A soft landing on Hiiumaa
On care, presence and welcoming guests to Eha. A conversation with Rivo Alliku, Head of Hosting
Good hospitality is rarely loud about itself.
Rivo Alliku joins Eha as Head of Hosting, supporting guest experience and the rhythm of daily hospitality. With a background in fine dining and restaurant operations, he brings a thoughtful and detail oriented approach to service, shaped by the belief that exceptional hospitality is created not only through standards and consistency, but through moments of genuine care that make guests feel seen, welcomed and considered.
Here, as Eha prepares to welcome its first guests, he reflects on what it means to host within a place as particular as Hiiumaa, why this first season feels personally meaningful, and what he hopes every guest carries with them when they leave.
Your path into hospitality began in fine dining and restaurant operations. How has that journey shaped the way you think about care, presence and what it truly means to make someone feel welcome, and why did a retreat like Eha feel like the right next step?
My path into hospitality began in restaurants and fine dining, where I learned how much care can exist in small details. Timing, attention, atmosphere, and noticing what a guest may need before it is spoken.
Fine dining taught me precision, but also presence. For me, good hospitality is not about performing service. It is about creating ease and making people feel genuinely welcome.
Eha felt like a natural next step because the care goes beyond one meal or one moment. It is held through the whole guest journey, from arrival to departure, in the house, in nature, and in the quiet spaces between everything.
Eha felt like a natural next step because the care goes beyond one meal or one moment. It is held through the whole guest journey, from arrival to departure, in the house, in nature, and in the quiet spaces between everything.
At Eha, guests arrive to an island that moves at its own pace, within a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve on Hiiumaa. How does the place itself shape the way you think about hosting, and what does it mean to welcome someone into an environment as particular as this one?
Hiiumaa has its own rhythm. In a way, time stops here. People feel the calmness through nature, the sea air, the forest and the silence.
For me, hosting at Eha means respecting that rhythm. The island is not just the setting for the retreat, it is part of the experience itself. Nature speaks here, but quietly. I think our role is not to explain too much, but to give guests enough space to notice it themselves.
To welcome someone into this environment means to offer a soft landing. Many guests arrive from busy lives and full schedules. At Eha, we hold the space gently, so they can begin to slow down in their own time.
Eha opens this September, welcoming its first guests into a retreat that has been thoughtfully built around the rhythms of Hiiumaa. What does that first season mean to you personally, and what are you most looking forward to offering guests as they experience the island for the first time?
The first season feels very meaningful because it is the moment when everything that has been planned, thought through, built and created over almost a decade finally comes alive.
Until guests arrive, a retreat is still partly an idea. It becomes real through people, through the first arrivals, first meals, first conversations and quiet mornings in the house.
For me, this season is also about the team. Eha will come alive through the people who hold it every day. I see the team as a community, and if we are connected and calm, guests will feel that too.
I am most looking forward to seeing guests experience Hiiumaa through Eha for the first time. The island, the food, the treatments, the house, and all the quiet moments between everything.
Eha is built on the belief that transformation does not require instruction. Guests are given space, care and the conditions to simply be. What does it look like in practice to hold that kind of space for someone, and what do you hope guests carry with them when they leave?
Holding space for someone is often about doing less, but with more awareness.
In practice, it means being present without being intrusive. A calm welcome, a room that feels ready, clear guidance when needed, and enough silence for guests to arrive in their own way.
At Eha, transformation is not something we try to instruct. We create the conditions around the guest, care, nature, good food, quiet and a sense of safety, and allow things to unfold naturally.
I hope guests leave feeling lighter, calmer and more connected to themselves. Maybe they remember a meal, a treatment, a conversation, or simply the feeling of having space.
