The Chocolate Gannets Story
Situated along Victoria’s Great Ocean Road, Chocolate Gannets offers a choice of four unique, luxury beachfront villas.
The villas provide a secluded beach holiday experience, only five minutes’ drive (or a peaceful beach walk) from the relaxed fishing village of Apollo Bay,
Each comfortable villa has two bedrooms, a wood-fireplace, spa bath to die for, and the most dreamy beds and linen.
Chocolate Gannets has everything you could ever want for a romantic getaway, honeymoon or family retreat.
A Proud History
When Chocolate Gannets was built in the early 2000s, it was the first luxury accommodation on the Great Ocean Road. Our villas really were quite the sensation!
In 2003, Chocolate Gannets won 1st place in the New Tourism Development category of the Victorian Tourism Awards. Not a bad achievement given Melbourne’s newly built Federation Square received second place…
Gannets are marine birds, found along our Victorian coast, known for their life-long romantic partnerships and spectacular diving technique which has given them the reputation of voraciousness. Local legend has it that the first owners’ nickname for their young daughter was Chocolate Gannet due to her voracious appetite for chocolate; the name is an ode to her. Our two young daughters have happily filled the space being little Chocolate Gannets themselves!
Chocolate Gannets came into our loving care in September 2019. We have adored every minute, even the challenging ones.
The Chocolate Gannets Experience
We fell in love with Chocolate Gannets the first time we ever stayed as guests. Now we love to provide our guests with the simple luxury of enjoying a relaxing and restoring stay in an idyllic location.
For us, luxury is not necessarily about opulence, but rather about enjoying the simple things in life. It’s about all the little things that make you feel great. Help you to take a pause. And appreciate the natural beauty of the environment and people around you.
We hope you find this luxury here.
Our Social and Environmental Commitment
Minimising our footprint on the environment is always at the forefront of all our decisions and we strive to this goal by implementing initiatives of reducing waste, increasing the use of renewable energy and offsetting our impact.
We seek to find the right balance between a luxurious guest experience and sustainable practices. From biodegradable slippers, to eliminating single-use plastic toiletries in favour of spa-quality refillable ones. The installation of a comprehensive solar panel system will reduce our energy consumption from the grid and the building energy assessments conducted in 2021 are already helping us reduce energy usage overall.
This is always a work in progress and we’re continually trying to improve our eco friendliness. Because we are not (yet!) carbon neutral, we try to offset our impact by being members of 1% for the Planet, a global network of responsible businesses contributing 1% of their revenue (not profits) to certified and audited environmental not-for-profits to create a healthier planet.
We cannot better describe the importance of contributing to help the environment than Yvon Chouinard, the founder of 1% For the Planet and Patagonia who says: “This is not philanthropy. This should be a cost of doing business. It’s paying rent for our use of the planet.”
Prioritising local products and services is also really important for us and one of the most important criterion when making any business decision. The majority of the items in our complimentary breakfast hamper are sourced from Victoria.
We also choose suppliers with our same ethos of mateship. Our wine comes from Goodwill Wines, a social enterprise that pays back 50% of its profits to the charity of the buyer’s choosing. Our toilet paper and paper towels are from Who Gives a Crap, they donate 50% of profits to charities, and make their products using recycled paper and bamboo (without compromising on softness). Our new linen comes from EcoLinen, a company with a strong record of ethical supply chain and organic cotton to the benefit of cotton farmers. These are just a few examples of how we seriously consider the ethics of suppliers when choosing them.
We’re Here to Make Your Stay Amazing
Although you check-in independently and there are no onsite staff, we live in Apollo Bay with our two young daughters. We’re readily available to help if there’s anything else you need.
We look forward to hosting you at our little piece of paradise at Chocolate Gannets.
Warm regards,
Lili & Xavier