Get the latest gossip
At Thailand’s Real White Lotus Hotel, Where the Ultrarich Get Coddled
“Sometimes they’ll ask us to bring the sun.”
White’s visions produced a fresh handful of twisted relationships: a trio of longtime girlfriends who obviously hate each other; the Ratliffs, a moneyed southern family indulging their daughter’s interest in Buddhism; and two couples — flighty young women paired with middle-aged boyfriends who spend most of the season scowling and drinking. All of the Thai workers I spoke with came from the mainland and had done stints at Koh Samui’s other luxury resorts — Banyan Tree, InterContinental, the W. They live in housing nearby, which Four Seasons pays for, motorbike to work, and take their meals in the staff canteen. While Deesamer and the other workers — sound healers, meditation gurus, dancers — offer guests an approximation of Thai culture, the resort’s small army of groundskeepers are fighting to maintain another mirage: the hotel’s 43-acre property, which tumbles down from two verdant mountains toward the sea in a manicured jungle.
Or read this on VULTURE
