Our Green policies practiced

  • On the first chance given, we always inform our guests about Caretta-Caretta sea turtles, and the Marine Park of our area; it is vital for our island to preserve its nature and the species that choose Zakynthos to “lay their eggs” and spend their summer. The first years the hotel was established, we have been among the first businesses on the island to communicate facts and figures about the sea turtle protection of Greece, holding a weekly slide show projection, in cooperation with the voluntary organisation of the times.
  • We urge the guests to visit the turtles without disturbing their environment, and explain relative regulations and attractions (where and why beach umbrellas cannot be put on the sand, why speedy motor boats & water sports are banned from Laganas bay)
  • Our hotel building itself has been designed with an angle shape, around a beautiful large eucalyptus tree, which we chose to protect when building the hotel!
  • We have been pioneers in recycling at our area. Not being one of the bigger sized hotels, we have been congratulated for the volume of recycling we achieve.
  • All our staff has clear directions of separating waste into organic ones, to use at our farm, recyclable ones, and other waste.
  • We may organise bicycle hire, horse riding for our guests, and suggest different routes and inviting walks around our beautiful area.


For further information...
Here you may read more about our practices for water management...
  • We have water saving equipment at hotel guestrooms and lavatories installed, at all our water taps and shower heads (a special filter which increases the pressure of running water using air, while reducing the quantity of water used).
  • We have added Hippos at all toilets (a special device for reducing water consumption 2-4 litres at each flush, without reducing water pressure).
  • Hot and cold water pipes are insulated.
  • We are using a drip system to water a part of our garden, and have planned to extend it.
  • We always water our gardens early in the morning or late in the afternoon.
  • All our water taps are one hand controlled (mixer).
  • All our members of staff are advised not to waste water and are involved in simple actions to support our environmental policy.
  • Cleaning of the rooms is done with warm water, so that less water is needed for the effective cleaning.
  • Staff is clearly trained to use concentrated detergents, only in producer’s suggested quantities.
  • We use a professional dishwasher at the breakfast buffet, to save on water and energy.
  • There is a clear policy for changing the guests’ towels, in order to economize on energy and water used.
  • We regularly monitor the quality of pool water.
  • Sewerage:contributed financially to building the municipality’s local sewerage network, to which we’ve been connected since 2005.
  • We have tried using eco-friendly detergents and try to find appropriate products in market, according to our needs and budget.
Learn more on how we work towards saving energy...
  • Have replaced most of bulbs and lamps with energy saving ones.
  • All of our guestrooms have electricity saving system, controlled with a card, so all appliances are turned off once the guest is not in the room, apart from the fridge.
  • All guestrooms have a sensor at the balcony door to block the a/c function if the door is open.
  • All our guestrooms are equipped with split a/c units, individually controlled, and we urge our guests to reasonably use the thermostat, gradually lowering the temperature 3 degrees compared to outside temperature.
  • All our electrical appliances are systematically controlled by our service providers, so no energy is being lost.
  • Our hotel building enjoys large windows so indoor areas do receive adequate daylight, and we economize a lot on artificial lighting.
  • There are motion-sensor activated lights fitted in some outside areas of the hotel, and other exterior lighting is timer operated.
  • We urge our guests to reasonably use energy in the room, and not to leave appliances on a stand-by mode.
  • In indoors common use areas, air conditioning units are reasonably used, gradually lowering the temperature 2-3 degrees from outside temperature.
Find out how we reuse and save on paper & materials...
  • We use newspaper sheets instead of clothes, to clean the windows of the hotel, so we use less synthetic, and at the same time we reuse already produced materials.
  • We prefer glass bottles, so the packages are returned to the supplier and reused (e.g. beer sold at bars).
  • We buy supplies in bulk when possible, so we do not waste packaging (paper napkins, buffet’ supplies, paper supplies, detergents, etc)
  • Cooking oil is recycled, given to be reused for soap making.
  • All paper rolls used are made of recycled paper.
  • We prefer recyclable packaging in all possible goods used, offered or sold.
  • We clearly avoid one-portion packages at buffet breakfast.
  • There is a clear recycling weekly schedule, in which all our staff participates.
  • There is a recycling bin for guests to use, encouraging them to separate their waste.
  • Soap provided in the public toilets is offered in the form of a liquid soap dispenser and not in single doses.
  • We always use both sides of printing paper when possible, and if not for printing, we cut it in four small pieces and use it for taking notes at the reception, office or bars, instead of using notepads or post-it notes.
  • We recycle batteries in a special container at the lobby.

Castelli & the Local Community

  • We always prefer making our purchases from the local suppliers and producers, aiming at ensuring the sustainability of the community and promoting local products. Furthermore, local products mean less transportation energy used.
  • In the framework of promoting the local customs and delicacies, we also strongly recommend traditional local restaurants, cultural and historical points of interest to our dear guests; this way our visitors may also enjoy coming across authentic Greece, and not only the commercial attractions.
  • We have a farm of chickens, and a small production of fruits and vegetables; therefore organic waste of vegetable origin is used to feed the domestic animals, and the eggs that are produced are served at breakfast and the pool snack bar, and the guests are content being closer to the nature.
  • The olive groves that surround the hotel are not sprayed with toxic chemicals, and the pure virgin olive oil produced is used for baking the home made cake, served at breakfast, and also for serving salads at the pool snack bar.
  • Our hotel’s design, ambience, colours and surroundings maintain the nature’s colours and feeling, so all our guests may admire nature’s real beauties and traditional Zakynthian architecture.
  • We regularly donate plastic containers to locals, so they are reused, in works around the fields that they are necessary and the locals do economise. This way fewer containers are consumed also.
  • We have a door policy/curfew, so as our hotel is located at a quiet area, we do not attract guests that would create noise or disturb the nature’s life.
  • We have repeatedly donated hotel’s property (land) to the municipality, in order to minimise the tourism’s effect on local community; for the municipality to use the land and make the roads wider, so safer and better for transportation of locals, visitors and tourists’ transfers. Otherwise the village’s narrow roads may not handle the tourism’ traffic, and the locals are disturbed, so is the circulation.

Castelli & its People

  • Approximately 90% of our employees originate from Zakynthos and all our staff live permanently on the island, so we do assist employment of our community. We abide fully by all employment regulations & inform analytically all our employees about their rights and benefits.
  • We always pay all our staff the last working day of the month (e.g. 31st of May payment for May’s work), all staff is paid legally and fully.
  • We believe in our people being our biggest asset, and thus invest in our guests and staff. We clearly ask guests to respect our staff, and vice versa.
  • We tend to have long term relationships with our employees (we have had the same 30% of our staff last 14 years), nevertheless when new staff is employed, they are welcomed by all the Castelli family/staff.

We are aware that there are more ways to contribute to environmental preservation, and starting with above simple steps, we always seek for new ideas. We constantly enhance our policy and we remain at our guests’ disposal for clarifications and suggestions.
Being an alive organization, our hotel tries to significantly monitor the impact of our daily operations on the surrounding environment and to adapt any new proposal seems productive into contributing to protect our planet!

May we proudly welcome your contribution to preserving our planet! Thank you
Read more about our philosophy and our recognitions.