What’s going on in our ‘hood?

Half a year of our lives can now be clocked to enduring this Covid-19 challenge. I call it a “challenge” rather than a crisis, because challenge instills a call to action. I can’t change Covid-19, but I can change how I feel about it by promising to remain positive, to adapt, and to fight forward each day. That’s the most basic call to action at the moment, and while it doesn’t bring back business right away, it feels a hell of a lot better than dwelling on just how terrible this all seems!

Southeast Asia seems to be emerging well as the region experienced very few cases and transmissions and is one of the first to be opening up. My gym and pool and barber and roadside food stands are all open and running full tilt. I’ve been exploring nooks and crannies in the old town and anticipating upcountry and regional travel.

What’s keeping us excited in the meantime?

There are three things boosting our motivation right now: your encouragement, our team’s innovation, and the fact that many good things will come from this challenge in the near future.

First, to you: we’re moved by so many of your positive notes of encouragement, texts, posts on Facebook & Instagram from guests and friends around the world. 

Our aim since Day 1 has been to transform lives with exceptional travel, and when you share stories and your concern for our team, we jump for joy with our masks on and hand gel cocked and ready for action. It is the coolest thing in the world reliving trip memories dating back to 2002, or 2009, or even 2019. Thank you to so many of you for reaching out and checking in on us, and keep those positive vibes coming!

Next, I’m inspired by our team in the office and on the ground here in Southeast Asia. From our Bangkok office and our neighbouring country teams, the tales of teamwork to support each other have been amazing. Our guides and drivers in the field have been dealt a cruel blow by the shutdown of travel, but I’m so grateful for their patience and encouragement. Rather than asking for help with hands out, they have hands up asking what they can do to help us fight forward. We need that, and thank you.

Our team has been finding creative ways to survive, from making peach-scented natural hand cleanser, to baked goods for locals, to art classes on the fly (check out our funky new art space), I’m pretty impressed with how so many of our team have innovated and faced this challenge with courage.

Courage is what we’ll need to start living normally again and traveling again, but I believe it’s who we are. This courage will be bolstered with some great improvements in hygiene everywhere. Who can’t argue that won’t make us all feel just a little bit better traveling? Soap in virtually every bathroom, hand-gel galore, a greater focus on public transport and culinary hygiene, etc. It makes me so giddy I just want to go out and lick the pavement with glee (that’s also a new trip I can host you on).

What Matters next in Travel?

Peacefulness | Value |  Authenticity | Mindfulness | Hygiene | Wellness | Sustainability

While we’ve always tried to focus on these things, now more than ever it fits into our mission. We want to transform the lives of everyone in the travel equation, from you, our guest, to our fabulous ground teams, local vendors, and the wider community and environment. We’re launching some EPIC value-added adventures suited to former guests in areas you’ve maybe not been to yet, such as Myanmar, Nepal, Vietnam, Indonesia and beyond with a flexible small commitment to book early and awesome PERKS for doing so!

Friends, I know that enduring this challenge is something akin to being thrown overboard for most of us. I hope you swim to shore with the same vigour that got you to where you are. I also hope that you swim back to our shores. And when you do, we’ll be waiting with a beer, some aromatic hand gel, and we’ll head out to lick the pavement together. Challenges are what we’re called to rise to. We will, it’s who we are!

Best in adventure,

Daniel B. Fraser

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The post Personal thoughts from Dan Fraser on Covid-19 Recovery first appeared on Smiling Albino.

Privacy. Generally, villas are self-contained with their own pools and leisure areas. You are not sharing a wall with strangers and are distanced from other accommodations.

Space. Luxury villas tend to offer far more space. As stand-alone residences, they have less confined floorplans than even the larger hotel suites, and in the tropics, often have large indoor-outdoor common areas to enjoy.

Self-contained. Luxury villas come fully equipped with kitchen, recreational facilities, spas and dining areas. Usually, all the facilities and amenities one is used to in a five-star hotel property are included in a luxury villa.

Value. Luxury villas are typically competitively priced with the similar number of rooms in luxury hotels, particularly for longer stays. Having a kitchen and your own chef cuts down on restaurant expenses and many properties are all-inclusive.

Check out these three fabulous Thai villas Smiling Albino has partnered with…

Samujana Samui

Ani Villas Phuket

Khum Sak Thong Chiang Rai

The post Villa or Hotel Room? first appeared on Smiling Albino.

This is something we think a lot about at Smiling Albino. While we work hard to minimize our traveling impact, we’re still dealing with travel, supplies, and logistics on an international level. For us, this means that we have a responsibility to go the extra mile to minimize our footprint.

This is most evident on one of our amazing Cambodian adventures. In fact, we’ve gotten rid of “eco-friendly” completely. We take things to the next level by ensuring responsible tourism.

“Responsible tourism implies a degree of accountability on the guest’s behalf,” says Nick Butler, Smiling Albino’s Cambodia country manager. “It’s not solely the tour operator that needs to keep an eye on things, but the stakeholders as well – the community, suppliers, and guests alike.”

It’s not always easy. Cambodia has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world, with one report saying it loses over 2,000 square km of forest every year. Money talks, and when you’re passing it around in one of the world’s poorest countries, it talks loudly. However, progress is being made with the help of people like Nick, who have a deep love for Cambodia and its natural treasures.

Nick points to the Sam Veasna Center, a local NGO he was involved with and keeps a close relationship with, that aims to educate locals and tourists alike about the benefits that ecological conservation can bring.

“At Sam Veasna we started offering bird watching tours, which gave local communities alternative options for making money. We focused our attention on Phnom Kulen, a lush mountain range and UNESCO World Heritage site 50km north of Siem Reap,” says Nick. “We employed local guides, made conservation contributions, and started educating people that it was in their best interest to let the flora and fauna thrive.”

This has always been a challenge when trying to instill a respect for responsible tourism, especially in countries where the concept is not widespread. “Many think it’s crazy – why would someone want to watch birds when they can go to a casino or buy a car? It takes years before they start to see the results, but once they do, your case is a lot stronger.”

Nick points to Cambodian wildlife reserve Tmatboey, a great example of a community in action. Before they banded together to protect their area the average family income per year was $250. Now The Ibis project set up in partnership with the Sam Veasna Centre, Wildlife Conservation Society and the local community is raising $14,000 a year as an income for the whole community. The money that comes in from bird watchers and tourist looking to connect with nature has gone back into roads, bridges, wells, and even a rice bank, which lets locals borrow rice for planting and pay it back during harvest season.

These are just local examples of success stories in Cambodia, but they very much reflect the mindset that Smiling Albino has about all of the countries we operate in. We want our guests to feel like they aren’t on a trip, but rather that they are part of a trip. We, as well as they, have a responsibility to not only “leave nothing but footprints,” but to try and leave each place a little better than when we arrived.

The post When Eco-friendly Tourism Isn’t Enough first appeared on Smiling Albino.

Smartphones have become a central part of life for many – some would say too central. On trains, in elevators, and even walking, people are engrossed in their phones. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing in our everyday lives, where most of us have a predictable, set routine, but when you’re on the trip of a lifetime in one of the most dynamic, exotic areas on Earth, when does a smartphone go from “useful tool” to “distracting nuisance”?

Used in moderation, a smartphone can be an unbeatable way to document your trip and provide memories and insight in ways that simply weren’t possible ten years ago. Photos, live video chats, GPS routes and maps are just the start – you can also update a blog, write emails, research sites, and send texts and images to friends and family around the world, among many other things. And of course, catch up on work… but who wants to do that when you’re on vacation?

And then there are digital games. Self-contained amusements like games can easily be ignored until you’re sitting in a car or a train on your way to the next destination, but a new crop of games is changing this dynamic. The most obvious example is PokemonGO, in which the game mechanics change depending on your physical location. That’s undeniably cool, but when you read stories about people getting hurt – or sadly, even killed – because digital games are bleeding into real life, you have to wonder if a line has been crossed.

But we can’t ignore the positive effects technology like smartphones have on trips from a host’s perspective. Trips like the ones Smiling Albino creates are dynamic adventures, and can change or evolve in real time depending on everything from the weather to offering guests maximum flexibility. Our teams are constantly in touch with each other, sending photos, texts, GPS locations, and details that are passed down the line, ensuring our trips run smoothly. But there’s always something new to try out.

Indeed, in the near future Smiling Albino guests will have the option to use their phones in an entirely new way, as we roll out digital itineraries with a company called Tineri. It will allow all the guests on a trip to see what activities are coming up, contact guides, share information, upload photos to their social media accounts, and be kept updated on any alterations or reschedules in the trip. It’s a real game-changer, and will bring another dimension to Smiling Albino trips.

So yes, we may spend too much time on our phones doing fun but ultimately silly things, but Smiling Albino is a proponent of technology enhancing a travel experience. If it’s done smart, it can add an extra dimension of experience to a trip. Just keep in mind that no matter how advanced they get, one phone can’t hold a candle to our five senses.

The post Smartphones on the Road: Smart? Dumb? Meh? first appeared on Smiling Albino.

There’s a world of difference between pretty good and great. But no matter if you’re talking cars, comedy or architecture, there’s no all-encompassing rule that says “this is this, and that is that, period.” But once you’ve experienced great, it’s hard to go back to pretty good and not know it right away.

With that sentiment in mind, we’d like to learn a bit more about Stephanie Rowe, Smiling Albino’s Director of Sales and Business Development. Stephanie came to Smiling Albino in 2012 from Toronto, Canada. She has been pushing boundaries in everything from guest relations to partnership development ever since.

Indeed, it’s not everyone who can list the best hotels in a particular location off the top of her head, as well as why each one is unique, what type of guest is happiest there, and how the hotel’s character fits into the jigsaw of a multi-stay trip. These fine details are part of what makes her such a prized addition to the Smiling Albino team, as well as a valuable asset for direct customers and agencies when it comes to planning Southeast Asia itineraries.

We asked Stephanie what her approach to understanding clients is, and how she motivates her team to look deeper to understand more than just the surface details.

“To design the right trip for the right person, you have to try to understand who the client is – everything from food preferences to preferred transportation to hobbies to what level of activity they prefer,” she says. “Some people want clean, sleek and hip, some want barefoot luxury. The most important thing we do is find out what a client wants to get from their vacation so we can design touch points and special moments just for them.”

Unsurprisingly, this is not a one-person job, which is why it’s so important to ensure support staff – from the newest joiner to the most senior team leader – understands the methodology. “Investing in team projects that give staff a better insight into the culture of upcoming clients can pay huge dividends down the road,” she says.

These investments at Smiling Albino cover a huge number of disparate projects, like exposing staff to western cuisine (all the better to show you where to find poutine in Bangkok!), or monthly movie nights that allows the team to study popular Hollywood movies that depict Southeast Asia through western eyes, such as The Killing Fields or The Quiet American.

“Projects like these help our team gain a bit of insight into how our clients see Southeast Asia and what they might be expecting to see, experience, or even eat – or what they won’t eat! (fermented shrimp paste on fruit – No No No!)”

Vanishing Asia?
But the very fact that there are so many movies, documentaries, books, and TV shows about Southeast Asia out there might cause some to think that there is very little left that can surprise or delight those familiar with the region – or even those who have already been here. As Stephanie notes, that is not the case.

“Southeast Asia has been a popular travel destination for several decades now, but unlike parts of Europe it is constantly in transition and changing quickly. There are always new angles and new areas to explore. There are vast areas of Myanmar that are just now opening up, huge caves are still being discovered in Vietnam, and the true extent of Cambodia’s Angkor civilization is only just being understood with the help of technology that didn’t exist even ten years ago. Bangkok has whole new neighborhoods developing or being brought back to life by new train lines and a young generation eager for new experiences. New transportation links, and development are making remote destinations more accessible.

“Finally, the cultural fabric of each country we travel in is evolving as the pressures and possibilities of the 21st century continue to spread. So yes, we really see almost endless potential in Southeast Asia as a destination.”

When Smiling Albino’s doors opened in 2000, the company wanted to experience travel, like a local and upset the mass market, one trip for all mentality.  Since then the goal has grown and evolved somewhat, as have the methods, but one thing has stayed the same – the dedication to providing unique experiences like no other company can.

“Our clients are sophisticated explorers – luxury no longer means purely indulgence,” explains Stephanie. “Our challenge is to provide our guests with comfortable, private travel while connecting them to the local culture. We excel at delivering personalized authentic experiences that leverage storytelling, amazing logistics and community immersion – all peppered with those special moments delivered at just the right time, that live forever.”

Stephanie will be at PURE from September 12 to 15. If you only have time to meet one DMC for SEA, Stephanie is it. She’s available for drinks if the schedule is full. Contact Smiling Albino for more details.

The post Smiling Albino People Profile – Stephanie Rowe, Director of Sales & Business Development first appeared on Smiling Albino.