New Hotel Be Images Now On Our Website

Since we under went some cosmetic renovation this past summer and have added some new decor items and spruced up all of the rooms in Hotel Be, we re-shot all of the images for our website. With all of our images we worked with John McDermott who is an amazing photographer and always captures our hotel at its best. All of the new images can be seen on our website under "The Buzz" section image gallery. But, just to give you some samples I will post a few here:

SAFFRON:

SEPIA:

BAMBOO:

Very Thoughtful Guests

Just more than a year ago The One Hotel had the pleasure of welcoming a very nice couple (recently engaged) from New York as our guests. They enjoyed their visit so much, including the service of one staff member in particular, that they wrote me last year and asked if they could sponsor his university tuition. The staff member is in a university class that costs $400 per year, so they guests paid half of his yearly tuition. What a kind and thoughtful gesture on their part, and naturally the staff member was thrilled. So, just a couple of weeks ago I received an email from the guest asking, since it had been a year, could they sponsor another year of his tuition? Wow, that really touched me that they still thought so much of their visit, and of him, to do this for another year. The guests also told me that for their wedding reception they decided to name each table, rather than give them a number. The most prominent, front and center table they wanted to call The One table, after their wonderful stay here, but thought guests might be confused. Instead they chose to call it the Siem Reap table. I have said it before and will say it again: we are always so very thankful for the lovely guests that have stayed with us and have a cherished memory of their visit.

Touching

Several months back we and our iPod for The One Hotel suite crash. It has taken this long to replace it (as we have upgraded the computer in the suite to a MacBook) but now I am delighted to report that we have a new iPod for the suite. And not just any iPod, but and 32gb iPod Touch.

Why am I so excited about this? Well, mainly because this iPod Touch is basically the same as an iPhone, without the phone function. You can use the iPod Touch to surf the web and there are countless applications that could possibly be installed. Today we installed an application that will allow a guest to use the iPod Touch as a remote control to play music wirelessly throughout the suite and roof terrace. I tested it today and it even worked from the jacuzzi area, though I do not think I will recommend any guest to do that. We also added applications for an alarm clock and a funny application that turns it into a flashlight (yes, Siem Reap does have blackouts so this could be handy). So, book the suite today and enjoy our iPod Touch when you arrive. No doubt it was worth the wait to have such a cool new feature for The One Hotel suite.

Disappointing Guests, Leave Us Disappointed

(Previous post deleted in error. This new post is a version with a bit more clarity.)

We recently had guests that made a booking at Hotel Be. In this low season we offer our two suites at a promotional offer of pay three nights at the regular rate, the fourth night is free. The guests had contacted my staff by phone and were quoted this offer, and followed it up with an email stating the same. Then I received an email from them asking about The One Hotel which I stated had the same promotion. In their email to me they reminded they were on their honeymoon (we had already offered free massages for them) and they want to know our best deal on The One Hotel because, quote, they were "young and brash." I really do not know the relevance of this comment as our rates are our rates, our promotions are our promotions and we do not have a "young and brash" special. As it turned out, they ended up calling my staff and asking to book our deluxe room in Hotel Be, our least expensive room and not part of the pay three nights get one night free promotion. It has never been and probably will never be part of that promotion. Why? At more than 50% less than a suite it is already a great value and since there is only one of these rooms available to book, we do not feel the need to discount it. In my staff's email reply to the guest he correct quoted the rate, with no mention of any free night since it was not part of the promotion.

When the guest arrived and were explained this, they blew up at my staff and for more than thirty minutes finally wore him down so he said he would give them the free night for the deluxe room. Since I was traveling, he wrote and told me about this and I thought, "Why?" We never told them they would get a free night (it is clear in black and white in our reply to them) so why do we need to be badgered by young and brash people to give them an non-existent discount, because they were unable to read a simple email? So, I told them that it was not possible and told them if they could not accept this they were welcome to stay at another hotel, which is what they chose to do. I took no pleasure in doing this, however, I felt that it would be wrong to let this guest get away with this non-existent discount when other guests could not get the same deal. Why, just because they argue incessantly until we agree? How would you feel if you booked a room with us only to learn that another guest belittled and harangued us into a cheaper deal? I don't think you would appreciate it, or feel like you were treated fairly. That is not what we will do.

I believe in fairness, and this was not fair to any of our previous guests or future guests. Why are we fair? We will always, and I mean always, quote you our very best existing deals when you make your reservation request. For instance, last minute bookings (within 10 days of arrival) are discounted when rooms are available. When I receive last minute bookings like this I was quote the discounted rate. Sure, I could quote the regular rate which is still a good value and maybe the guest accepts it and we make a little more revenue but I do not do that. I think it is only fair to be honest and open, offering the best deals that we have at the time and let the guest make their choice.

In the case of this guest, the best analogy I can give is if you have a store coupon for "Buy 3 large bottles of Coke and get the fourth free" and then the customer comes in with the coupon and says the want to buy three small bottles of Coke and get the fourth one free. Well, that is not the promotion, that is not the offer available so why exactly would you expect that? It is never easy to lose a customer, however, I will say that maybe we are just not the right place for everyone. And we are so grateful, and so blessed, that 99.5% of our guests are truly wonderful. That means so very, very much to us and for us to be belittled and pushed around by the rare difficult guest then we have to do what we have to do. Maybe they got up on the wrong side of the bed, but most likely they are the type of customer (since they felt the need to be described as young and brash) that feel like they can pushover any business because they are desperate for customers. Sorry, that is not us. We LOVE our customers, we RESPECT our customers and we appreciate the overwhelming support we receive from them.

PS - After the guest left our hotel they wrote to me to say that our staff stole their mosquito repellent and sunscreen. I know my staff. I know Cambodians. A Cambodian has as much need for sunscreen that a vegetarian has for a slice of prime rib. Of course the items had been left behind because they failed to pack them and the guests came and collected them. Honestly, these guests are the epitome of why we appreciate the 99.5% of our guests that are wonderful.

Why not many recent blog entries? Facebook

Like many other savvy businesses we now have Facebook pages for The One Hotel Collection and for Linga Bar. I find that it is easier and faster to update smaller items on Facebook rather than doing a blog entry. In addition, these Facebook updates go immediately to our friends and fans so it seems more current. I will continue to use the blog for bigger stories, more depth, more insight into our business but encourage you to become a fan of us on Facebook. You can do this by going to our websites (www.theonehotelangkor.com, www.hotelbeangkor.com, www.lingabar.com) and click the "Find Us On Facebook" button. See you there!

New Lobby Photo

This image courtesy of John McDermott, also known as the Ansel Adams of Angkor Wat. All of the images of the hotels, bar and spa come from John who is amazing to work with. We are so lucky to have his photos for our website, brochures etc. Visit John's website at www.mcdermottgallery.com Thank you John!

Sold!

We recently sold our first major painting from the lobby gallery work of Christian Develter. "Defender of China" was sold to a very nice couple here on their honeymoon from Mexico. And today the painting accompanied a story in the Phnom Penh Post.

The One Hotel Nominated For Asia's Leading Boutique Hotel

For the third straight year, The One Hotel Angkor was nominated by the World Travel Awards under the category of "Asia's Leading Boutique Hotel." Of course we have not won yet but maybe this is our year? The award is based on your votes so please feel free to join our friends and admirers and vote for us. You can do that by clicking here. You will need to register then you can vote for us or any of the many other categories world wide. Thank you for supporting us!

More Political Instability In Thailand

The news is wide-spread these days of political turmoil in Thailand, again. So I just felt that I would again remind our potential guests that this is all an internal Thai issue and really should not affect your plans to visit Siem Reap. I have written about this before which you can read here. The same goes for now. The only real issue if you are contemplating a trip to SE Asia right now, do you want to spend any time in Bangkok? You can still enjoy Phuket, Samui, Chiang Mai etc. or you can fashion your trip without even going to Thailand by traveling through Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam etc. Siem Reap is still here and going strong, Angkor Wat is as glorious as ever. We hope to see you soon!

View The Viedo Of Our Hotel From The Forbes Luxe 11 Show

In December The One Hotel was honored by the Travel Channel show "Forbes Luxe 11" as the #1 most exclusive hotel in the world. If you have not had a chance to see the video segment on our hotel, you can do so by clicking here. This link will take you to a browser page where you can view an excellent hi-resolution video of the segment and also have the option to download the segment to your computer. Happy viewing!

And Now The One Hotel Collection on Facebook

We have recently added a Facebook page for The One Hotel Collection. With this page we will update information for both hotels and provide you with the latest news from our side. Having Facebook fan pages for the hotels and the bar will not make this blog obsolete. We will use this space to expand more about what is going on. We find Facebook is an easier (and more widely used) platform for short updates, photos etc. We will always strive to keep you informed no matter what format we might use. Thank you for your continued interest!

Linga Bar Now On Facebook

Are you a Facebook fan? We are and just recently added a page for Linga Bar. This forum allows us to add much more content, more quickly and provide more interaction with our fans than is possible through our website. So, take a moment and become a fan of Linga Bar on Facebook. View photos of recent events, leave comments and just stop by and have fun. Here is the link:

Become a Linga Bar fan on Facebook

We will be adding the hotels soon as well. Stay tuned!

New Artwork Transforms Our Hotel Lobby

This past November, we were delighted to add the artwork of Bangkok based artist Christian Develter to our gallery space in the lobby of The One Hotel Collection. Christian's work came from an exhibition that had just finished at The China House in Phnom Penh. I have known Christian and his partner Peter for several years now, after meeting them when they had an exhibition here in Siem Reap at the Arts Lounge of Hotel de la Paix. Due to the success of that show Christian wanted to have a more permanent space to showcase his artwork. When our lobby space became available I was very, very happy that he agreed to partner with us. The photos below do not do justice to the space so I certainly hope you have a chance to stop by and see it for yourself. Better yet, book a room with us and enjoy it every time you go to your room. You can see more of his work on his website www.christiandevelter.com Make sure you tell them you heard about his work from The One Hotel.

See The One Hotel on TV

I recently discovered that anyone can buy a copy of the Forbes Luxe 11 show that picked The One Hotel Angkor as their number one most exclusive hotel in the world. To purchase the episode you need iTunes on your computer. In iTunes go to the iTunes store and do a search for the tv show "Forbes Luxe 11." There you will see the episode "Exclusive Hotels." Purchase a copy of the show for $1.99 and download to your computer. Our hotel's segment is in the final five minutes of the show. Hope you have a chance to see the video and see how great our hotel looks on TV.

The Forbes Luxe 11 - We Are Number One!

Many months ago we were contacted about being part of a Travel Channel show from Forbes magazine about the most exclusive luxury hotels in the world. The production company from New York contacted me and ask if we could help them arrange a crew to do a video shoot there as it would be prohibitively expensive to send a crew from the US. As fate would have it, around this same time I met Rafael Winer who was now living in Siem Reap with his wife and he did video productions back in LA. I put him in contact with the company from NY and they worked out an arrangement to do the video shoot at the hotel. It was a lot of fun working with Rafael, putting together the talent that became our guests and helping Rafael and crew capture what The One Hotel is all about. He had to interview me and I did not realize how difficult it was to do an on-camera interview. We shot the video over about three days last year.

In June I receive an email from the production company telling us the air date for the show would be 26 December on the Travel Channel in the US. It just so happened that I was going to be home for Christmas so how perfect to be able to watch the show when it aired. I wrote to them again to confirm the air date and I was told it was not scheduled for 19 December, 10pm. So, we arranged a viewing party with my Mom, my sister and my nephew (complete with champagne of course) and sat down to watch the episode. They started and it was a countdown of their 11 most exclusive hotels. Starting with 11 and working their way towards number one, I was starting to feel very nervous. The main reason was that we were in such heady company. Some of the hotels were $10,000 per night and quite incredible. But, as the countdown started and went on, I just knew that we were going to be number one. After all, how appropriate would that be since we are The One Hotel?

It got down to the top three and I was almost sure that we would somehow be number two but when the second place hotel came up, it was Auberge du Soleil in Napa valley and we began to scream and jump around knowing we were going to be number one. The four minute segment was very, very good of course even though I was in it. The hotel looked great and they really sold us properly as an exclusive hotel that is very affordable at $250 per night. With that, the show ended and we were in a euphoric state. After a few minutes of basking in the glow of being number one, I looked and we had eight booking requests in the first 20 minutes after the show ended. Amazing! You can see a link to the forbes.com website with a brief story by clicking here. I will try to get the video and add it here and add it to our website. What a thrill!

Oh, the show airs again on 26 December at 10pm on the Travel Channel.

Another Great Book

A good friend of The One Hotel is photographer John McDermott. How good a friend is he? All of the photos you see of The One Hotel, Hotel Be, Linga Bar and Linga Spa were all taken by John. And as those of you that have been here know, his gallery connects to our lobby and is a great neighbor of ours. John now has published his first book, Elegy. To see an online preview of Elegy, click here. John has generously given us copies of his books that are now in each and every one of the rooms in both of our hotels. Thank you John! And we wish you all the best success for your book.

It Is Official: We Are A Cool Hotel!

Now in bookstores around the world is "Cool Hotels Southeast Asia" which includes The One Hotel. A really beautiful six page spread of our hotel. Have a look at a small sample here, and feel free to run out and buy lots of copies (or order online from the comfort of your home):

Psst..Have I Got A Deal For You, Or, Is Cheaper Really Better?

I think the answer is pretty obvious, but not sure there is universal agreement on that. Linga Bar has almost always had slightly higher prices than our competitors (there are many factors involved) but at the end of the day we decided, do you want cheap or do you want good? We fully stand behind the quality of our product at Linga Bar, and Linga Spa for that matter.

Now the price factor is starting to invade our hotel situation. Why? Because of the economy, because of increased supply and because of inferior management our competitors have either dropped their rates or have kept in place low season discounts they have never done before. Does that mean they offer a better experience than we do? Of course not. I have been around long enough to know that hotels that need to go to rock bottom prices do so our of desperation, not out of some desire to offer a better product to their customers. Actually, the opposite applies: hotels slash their rates and then have to cut back on staffing, reducing service and or amenities and then do not have the capital to keep investing in their product. Inevitably you end up in a worn down room, with cheap and/or fraying linens with lousy service and wonder, "What have I done?"

On the flip side, because of our small and unique size, not to mention my overwhelming desire to wow our customers, we refuse to do this. On the contrary, we are spending time and money to freshen up the paint, improve our staffing and make sure that everything is in place as it should be so that we can deliver the quality and value that our customers expect. What is the difference between these chain hotels (Raffles, Sofitel, Le Meridien) and us? To me it is quite clear: As the owner, I have to look our customers in the eye and know that we have delivered to the best of our ability. I dare you to try and do that at these other hotels. Even if you were to finally get to the General Manager (You will never, ever meet the owner), he/she will only be able to give you the excuses as to why they have cut back and not lived up to your expectations. The reason for this is that they are beholding to owners (venture capital vultures, cash-strapped and desperate single owners, or public company shareholders) that dictate just getting any cash is better than nothing. Will we be affected by those hotels cutting their rates to the bone? Maybe so, but we are not about to sacrifice our quality and experience to try and compete with them. After all, they have hundreds of rooms to fill and we do not. You are welcome to get their special low rates, and then endure the lack of service, getting a run-down room, waiting in line with other bargain hunters to be served that is a part of the package. I am so thankful that I do not have to compromise our product or our service in order to fill a room for a few extra dollars. More importantly, we are in the hospitality industry and providing service is the best of what we do.

This is not to say that we are not being flexible in pricing (check our our pre-payment discount for The One Hotel, maybe to be added to Hotel Be soon) and we are doing our best to come to common ground with our potential guests. When necessary and when appropriate, we will be flexible in pricing but what we will never do is to under-sell our selves in order to get a few extra dollars. It is a short-sided philosophy and does not represent what we need to be. I hope you understand, I hope you come and visit and I welcome your feedback.

ADDENDUM TO POST:

In order to understand why a hotel like the Raffles must resort to discounting their product, have a look at their availability report which indicates only one day in a six month period do they not have rooms available for sale:

And, in case you are wondering, this is not confidential information as I am on the Raffles consumer mailing list for promotions which include lunch or dinner specials. This one happened to include rooms.

I Should Have Bought A Boat

Instead of our new Camry, I should have bought a boat since Siem Reap has experienced its worst flooding in the six years a I have lived here. We took the car to Phnom Penh to the Toyota dealer this past Monday. We had it completely checked, changed the fluids and got all new tires and a clean bill of health. We left Phnom Penh at 5pm on Tuesday afternoon to drive back to Siem Reap. It started raining somewhere along the way and for almost all of the trip we had rain that was very, very heavy at times and a lot of wind. I wanted to get back home so I did not really care and I was driving so I felt safe enough. It is about a five hour drive and about half way through there was almost no other traffic on the roads which was great for us though sometimes we could go no more than 25 miles an hour. We actually made good time and got back to Siem Reap just after 10pm. Right after we arrived back at the bar and hotel, the rain just unleashed itself. And it rained, and rained and rained. I drove the car home along the river and it was a bit nerve racking as the road was becoming flooded. Just a week before the water along the river came close to the crest but did not really come over.

The next day I went out by motorbike and found the river had completely overflowed all the way from near the Old Market area and down towards the way to the Tonle Sap lake. I was surprised that the main streets of Siem Reap were not flooded as they had been in years past. I guess the drainage work they did actually worked. But, the rain did not stop on Wednesday, it just kept coming. By this time I had already realized it was the remnants of Typhoon Ketsana that had already struck the Phillipines and Vietnam. So, I drove back from Phnom Penh in a typhoon? It seems that way.

On Wednesday night when I left work around 9pm the area around the Old Market was OK. Thursday morning my house staff came back with the motorbike and it was flooded out again, like the day before from driving through water that was too high. So, I drove the car to work. What a mistake! I could not go from my house along the river so had to go the long way around out by the airport. The airport road was flooded and then I arrived in town to find that all of the streets were now flooded including the Old Market area, Bar street etc. I was shocked since it was not that way the night before and thought the worst was over. Have a look at the pictures below and you can see what I mean. Thankfully, our small street is slightly higher than the main roads and it only came near the top of the curb. It would have taken a lot more rain for it to have come into our street. What a mess though! Today is Friday and the sun is out so our fingers are crossed that the water will begin to recede. It had not affected our guests in that they were still able to go to Angkor Wat and enjoy the sites with very few tourists. So, wish us luck that the flooding recedes before the next storm comes.

Your Chariot Awaits!

Finally! After many months of consideration and waiting, we now have our very own car to use for our guest transportation. It was a big decision and certainly was not an easy process, I can assure you so I hope it works well for our needs. I am not sure about your experience buying cars but I have had cars since I was 16 years old and my first job back then was working at a car dealership (where my Mom also worked). What was my lofty title back then: Lot Boy. That meant I swept floors, emptied trash, cleaned cars and did all the other menial tasks no one else would do. Actually, I enjoyed the job and the people I worked with and it was fun to be around all of the new cars. So, I have been around the block when it comes to buying cars and never does the term Cavaet Emptor (Let the buyer beware) apply more than here in Cambodia.

I went with one of my staff to Phnom Penh as they have a bigger selection of cars there. We had settled on buying a Toyota Camry and we began our search. I told my staff I would teach him about buying cars and boy was I right. Nearly all of the Camrys that we saw had just been shipped in used from the US. I know that the average number of miles driven in America is about 15,000 per year. So, we started looking at 2000 Camrys (or 9 years old) and all of the cars had similar numbers of miles on them, between 55,000-65,000. Wow, what a coincidence! All these low mileage (less than half the average US amount) had landed on the ground in Cambodia. As you can imagine in a third world, developing country like Cambodia there certainly are no consumer protection laws to prevent dealers from turning back the odometer on a car to whatever the wanted. If you don't know the mileage, it is a bit difficult to give a value to the car but no problem, that was done for us. We looked at probably 10 or 11 Camrys from 2001 at several different Mom and Pop car dealers and the price was always the same: $13,000. I should my staff on www.autotrader.com if you search for 2001 Camry you will get mileage all over the board from 60,000 to 160,000 miles and at least a price range of $4,000 from cheapest to most expensive.

As I said, these cars were all just in from the US and many had stickers on them from states around the US. They also had writing or papers on the windshield with information that the dealers did not understand, otherwise they would have cleaned it off. On one Camry I saw written 83,056 which I knew right away was the odometer reading at that time. Turn the car on and the odometer says 58,000+. Every other place I went to the dealers would tell me it was actual mileage. When I asked this dealer about it his reply was, "I changed it already." Wow, I like this guy! He is honest! Too bad he did not have any cars that we wanted because I would have liked to have done business with him. Also, several cars had papers in the window from the US car insurance companies indicating the car had been in a collision but was a total loss. But, it looked in perfect condition, how is that possible? As I said, the dealers had no idea what these papers said otherwise they would have removed them. So at the end, we came back from Phnom Penh without a car as I was disillusioned with the process.

I began looking for cars here in Siem Reap with the help of Chetra, one of John McDermott's staff. He was able to find cars and maybe there was a middleman but usually from the owner. It still did not mean anything about the pedigree of the car but after looking at a few the people knew that I knew what I was doing so they would not bring me a car that they knew was suspect. At least I think so. So, yesterday I bought the beauty you see below: 2002 Silver Camry with almost leather interior (I think that is called "pleather" in some circles). Did I get a good car? Did I get a good deal? Only time will tell but I am hopeful. We look forward to chauffeuring you around in The One Hotel Collection's sedan limousine soon!