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When the French actor Thierry Teyssier decided to leave the stage to enter the hotel industry, he had one goal in mind: change the concept of hospitality. For him, tourist hospitality had lost sight of generosity and the gift of service, two vital pillars within the industry.
More than two decades later, the businessman has a hotel in Morocco—considered one of the best in the world according to the Condé Nast Traveler Gold List 2024—and He is the founder of the world’s first nomadic hotel.
Six years ago, this concept started the classic hospitality revolution, changing cities every six months in order to offer its exclusive service in remote places around the world. Today it arrives in Peru for the first time and will open its doors this June.
700’000 Heures (hours in French), is the name of the nomad hotel and refers to the estimated time that human beings spend on planet Earth. With that number of hours in mind, Teyssier takes great care of the enjoyment of her guests, ensuring that the experience at her hotel is worth the time invested. The concept of the project is simple: offer a personalized experience for each guest, taking advantage of the infrastructure, gastronomy and local crafts of each destination you arrive at; at the same time it generates work for local communities in the area.
The nomadic hotel changes destination every half year. So far, it has been located in places like Japan, Italy and Brazil. Every six months, Teyssier puts away his belongings—furniture, sofas, tables, dishes, and more— in a hundred artisan trunks and moves to a new destination, where he chooses a building or mansion to create a hotel from scratch. His loyal guests are looking forward to the new destination, in order to relive the magic of exclusivity in an environment still unknown to them.
The Hotels created by Teyssier do not have restaurants, bars or common areas. There is no time to check in either check outThere is no food menu or scheduled activities. The French businessman avoids the entire structure of classic hospitality, considering it to be limiting. “If you think about it, hotels focus on their own organization. So if a guest wants to sleep until 2 pm and have breakfast at that time, they cannot because the schedule has already ended. If he was on a plane all night and arrives at the hotel at 6 am, he has to wait until 4 pm to check in. You understand me? Because? Why is it so difficult to organize everything in another way? “There I began to think that perhaps it was possible to exercise hospitality in another way,” reflect.
“I understood that a hotel should be a place where each person can live the experience according to their own desires. So I decided that my hotels were not going to have restaurants, bars, or common areas, instead I would put a table just for the guest wherever and whenever they want. And so we started thinking about a project, a hotel where exclusivity and the absence of rules could be or become the only rule”he adds.
Teyssier’s hospitality concept focuses on exclusivity and personalized experiences. Hence the experience can be described as unexpected. There are no rules, everything is possible. Each guest is assigned a team that will be attentive to their needs: what they want to eat and the activities they want to do during their stay. The level of customization of each trip ensures guest satisfaction, which is why the project was a success since its opening in 2018.
This year, the hotel nomad arrives in Peru. It will be the first time that Teyssier will not build the hotel, but has chosen the Bosque Guardian Lodge facilities to transform them and provide its essence. The hotel is located at kilometer 27.9 of the Tarapoto-Yurimaguas highway, in the department of San Martín. The strategic location makes it a natural sanctuary: a series of bungalows that make their way between trees and paths. A refuge in the middle of the jungle.
“Peru was on my wish list (laughs). It sounds funny, but that’s how it is. I think Peru is underestimated and I don’t understand why. They have the most fantastic people I have ever met, an incredible culture and a story behind it all. Beautiful views everywhere, nature is amazing and the food…OMG. “They have everything in their hands.” think.
When Teyssier decided that Peru would be his next destination, he discovered that more than 60% of Peruvian territory is made up of tropical forests. His interest in the jungle increased when he learned about the Bosque Guardian Lodge. The hotel is located near the Cordillera Escalera conservation area and has projects that promote biodiversity and reforestation, among other environmental and social development purposes. Hence, Teyssier has chosen it as the headquarters of the nomad hotel in Peru.
The hotel has been transformed following Teyssier’s vision. The restaurant has been converted into a forestry laboratory and the rooms have been completely renovated. The hotel will only have three suites with a capacity for four people each. Each of them will have a bedroom, a living room and a meditation and yoga area that could also be a children’s room.
In addition, the gastronomic offer has been created by chef Gregorio Laban and is based on totally local products such as cocoa, cassava and tree bread. Although, as mentioned above, the dish will be chosen by the guest themselves with some prior recommendations.
At the same time, Whoever visits the hotel will have various experiences of their choice. Among them, spending a night in the observatory tower located in the middle of the forest, enjoying a picnic near the river, going on an expedition to the waterfalls, preparing chocolate in the cocoa plantation, among many more.
“The idea is to create a comfortable and exclusive place, but still connected to the local life of the destination. So, for example, the guest can have breakfast one day at a local’s house and in the afternoon enjoy a private expedition to a waterfall off the traditional tourist circuit. He can relax in his private meditation area in his suite and hours later be learning the history of the women of the local paper mill. It is that mix between luxury and local culture that makes the trip different from any other”explains Teyssier.
Teyssier believes in the importance of regenerative hospitality. Under this form of tourism, the guest is not part of the consumer model, and instead immerses themselves in a cycle of exchange, generating a positive impact on the place they have visited.
“The tourism industry has destroyed everything and everywhere. It is predatory, extracting everything without sharing it with local communities. So when I started this, I wanted to create a business model that is balanced and at the same time generates enough income for the communities,” explains Teyssier.
Since the inception of 700’000 Heures, the hotel has allocated a percentage of its profits to social projects in each destination in order to promote the environmental and social development of local communities. But two years ago, Teyssier realized that a six-month stay in a destination wasn’t enough time to help a community long-term. Therefore, next year she will return to Peru to continue with the programs that will begin this June.
“I realized that the projects were working very well while the hotel was operating in the destination, but once we moved to the next one, it became somewhat difficult to maintain. So I decided to team up with Diane Binder, founder of Regenopolis, an initiative in Africa that has been working on development for more than 20 years. And she told me that my goal should be development, and not hospitality. I stopped creating projects around hospitality and started supporting ideas from the community itself. “That way, when the hotel moves, the project can continue on its course,” details.
In Peru, the hotel will support existing Bosque Guardian projects working on biodiversity and reforestation, as well as other local economic projects such as a cocoa plantation, a women-run paper factory and a menoponia honey activity. In addition, Regenopolis has identified a series of needs in the local community in different areas such as health and urbanization, as well as business opportunities in the area that could be financed.
He hotel Nomad will contribute 5% of the amount of each guest to continue regenerating the Tiraco Valley. In addition, the impact of the hotel industry in the area, private philanthropy and donations from clients will contribute to the completion of this project, according to Teyssier.
Reservations can be made on the website www.700000heuresimpact.com or through Perú Andean Experience www.andean.travel.
The cost of the experience is 900 euros per day per person. The price includes the entire experience, from airport transfer, explorations and activities, as well as food and drink.
The Peru Commerce)
