Northstar

4 | www.travelweekly-asia.com 4 | www.travelweekly-asia.com INDUSTRY VOICES Based in Bangkok, with an office in Bali, Bill Bensley has designed more than 200 resorts and hotels in more than 30 countries. In his own words, "my main purpose in life, besides having as much fun as possible, is to help the needy, to education, help animals and help the planet via conservation". 21 15 14 CONTENTS 6 COVER STORY: SERVICED APARTMENTS The Long And The Short Of It 19 TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY Ctrip CEO Jane Sun On Scaling Global 10 DESTINATION: THAILAND A New Chapter In Bangkok's Food Culture 22 BEST OF GLOBAL WRAP The Best Of The News Across Asia Pacific Luxury Is Being Loved By Dogs I was born in California to English immigrants. My family had a small farm where we were pretty much self-sustaining. I raised bees, quails, chickens, ducks, rabbits, mushrooms, a huge variety of veggies and a compost heap. I grew up with a great love for the wilderness and certainly learnt how to sustain our family with food. It makes me smile to hear the word sustainability used so frequently these days as though it's a new idea. I think it's on the cusp of going out of fashion as a buzzword as it's now often associated with greenwash. We will move on to better and bigger words, but I think the general public's understanding of the importance of the stewardship of our planet is here to stay and will increase exponentially. I recently noticed a new sign at the checkout counter of my mom- and-pop corner store near my home in Bangkok. It read, "Due to global warming, no plastic bags now. We love sustainable!" When I'm working with a natural environment I know I can only make things worse, because Mother Nature is the ultimate designer. No matter how beautiful my hotel or whatever is, it can't compete with nature, so damage control is key. I opened Shinta Mani Wild Bensley Collection earlier this year in the Cardamon National Park, Southern Cambodia after eight- plus years of planning and building. I think it is one of the world's best examples of a sustainable conservation project. We police the southern Cardamons on a daily basis to stop illegal logging and the trapping of wildlife with just luxury 15 tents providing the income to do so. Of the 120 staff, 65% are from the local village and many had former lives as loggers and trappers. I have evolved to really understand how to work with nature with a minimal impact and, as a result, have become a determined conservationist. Our recently completed Capella Ubud in Bali was slated to be a 120-room Accor, but I convinced the owner to change tack and to build a 22-tent high yield, low impact ecologically-aware project that did not cut down even one tree in what is still a very dense jungle. For me, luxury is experiencing something for the very first time. Luxury is comfortably enjoying a jungle environment all by yourself. Luxury is being loved by dogs (I have three Jack Russells). But real luxury is helping others, as my Dad said...."Charity begins at home." I think, at the Four Seasons elephant camp we did well with the purchase and export of elephants from the dangerous streets of Bangkok to the green forests of the Golden Triangle. This was paid for by the insightful owner, Bill Heinecke. Both Four Seasons Koh Samui and Capella Ubud were built without felling a single tree and with respect for Mother Nature. I am working on a UNESCO protected wilderness park, in China with just 60 rooms in total. There is a three-night stay minimum because travellers stay the first night over an estuary in a stilted Chinese home. The second night is on a houseboat with a butler and cook, followed by a sail along a river valley to a Ming Dynasty village where guests spend their third night. My wheelhouse is migrating from architecture to the designing of experiences, which tend to be those that I would love to do myself. There are too few projects in China that are low impact (environmentally) high yield. I want to change that. Above: Villefranche-sur-Mer on the French Riviera. Left: Pipers Brook Vineyard Tasmania. Below: A husky sledge at sunset. PHOTO CREDIT: AOUT FRANCE. PHOTO CREDIT: SCOTT DUNN.

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