Sustaying Helps You Find Conscious Colivings, Events & Sustainable Stays
About Sustaying
Sustaying is on a mission to inspire and empower digital nomads and travelers worldwide. We want to create a platform with conscious co-livings, events, and sustainable stays that embrace responsible tourism practices. All while fostering meaningful connections as well, since this is equally important for our souls. Our commitment is to make a positive impact, not only on ourselves but also on Mother Earth and local communities.
Are you a future digital slomad?
If you are dreaming of moving abroad while working remotely, but don’t know where to start, Sustaying can help. It’s hard to take such a big leap, especially if you’re afraid of where and with whom you end up. Giving up your current life and embracing life on the road can be scary. If the fast-paced digital nomad life does not resonate with you, but you do dream about traveling while working, maybe you should try to become a digital slomad. This is a more slow and sustainable approach to remote work. It allows you to create deep connections with fellow travelers and the surrounding community. After all, the digital nomad life can be pretty lonely, and we all need to slow down sometimes.
The places listed on our website are all selected because they create inclusive, conscious environments where people want to stay longer. A digital slomad stays anywhere between 3–12 months (or longer!) in one place, making it a much more intentional way of living and exploring the world sustainably.
What is the idea behind Sustaying?
The first idea of Sustaying was created in 2020 because of a lack of sustainable stays on global booking platforms. But these days, sustainable travel is another hype and includes a lot of greenwashing. Sustaying still wants to offer a platform for real sustainable stays that do truly care about the environment and support local communities, and this option will be available when listing a place.
We wrote an article to help these types of places become more sustainable, which is based on four different principles: Community, Environment, Planet, and Awareness. If you own a stay that promotes these features, please don’t hesitate to sign up!
New vision in 2024
However, in 2024 we will focus more on conscious co-living and inspiring digital nomads to slow down and choose intentional living. We provide a platform where travelers can discover intentional (co) living spaces and sustainable stays, access valuable resources on our blog, and connect with like-minded travelers through the events listed on our website. Our ultimate objective is to enable people to lead mindful and purposeful lives while on the go.
If you own a conscious co-living, retreat, community, sustainable stay, or anything else that brings travelers together in a responsible way, we would love to hear from you! You can sign up for free via this page, and we’ll start spreading the word about your stay.
How do we make money?
Sustaying is a conscious start-up, so we don’t accept any money from investors. We want to grow organically with the help of affiliate marketing and (carefully selected) advertising, so we can stay true to our own values. Our goal is not to be highly profitable, but to help digital nomads thrive while traveling responsibly. If you make a booking through one of our third-party partner links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It’s free to contact a stay on our website, and we don’t charge any commission for this.
Our stays can choose to pay a Premium membership of $5.00 USD per month, which allows them to message with guests through our platform and create advertisements. There is also a free membership option available since we want to create an inclusive community and not restrict it on financial grounds.
If you want to support our mission, we accept donations as well.
About the Founder
Founder Yvette van den Brand in Mexico
Sustaying has been developed and built by Dutch traveler Yvette van den Brand. She got more and more frustrated with the lack of trustworthy sustainable options when booking places to stay. After traveling full-time for over ten years and visiting more than 45 countries, she decided to follow her dream to positively impact the world and developed Sustaying.
My story and why I started Sustaying
During a trip to Sri Lanka in 2016, I helped a local guesthouse owner get listed online after he told me he didn’t know how the internet worked. This significantly boosted his bookings and I realized the impact I could make as a traveler on the lives of locals.
Over the years, my most cherished travel experiences always involved connecting with locals and exploring off-the-beaten paths. This led me to launch Sustaying in 2021. Sustaying’s vision was to create an online platform exclusively for genuinely sustainable stays owned by locals.
However, after I slowed down my own travel life significantly after the pandemic, another problem became clear to me. It was the rising trend of digital nomadism and the influence it has on local communities. After all, digital nomads tend to fly from place to place, earning a Western salary and leaving a significant impact on the destinations they visit. This is not necessarily a good thing.
It also created a new problem for the digital nomads themselves. They feel rushed and anxious to visit many countries in a short amount of time and meet many people quickly but not deeply. Many digital nomads feel lonely and unsettled on their journeys and feel the need to be more responsible and sustainable.
That is why Sustaying wants to offer conscious co-livings to digital nomads who want to slow down. I want to inspire others that remote work, travel, and consciousness can go hand in hand and give an online space to stays that also promotes these values.
Please help us grow by submitting your listings, events & reviews and by reading our Conscious Nomad Blog“
MISSION
Sustaying envisions a world where conscious co-living, spiritual events, and sustainable travel are easily accessible to all. Where people can find eco-friendly, meaningful accommodations, and connect with like-minded travelers. We want to create a positive and lasting impact on the planet and local communities.
GOAL
Our goal is to create a global platform where digital nomads and travelers can discover sustainable and conscious places to stay that promote responsible tourism and learn how to become a slomad
VISION
Transparency is our most important value. Sustaying is guided by intuition and has a conscious approach to help tourism have a positive influence on a destination
THE FEATURES
The stays listed on Sustaying have features we think are important for the conscious digital nomad. This includes general sustainability features, like solar panels, green waste management, and water resources. But also features like high-speed internet, shared co-working spaces, as well as the ability to take psychedelics which might not be so common (yet).
After all, our level of consciousness is rising and many seek the help of psychedelics for this. Microdosing and plant medicine are popular tools for digital nomads, so our stays can include this feature in their listing.