Longboard Paradise Hostel Wins Hoscar for Being The Eco Warrior
For more than twenty years, hostels around the world have competed for special honors and awards from Hostelworld, known as the Hoscars. The Hoscars recognize hostels worldwide for their achievements, improvements, and vibes. There are several categories, from ‘best small hostels’ and ‘best social hostels’, to ‘best new hostels’ and ‘most improved hostels’.
Additionally, Hostelworld recognizes hostels for making an impact on the environment and supporting local culture and communities around the globe. Awards such as ‘The Eco Warrior’, ’The Community Superhero’, and ‘The Culture Champion’ are given out to hostels that specialize in responsible travel.
In ‘The Eco Warrior’ category, Longboard Paradise Surf Club in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, took home the honors for their sustainability efforts for 2025. Nicholas Tasca, one of the owners of Longboard Paradise, made time to chat with me over the phone about what went into running for the award and detailed many of the environmental projects that his team put into place throughout the 2025 calendar year to put themselves in the running for this prestigious award.
What is an Eco Warrior?
“Being an eco warrior means putting yourself out there and trying your best with the resources you do have,” said Nicholas. Having known about the award for years, it wasn’t until three years ago that Nicholas and his team put conscious efforts into making small steps at first, taking on community projects and holding events to gather people for environmental contributions.
At first, it was hosting a coastal restoration planting event, which entailed putting in more than 200 plants in a protected area in front of the hostel to help prevent the erosion of the sea. From there, Nicholas and his team continued to ask themselves: what’s the next step, now?
To tackle larger projects and create the sort of environmental impact they sought, the team at Longboard Paradise partnered with a non-governmental organization (NGO). That move helped them lay out a map for what they were trying to accomplish and see through similar projects, since NGOs regularly partner with businesses that want to act and protect the area.
The decision to partner with an NGO, and with the success of the coastal restoration planting event, helped pave the way for more action, as Nicholas and his team continued to ask: what’s the next step, now?
One of the many things that Longboard Paradise decided to implement was an in-house glass recycler, which breaks down glass bottles and turns them into small pieces of glass that are collected in specific containers. A company then comes to the hostel each week to collect the sorted glass and recycles it, and, in the year 2025, Longboard Paradise recycled more than 6.5 tons of glass.
Going even a step further, Longboard Paradise also runs entirely on solar energy, which came from another decision they made to partner with a solar panel business as opposed to working with common state suppliers for solar energy.
While their efforts to be an eco-friendly hostel have helped them earn recognition from the global hostel community, Nicholas and his team at Longboard Paradise are proud of the culture they’ve created through the experiences they offer at their hostel.
“If the experience part is done well, it can bring people together, and there can be a community built around that experience,” said Nicholas. “I think the key is to pick what you’re good at. Figure out what the environment around the hostel is offering, and then cater to the experience of the people who are coming through our doors. Naturally, that makes the hostel community build on its own.”
Coupled with their reputation as a top surf spot for travelers, the Hoscar award for being named ‘The Eco Warrior’ is something Nicholas and his team hope will help drive more awareness and attention to creating more sustainability in hostels.
“In terms of marketing, it’s very positive to see this award, but the real difference is that it brings to the industry a problem that already exists,” Nicholas said. “The hospitality industry in general moves a lot of people to different places, often to where there is a heavy impact, where there shouldn’t be that many people going to that place. So we can make a difference as a hospitality business. We have to make a difference, and these types of awards are a way to pay attention to these kinds of things.”
