Desa Potato Head

Bali

A creative island paradise with sustainability baked into the foundations

Bali is no stranger to luxury hotels, but there's none quite like Desa Potato Head. Over the last decade, the property has become a beacon of sustainably minded hospitality across the globe, setting an example for the hotels of the future that ultra-luxury need not be wasteful.

While the hotel opened its rooms to guests in 2015, the establishment's roots go five years deeper when its visionary owner, Ronald Akili, debuted Potato Head Beach Club: a music club, restaurant and social space for the creatives of Bali on a quiet stretch of Seminyak beachfront. The catalyst behind its eco-conscious philosophy, however, came when Akili found himself surfing through a sea of discarded plastic along the shores of the Bali in 2016, vowing from then onwards to do his part in cleaning up the island.

In the years since, the property has become a self-identified 'creative village,' adding a multi-building hotel and community studio to the Beach Club, with its buildings crafted from more than 1.8 million locally crafted Balinese bricks and furnishings made from recycled woven plastic bottles.

Across the hotel's food and drink outlets, each step has been eco-proofed with waste reduction and ethical sourcing as the primary goals. Ingredients used across the property come from 163 farmers from chemical-free estates and are delivered in banana leaves or reusable crates, with the hotel banning single use plastics across the property in 2017. Today, the hotel sends just 0.5 percent of its waste to landfill.

Desa Potato Head also ensures it remains fully embedded into its local community, with its staff regularly taking part in farm work and donation drives alongside workshops in zero-waste cooking. Handiwork from artisans, including paintings and impressive sculptures, can also be found within almost every space in the property.

The planet-saving measures aren't just for those behind the scenes. The hotel encourages guests to get stuck into the local immersive planet-friendly programmes, including meal preparation alongside guests, as well as its Follow The Waste Tour to see exactly how the materials are sorted, composted or recycled with a new lease of life.

Through sustainable design practices, world-leading waste reduction and the championing of its local community, Desa Potato Head has become an inspirational property and is deservingly awarded the Eco Hotel Award 2025.

The Eco Hotel Award is open to all hotels featured on both the 1-50 and 51-100 rankings of The World's 50 Best Hotels and is independently assessed by The Sustainable Restaurant Association, 50 Best's Sustainability Audit Partner. 

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