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.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
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.
Monday, November 2, 2009
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):
Friday, October 9, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, October 2, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
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!
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!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Fixed!
We have fixed the problem with our online "Best Rates" inquiry button. We upgrade our website hosting services a few months back and in the change to the new service some of the script in the online forms did not get changed as well. That has been fixed and tested and is working properly. Again, if you sent an inquiry and did not get a response during this time period, that was the reason. And, we always respond within hours of receiving an inquiry so if you do not hear from us promptly, please feel free to send an email to me directly at mbdishman@gmail.com.
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