it challenging? Were they open, the local community open to you, whoever is nearby?
00:15:29
Jérôme
Yeah, I mean, from the beginning, it was important for us that La Tourteol be truly rooted in Darla, not just built here. And from the very beginning, the community really welcomed myself and the hotel, everything, like they really welcomed us in a great way. So it was really important for us to be rooted in Darla.
00:15:51
Jérôme
So engaging with the local community is like, it's not indeed just a side project. It's part of how hotel operates every day now.
Future Expansions and New Projects
00:16:00
Jérôme
So we work closely with local artisans and craftsmen.
00:16:09
Jérôme
For example, some pieces of furniture in the hotel are 100% unmade in Darla, like produced locally in small series. And there is also real savoir-faire when it comes to building with stone.
00:16:22
Jérôme
There is a beautiful stone in Darla, and we use a lot of stone sourced directly from the region in our architecture. Because it makes sense. You really have the workers who know how to build in stone. So, and food indeed, we spoke about food, is another very strong link to the local culture. As I mentioned earlier, we work directly with nearby fruit and vegetable producer whenever it's possible.
00:16:45
Jérôme
In addition to that, we source, for example, oysters from local farms that are located like less than two kilometers away from the hotel. And in terms of operations, we have chosen a very pragmatic model.
00:17:03
Jérôme
So in Dala, for example, there aren't many highly experienced chefs available locally. So instead of importing an entire team, we brought in a very talented head chef from Marrakech, Ali Timoni. He was working in Palais in Rayaan Mosu. He's a really, really talented chef in Morocco.
00:17:25
Jérôme
But so we have this amazing executive chef and around, we built the rest of the kitchen team locally. So we hire people locally. So today, most of our kitchen staff comes from Darla and has been trained locally, often through hospitality school of Darla.
00:17:45
Jérôme
So we are really proud of that because many of students from the regions actually want to train and work with us. And in a way, the hotel has become a place of learning and learning.
00:17:57
Jérôme
transmissions. And just the same approach applies to other activities. At the Ocean Academy, almost all the entire team is from Darla because they know the regions, the wind. So obviously we are your people locally.
00:18:10
Jérôme
So yeah, we don't, I mean, local culture is present through like people, materials and skills and the daily interactions our guests have.
00:18:23
Jérôme
Yeah.
00:18:24
mattmorley
Which then also becomes an element of your ESG, your sustainability, because it's a social uplift, social impact. You are spreading the wealth of the tourism that comes through your business out into the local community. training people, educating them.
00:18:39
mattmorley
Then potentially one day they might leave and set up by themselves, their own businesses in the future, having gained years of experience with you, right? So it's kind of this positive loop of... the money coming in, but also filtering out into the homes nearby, right?
00:18:54
mattmorley
Which then I guess, I hope creates goodwill and positive relations between yourselves and the community, right? That's got to be the aim.
00:19:01
Jérôme
Yeah, totally yes.
00:19:02
mattmorley
Yeah. And so where does it go from here? You've been there since 2017 or working this.
00:19:10
mattmorley
You've clearly found your niche. You've worked out who your customers are. Are you looking to expand either particular
Connecting with La Tour de Ol Online
00:19:17
mattmorley
site that you have or add an additional site? What are the next few years for you from a business perspective?
00:19:23
Jérôme
Yes, we want to expand and looking ahead, our vision is really about continuity. We don't want to grow fast and replicate concept mechanically. What matters to us is to deepen what we have learned and apply it carefully.
00:19:41
Jérôme
So the first concrete step of development is Domaine d'Halle. Domaine d'Halle, actually construction started two days ago.
00:19:52
Jérôme
It's right next to La Tour d'Halle, and it's a collection of exclusive villas. And for us, it's an opportunity to use like really everything we have learned over the years in terms of architecture, energy management, water systems, comforts, integrations into the landscape and push it even further. So, yeah, so this is a brand new project that just started. And beyond that, we are also working on a second destination in Boa Vista, in Cap Verde, with construction planned to start in 2027. So the philosophy is very similar to Darla. It's like an exceptional natural seat, but also a very fragile one. Like the project is literally located on a tune in the middle of a natural
00:20:40
Jérôme
So the level of responsibilities is extremely high. So when we want to expand, it's just like, first, before expanding, we need to find a land, a unique land, something like really fragile that we want to preserve.
00:20:58
Jérôme
This is always the first stage. So it's really not about, okay, the concept is working, we want to build 10 hotels in the next year. No, maybe yes, if we find 10 lands, but It's really unique and not that easy to find land that matches the identity of the Tour des Holes.
00:21:15
Jérôme
It needs to be a place where in the middle of nowhere, in a fragile environment. We don't want to build like in the middle of like other hotels. It's really not in our DNA. So yes, if we find exclusive, amazing land, we'll continue expanding. And so far, the next stage is in Darla, Le Domaine des Holes and in Boa Vista, Cap Verde.
00:21:36
mattmorley
Very exciting. That sounds great. Cool.
00:21:38
Jérôme
Yeah.
00:21:38
mattmorley
So look, if people want to follow, learn more about what you do, we'll link to the website. In terms of social media, where are you most active?
00:21:46
Jérôme
We are active on Instagram mainly. So we are mainly active on Instagram.
00:21:51
mattmorley
Cool. And just to be very clear, so how do people get to you? What's the best route in? Where are you flying into? And then what's the transfer time from the airport?
00:21:59
Jérôme
You have direct flights from Paris three times per week with Royal Air Maroc and Transavia. you as well have flights from Madrid with Ryanair, from Las Palmas as well.
00:22:15
Jérôme
So you have direct flights from Europe and it's going to continue to grow in the next year. They plan maybe a direct flight from London and Brussels. And otherwise, if you are flying from the UK, example, you can go from London to Casablanca and then there is a short stop and you do Casablanca-Darla. So wherever you are in the world, you can always go through Casablanca and then to Darla. are flights every day.
00:22:38
Jérôme
But the easiest is otherwise direct flights through Paris.
00:22:38
mattmorley
Got it.
00:22:44
mattmorley
Cool. All right. Well, listen, thanks so much your time. That was a really interesting conversation and best of luck with all your future developments with the brand.
00:22:52
Jérôme
All right. Thank you, Matt. Thank you.