BLUE APPLE BEACH CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA

You wouldn’t expect a small Colombian beach resort with great food, horse treks by the water, and a house party atmosphere to also

be a prototype for the future of hospitality. But that’s the case with Blue Apple Beach, an eco-chic 11room island resort and micro-farm just 20 minutes from the city by boat. Founder Portia Hart’s ethos is carefree, barefoot joy rooted in sustainability, which means “having respect for the environment and the community,” and treating both in the

“kindest way possible.”

Hart worked in the yachting industry in the South of France before moving to Cartagena and making her “first deep connection to the Afro Caribbean community.” (Hart is half-British, half-Trinidadian and grew up in the United Kingdom, where she says a connection to her roots had been lacking.) In creating her island beach house, she “found a way to take my Caribbean roots, luxury [hospitality] training, and British sense of order — and stick it

all together.”

The team, including management, is predominantly female and/or BIPOC, and set on inclusive programming, as well as developing the infrastructure for the hotel the island lacked. “Every time you spend money, you give someone power,” Hart says; to that end, the B Corp spends its lifting the community. Through her own nonprofit, Green Apple Foundation, Hart works with businesses to recycle glass headed to the landfill (she’s building a recycling center in the city this year). A new spa, also in the works, will focus on the Colombian version of “wellness” — centered around music,

dance, and personal connection.