Hotel La Palma, Capri: How the Island's Oldest Hotel Gives Back, from the Sea to the Blue Grotto

Luxury takes on its real meaning where it goes beyond the guest experience. That, at least, is the conviction of Hotel La Palma, the oldest hotel on Capri and part of Oetker Hotels. In 2026 the house is backing a series of initiatives for the island’s sea, its people and its heritage, combining international partnerships with very local commitments.

Fishermen who bring back plastic

The most tangible project concerns the Mediterranean. Together with Ogyre, a social enterprise specialising in ocean protection, the hotel supports a programme that pays local fishermen to collect marine litter during their daily work at sea. The goal is to remove 1,350 kilograms of plastic from the Mediterranean by the end of 2027, and a blockchain-based platform run by Ogyre documents and verifies each step of the collection. On land, in September, hotel staff joined forces with Capri Servizi to clean up Via Krupp, the famous historic path that winds down from the town centre to Marina Piccola.

Straight-line distances. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

A second life for what guests leave behind

Through a partnership with Giving Bag, guests can donate clothes, books and accessories in good condition at the end of their stay. The bags provided in the rooms go to charitable organisations, which pass the items on to people in need. The hotel’s work is framed by the Green Globe certification, an international sustainability standard for travel and tourism that covers energy efficiency, water saving, waste management, responsible sourcing and community engagement.

Care for the island’s people

In 2026 the hotel launched a Cancer Initiative Programme for Capri residents affected by cancer, offering them free treatments in the La Palma Spa and promoting the offer across the island so that as many people as possible could benefit. In October, the hotel also takes part in Pink October, the international breast cancer awareness campaign: its signature vanity bag sells for 70 euros, and the full net proceeds of 57.37 euros per bag go to the Fondazione AIRC per la Ricerca sul Cancro, one of Italy’s leading cancer research foundations.

The hotel and the Blue Grotto

The hotel also supported the Musei e Parchi Archeologici di Capri with a press trip for the opening of the exhibition “Il Mito di Capri” and the 200th anniversary of the rediscovery of the Blue Grotto. The link is personal: according to historical sources, the 1826 expedition that rediscovered the grotto set out from the Locanda Pagano, which stood where Hotel La Palma stands today, and its owner at the time, Giuseppe Pagano, took part in it.

For a hotel whose history is so closely woven into that of the island, looking after Capri is not a marketing line but part of its identity.

Hotel La Palma, Via Vittorio Emanuele III, Capri (Italy) · oetkerhotels.com

About the author

Roger Hohl

Roger Hohl has been at the helm of Luxvisor since 2006. From his base in Switzerland he travels to test what the luxury travel industry promises, from the seat at 40,000 feet to the last course of a tasting menu, and writes about it with an independent eye.