2017 04 Aug Sept

“First impressions
are everything”
Bill Bensley
This Page, from top, the dramatic Four
Seasons Chiang Mai pool; Bill Bensley treats
work like a full-time hobby Opposite, shoehorning
JW Marriott Phu Quoc into a 150+
year-old university named Lamarck
How did a boy from the O.C. (Orange
County, California) create a worldrenowned
business in Asia and become
The King of Luxury, Exotic Travel?
Easy. He followed his heart.
While most of his friends were
grabbing a surf board in search of tasty
waves, Bill was more interested in
making some of his own. Travelling to all
corners of Asia from the 80s on infused
and informed his sense of exoticism. Bill
said that the design of hotels are akin to
making movies––complete with script,
scenery, props and cast. He walked us
through the drama of arrival at the highly
acclaimed, much anticipated Shinta Mani
Wild.
“Shinta Mani Wild is the doorstep
to 800,000 square kilometres of the
wilderness of Cambodia’s oldest parks––
Kirirom Bokor and Cardamon. I have
written the script for the guest arrival to
start with a bang, in that the guest will
wind their way through a narrow jungle
path on the back of an ATV, climb a tree,
strap into a zip line and whiz across
400 metres of forest, and a magnificent
waterfall...twice!”
Sounds like a scene straight out of
Raiders of the Lost Ark! You had me at
zip line. Move over Spielberg. Why not
zip through waterfalls twice?
When asked about the adventure of
acquiring the land for Shinta Mani Wild,
Bill shared that the whole deal was a bit
of a fluke. His partner’s father mentioned
off-handedly that the concession within
the national parks was due to go to
auction about ten years ago. They won
the auction, thinking themselves lucky at
the time.
In a moment of reflection, he shared,
“I often think we bit off more than we
can chew as the task at hand, controlling
rampant logging and illegal wildlife
trade, is exhausting.”
The lure of celebrity helped to define
the experience that will be Shinta Mani
Wild. Bill has said that he hoped guests
would have the feeling of what it would
have been like to be on a luxury safari
in the jungles of Cambodia with Jackie
O. When asked to share what that idea
means to him, Bill explained that Jackie
O visited during a time of peace, adding
it was perhaps the zenith of recent
Cambodian history.
“It was a time when few people visited
Cambodia, but those that did were
treated like royalty. This is how we will
treat our guests.”
World Travel 63