Luis Manuel Rico Sousa Bibi is the Director of the Ecoboo Hotel in the Maldives, a very unique hotel. Find out why in our interview with him. He started his career in the hospitality industry more than a decade ago, guided by a passion for people, service, and cultural exchange. Although he didn’t come from a tourism background, quickly discovered a deep connection to this profession and pursued every opportunity to grow within it. From early roles in Portugal to more senior operational positions, each step prepared him for greater challenges and responsibilities. His path eventually led him to the Maldives, where he now serves as the Director of Ecoboo Maldives, a unique eco-boutique hotel located on a local island. At Ecoboo, he focuses on delivering meaningful guest experiences while embracing sustainable practices and community engagement. This role allows him to combine everything he values in hospitality — authenticity, purpose, and impact.
Your hotel is something very unique. I have visited the Maldives several times and I haven’t ever seen a hotel like this. I would like to ask you to talk about its story and what made you to make a hotel like this and also tell us, please, how long ago it has been operating?
– Actually the project started around three years ago for one person who is passionate for Maldives, a Portuguese called Antonio. And when he came here a long time ago to spend his holidays in Maldives, he fell in love with this country. So after some years traveling almost every year with a family from Maldives he decided to start his own business. So we started one business here in Maldives with a safari boot and then in the end, he finished that kind of business and started the concept of the hotel. Actually, this person is also passionate about sustainability, ecology, and that’s why the concept of Ecoboo. So after the opening of these local islands for international tourism, they saw an opportunity to create something different here. So that’s why came the project Ecoboo. The name Ecoboo starts with a fusion of two words: ecology and bamboo. And that was the main stone for the idea and when the project started. Of course, the idea was developing and with the selection of all the materials, the concept of sustainability was growing step by step. The project started with only 16 rooms with the concept of a small luxury hotel, a small boutique hotel which made the choice of the bamboo because actually it was a simple product. It just grows naturally. That was something actually unique also for this project. So we brought all the bamboo from Vietnam and we started the construction with some sustainability. So that’s why this was the main idea. And more than that also was to create a project, sustainable, ecological, but at the same time do reach in a couple of in an average of the market that provide the guests the opportunity to come here to Maldives with a value for money, very reachable for everyone. So that’s why this concept started with not low prices, but in the middle of the high prices of the resorts and the local islands that actually already offer one with the low prices.
You have spoken about sustainability, now let us talk about innovations. What innovation have you introduced in the hotel and what are you the most proud of?
Actually, I think one of the products is about the concept and the construction of the hotel, but then we also have the human resources. I think of how all humans behave, the way that we have to receive the guests to provide a good service, the way that everybody likes to receive every guest in the hotel actually comes warm up. And I think that is one of the things that became proudest more, is to have people from different countries working here with us because we have people from Sri Lanka, from Bangladesh, from India, from Portugal, Spain, Brazil, and actually all of these people are united to create the best we can service is provide a good service and good experience for all our guests. So I think this is the best resource that we have here. Of course, the aspect of the places, every hotel can provide different kinds of setups, different kinds of offers. But I think the difference in hospitality comes from the human beings that actually provide that service. So I think in here, honestly, I think it is one of the best resources that we have.
What does innovation mean in everydays of the hotel?
The innovations that we have in our trail I think is more about sustainability and to create our trail that actually reduces the waste in the structure. So we start that with the construction of the building. So as I mentioned before, the structure was trying to avoid the maximum concrete possible. So the structure that is in metal and then covering bamboo, that’s quite a choice of that material. I think that is an innovation for us. This is quite a structural unit in Maldives. You’re not going to find nothing similar. It’s very usual to find this kind of construction in Thailand, in India or in Sri Lanka, in Vietnam, but here in Maldives it is quite unique. So actually bringing this kind of construction here is an innovation. Then we have also the part of the production of energy. At this moment we produce 50% of our energy, we produce my solid panels. We are increasing and we want to increase that capacity, but of course the real space to do that sometimes is a limit, but we try to do our best. And then we have more things than even the separation of the organic waste. We try to provide all the waste that we use in the kitchen. We make the process of the composition of that waste. We transform them into organic fertilizer to provide it to feed our gardens. So that is also innovation that we have. Of course, by day we are increasing everyday techniques. We are providing our staff with new techniques about managing the waste, managing the energy, managing all the resources that we have. And I think it comes step by step. It is not the majority of the people, they simulate innovation with technology. I think here we can compare the innovation with the best way to make it more reusable and to have the best management of the resources that we have.
I don’t see plastic bottles here and I don’t see mineral water either. How is this matter being resolved?
For us it was quite simple, maybe not so simple in the technical part, but actually in our trail, we provide all our guests who come here. Normally, we provide a bottle of water and is a glass bottle of water with his own name branded there. And that’s why because we want to avoid the plastic in our trail. And one of the best ways is to give to these guests the opportunity to refill these bottles every time when they need to. Even because all the water that we have in our trail, that we drink in our trail, actually we collect from the ocean, we make the process of desalinization of that water and we filter it. But because this process also takes some minerals to the water. Then in the end we add them to the minerals, so actually the water is quite rich to drink and their guests can drink that water every time that you need. Then we have also the reusing of the water of the rains. We also use it for the showers and for the caps. It’s very safe to brush your teeth and take a shower. So that is another use of another resource that is water.
Let us talk a little about promoting. How do you advertise the hotel? Does the system sell itself? Or is it always equalable? Or how is it season by season?
Our peak season comes at the end of the year. Maldives has two seasons. We have a dry season and a wet season. Now actually we are in the middle of the wet season. It’s coming after April, May, and it’s changing only in November. So between November and April is the dry season. And of course, the peak season of this hotel also comes in December, January. So that is the peak season. And of course the weather is much better during these periods. Now, the regularity of rain has come often. But the occupancy, even in the middle of this season, you start to get a nice average. Actually growing the last few years, we start, as I said before, with only 16 rooms. We now have 43 rooms. But even though occupancy was growing very much in the last year, we finished in 2024, the average of the entire year of the occupancy in this hotel was 85%. So we are growing and we want to grow more, but not lose in this capacity to have a nice environment like a family hotel, with relaxing and at the same time providing good services.
