Over the last few weeks and months, the leadership team at Smiling Albino has been working with the managers to hone the Vision, Mission and Core Values of Smiling Albino.

Focused on being the best we can be – together – our leadership team put together a collaborative event that incorporated the important parts each team member plays towards the continued succcess of Smiling Albino.

After brainstorming sessions, group presentations, discussion and refinement, the team walked away with a common understanding of our values and how we plan to live them on a daily basis to provide our “customers”, both internal and external, with the best possible experience.

At a time when the industry is suffering from the unknowns of Coronavirus, we here at Smiling Albino are committed to continuous development to be the best partner we can be for our peers. And of course, at the end of a successful session, we celebrated with beer!

[/cmsmasters_text][/cmsmasters_column][/cmsmasters_row][cmsmasters_row data_shortcode_id=”3qf2j65n3c” data_padding_bottom_mobile_v=”0″ data_padding_top_mobile_v=”0″ data_padding_bottom_mobile_h=”0″ data_padding_top_mobile_h=”0″ data_padding_bottom_tablet=”0″ data_padding_top_tablet=”0″ data_padding_bottom_laptop=”0″ data_padding_top_laptop=”0″ data_padding_bottom_large=”0″ data_padding_top_large=”0″ data_padding_bottom=”50″ data_padding_top=”0″ data_bg_parallax_ratio=”0.5″ data_bg_size=”cover” data_bg_attachment=”scroll” data_bg_repeat=”no-repeat” data_bg_position=”top center” data_color=”default” data_bot_style=”default” data_top_style=”default” data_padding_right=”3″ data_padding_left=”3″ data_width=”boxed”][cmsmasters_column data_width=”1/1″ data_shortcode_id=”eopguldvl” data_animation_delay=”0″ data_border_style=”default” data_bg_size=”cover” data_bg_attachment=”scroll” data_bg_repeat=”no-repeat” data_bg_position=”top center”][cmsmasters_heading shortcode_id=”063lkeldfa” type=”h4″ font_weight=”default” font_style=”default” text_align=”left” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”0″ animation_delay=”0″]Here’s a sneak peak of our event![/cmsmasters_heading][/cmsmasters_column][/cmsmasters_row][cmsmasters_row data_shortcode_id=”yi1hp2bnpm” data_padding_bottom_mobile_v=”0″ data_padding_top_mobile_v=”0″ data_padding_bottom_mobile_h=”0″ data_padding_top_mobile_h=”0″ data_padding_bottom_tablet=”0″ data_padding_top_tablet=”0″ data_padding_bottom_laptop=”0″ data_padding_top_laptop=”0″ data_padding_bottom_large=”0″ data_padding_top_large=”0″ data_padding_bottom=”50″ data_padding_top=”0″ data_bg_parallax_ratio=”0.5″ data_bg_size=”cover” data_bg_attachment=”scroll” data_bg_repeat=”no-repeat” data_bg_position=”top center” data_color=”default” data_bot_style=”default” data_top_style=”default” data_padding_right=”3″ data_padding_left=”3″ data_width=”boxed”][cmsmasters_column data_width=”1/1″ data_shortcode_id=”34sslsevq” data_animation_delay=”0″ data_border_style=”default” data_bg_size=”cover” data_bg_attachment=”scroll” data_bg_repeat=”no-repeat” data_bg_position=”top center”][cmsmasters_gallery shortcode_id=”w1ic0bpql” layout=”slider” image_size_slider=”post-thumbnail” slider_effect=”slide” slider_nav_control=”true” slider_nav_arrow=”true” animation_delay=”0″]8223|https://www.smilingalbino.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/sa-vision-session-150×150.jpeg,8232|https://www.smilingalbino.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_1551-1-150×150.jpg,8230|https://www.smilingalbino.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_1565-150×150.jpg,8222|https://www.smilingalbino.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/5CE47A3A-23BC-4A5E-B469-3F07267EEBCB-150×150.jpeg,8233|https://www.smilingalbino.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/20200228_142223-150×150.jpg,8234|https://www.smilingalbino.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/20200228_145041-150×150.jpg,8235|https://www.smilingalbino.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/20200228_153857-150×150.jpg,8236|https://www.smilingalbino.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/20200228_150834-150×150.jpg,8231|https://www.smilingalbino.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ABE3D89F-C355-411F-8B14-547132C5C763-150×150.jpeg,8237|https://www.smilingalbino.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_2038-150×150.jpg[/cmsmasters_gallery][/cmsmasters_column][/cmsmasters_row]

The post Smiling Albino Team Talks Company Vision first appeared on Smiling Albino.

If you’re one of those who pay attention to the global box office, you may have heard of the recent smash hit movie Crazy Rich Asians. It’s actually a fairly important movie, because it’s the first major Hollywood film with an all-Asian cast since the Joy Luck Club in 1993. But it’s also notable for showing just how crazy rich some people in Asia are.

For most of us, the life of Ferraris, gated compounds, helicopters, and glitzy VIP shindigs is not something we live every day… but if you’re planning a trip to Southeast Asia and you want to spend a bit extra to spoil yourself – we can make your trip a crazy rich Asian adventure!

For instance, it’s pretty easy to arrange a private dinner in Bangkok, but how about a private dinner on the helipad of one of the city’s tallest buildings? Being able to stroll around between courses and gaze across the city from 500 feet up is a great feeling. But why stop there? Before dinner, you can extend the theme with a helicopter tour of the city before landing beside your dining table.

If you’d prefer to keep your adventure closer to ground level, we can arrange a private champagne cruise at sunset on the Chao Phraya River before, after, or during any leg of a city tour. Talk about a nice way to break things up! Getting a private explanation of some of the city’s best landmarks by one of the city’s most notable experts while you glide by sipping bubbly ain’t a bad way to do things.

One of those riverside landmark temples catch your fancy but you don’t do crowds? No worries, for a generous donation to the temple maintenance fund, we can arrange for an exclusive private temple visit.

And that’s just Bangkok. Smiling Albino can arrange inside access and special moments throughout Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Private tours and access to places that other visitors can’t go is one of the perks of making friendships with all kinds of folks over the past 20 years. You say we’re out drinking with friends; we say we’re maintaining friendships that let us do cool stuff.

Food tours are big right now, but most are cookie-cutter affairs for groups that are, by nature, fairly chaotic. How about your own tour that goes at your pace, privately hosted and chauffeured around the city to food spots that are way off the tourist trail, but are known to locals as some of the best street food in the city. We can also arrange private blessings by senior monks, after-hours gallery viewings, and one-on-one dinners with some of the region’s most notable architects, designers, historians, and artists.

After all, this trip is all about you and your unique interests. Southeast Asia offers everything to everyone, but one of the truths we’ve learned in over 20 years of living here is that the cost-to-benefit ratio of paying a bit more for a unique experience is far higher than in many other places.

If you ask the right people for the right options, your trip here won’t just be one you remember – it can be the one that all future trips are measured against!

The post Crazy Rich in Asia? first appeared on Smiling Albino.

The post Southeast Asia on $10,000 a Day first appeared on Smiling Albino.

The luxury travel arena has gone through a pretty amazing transformation over the past decade. Not long ago, a perfect high-end getaway was defined by lavish fluff – silk sheets, a chauffeured car ride, silver cutlery, maybe a private plunge pool. While those things certainly are nice, they are not unique – they are merely expensive.

The modern definition of luxury travel encapsulates so much more than expense. Rather than overwhelming the traveler with a coat of luxury paint applied by roller, we believe that the luxury experience needs to be applied with a fine brush. Finesse over speed; personalized over off-the-shelf.  Flash no longer impresses, but the attention to detail.

A recent article by Ad Age revealed that 92% of people with above average wealth agree with the phrase: “To me, small indulgences can be just as meaningful as purchasing a high-end luxury product.” We couldn’t agree more.

All of these attributes fall under a new type of travel we like to call Intelligent Luxury. This is for busy people with refined sensibilities who are not impressed by big and fancy. When someone with high expectations is traveling within the bureaucratic spiderweb of Asia, it’s the unexpected speed bumps that pull them out of the adventure. Things like showing up to your 5-star hotel and finding out breakfast is an extra $40 a day, or running out of water to drink in the middle of a day trip, or rushing through a tour itinerary because the guide finishes work at 6pm.

[Tweet “The next time you splurge on a vacation, don’t do someone else’s trip.”]

None of that happens with Smiling Albino. Those are the details that matter – worry-free hotel experiences, unlimited drinks whenever you need them, a guide who finishes their day when you do. Got kids? We’ll have diapers and toys. Bad knee? We’ll have ice packs and Aspirin… just in case. Our aim is to eliminate the unexpected, to provide the support you didn’t know you needed, and ensure that the only surprises on your trip are the good ones.

Luxury travel has existed in a holding pattern for years, and – ahem, much like our website – it’s great to see that it’s finally getting a new coat of paint for a new type of traveler.

The next time you splurge on a vacation, don’t do someone else’s trip. The only person you need to impress is yourself. And that’s our job. Contact us for intelligent luxury Southeast Asian trip enquiries.

The post Placing Intelligence into the Art of Luxury first appeared on Smiling Albino.

For decades, luxury has had one simple definition: “The state of great comfort and extravagant living. [An] inessential, desirable item that is expensive or difficult to obtain.”

Back in the day luxury meant having things that most people couldn’t have. In the 1790s, luxury was eating cake instead of bread (as Marie Antoinette found out). In the 1890s it was a first class cabin on a steam ship to America. In the 1990s it was a satellite phone. But defining luxury is not so simple anymore.

Indeed, a recent article by Ad Age revealed that 92% of people with above average wealth agree with the phrase: “To me, small indulgences can be just as meaningful as purchasing a high-end luxury product.”

Over the past 15 years we’ve begun to see a radical redefinition of paradigms that have remained unchanged for decades, even centuries. The ways in which we create, consume, learn, spend, meet, and travel have all been turned on their head. Consumers are simply better informed, and resent being told how – and with what – their lifestyle should be defined. To a younger generation, brand name loyalty is not as strong as it once was. One’s lifestyle is personal, valuable, and defining, and made from components chosen specifically by them. The same should go for travel.

Bring travel into the realm of luxury – or adding a touch of luxury to the realm of travel – is far more complicated than taking an expensive mode of transport to an expensive place to stay. The new luxury travel is an adventure that each one of your senses takes. It’s the connectedness of a journey that no one else has done in the exact same way. It’s something intangible that you tell friends about, and something that makes you feel like you’ve experienced something no one else has.

Smiling Albino Director Daniel Fraser recently gave a talk entitled “Beyond Price“, which discussed the value in taking high-profile travellers street side and showing them that unique local experiences, well-choreographed, create the lifetime memories that all travellers – luxury or otherwise – seek.   “We’ve taken billionaires for noodles, but delivered it with context and a narrative to provide deeper meaning. Value is added by taking advantage of what is already there – such as unique forms of transit, festivals, local food – and making it a personalized, relevant experience.”

[Tweet “Things come and go, but experiences help define us and how we see the world.”]

Essentially, discovering and indulging in luxury travel is about unique experiences, not just desirable things. Things come and go, but experiences help define us and how we see the world, and how we remember it.

The post New Luxury Travel first appeared on Smiling Albino.