Provider

Description

Hôtel du Nord: a Cooperative of Hospitality and Heritage

In Marseille’s northern districts — areas too often reduced to clichés of danger and criminality — Hôtel du Nord offers a different story. Here, residents come together to reveal another face of the city: one made of shared memories, cultural richness, and everyday hospitality.

Founded in 2011 as a cooperative of inhabitants, Hôtel du Nord continues a movement that began in the 1990s to keep local heritage alive while improving life in these neighborhoods. As a Société Coopérative d’Intérêt Collectif (SCIC), it is collectively owned and governed by its members, ensuring that hospitality remains a democratic and community-led practice.

Travelers can stay in guest rooms or urban gîtes, join heritage walks, take part in solidarity stays, and discover local crafts and products rooted in the histories of people and places. Each itinerary emerges from field research and storytelling, a genuine fabrique d’histoires that blends oral heritage, artistic exploration, and citizen participation.

With more than a hundred “walking stories” co-created by residents, artists, and associations, Hôtel du Nord invites guests to rediscover Marseille as a living landscape of relationships — where hospitality becomes a civic act and a way to reclaim dignity and belonging.

Where / Served area: Marseille, France

Website: www.hoteldunord.coop

Why on TravaPowa: Hôtel du Nord is a cornerstone example of community-led regenerative tourism — proving that travel can become a means of reclaiming stories, creating inclusion, and empowering local communities.

• It redefines tourism as a shared, collective practice, led by citizens rather than external operators (SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities).
   
• It promotes hospitality for all kinds of travellers — workers, migrants, students, families, and visitors seeking authentic connection — making inclusion a daily reality (SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities).
   
• It strengthens local economies and crafts while reviving intangible cultural heritage and the collective memory of marginalized territories (SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth).
   
• It embodies the principles of regenerative tourism, where every visit contributes to cultural continuity, ecological awareness, and social well-being (SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production).

Hôtel du Nord demonstrates that hospitality can heal territories, turning stigmatized neighborhoods into spaces of pride, creativity, and encounter.
 

Take Action:  Want to enable impactful youth mobility and boost your CSR/ESG commitment on the topics of regeneration and social inclusion? Get in touch with the TravaPowa team.

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© Image credit: Hôtel du Nord. All rights reserved