Pimalai Resort & Spa is a 100 –acre beachfront resort, tucked in a tropical jungle on Kantiang bay near Krabi. This uber-luxury property is credited for bringing the Andaman island of Koh Lanta to international prominence since its inception in 2001. The retreat is not just popular for its unique setting; it has also established a benchmark for its remarkable sustainability initiatives.
The Luxe Café caught up with Charintip Tiyaphorn (Kade), the second generation owner of Pimalai resort and Spa on how the hotel plans to tap Indian market, its sustainability initiatives and future plans.
What was the idea behind Pimalai Resort and Spa?
It will sound a bit strange, but we are, for all practical purposes, accidental hoteliers. My father, Anurat Tiyaphorn was looking for a small private land, and ended up acquiring just enough for a serene retreat.
This sounds interesting. I am sure our readers would like to know more details.
While my father was working as a partner in an international law firm, he was looking for a place to build his retirement home, he stumbled upon the island of Ko Lanta . He immediately fell in love with it and decided to buy a small piece of land. There were no roads and no electricity on the island and the locals were desperate to sell their land and relocate to the city. When they heard that someone wanted to buy land on the island, many locals lapped on to the idea. My father couldn’t resist. Finally, the land he bought was too big for his retirement home, so he decided to build a small eco-friendly retreat. That’s how Pimalai Resort and Spa was born. It started in 2001 with 80 keys, enveloped in 100 acres of forest with 900 metres of private beach. Since then we have expanded it to the 121 suites and villas. Today, Pimalai Resort and Spa is one of the most luxurious resorts in Koh Lanta.
What’s your take on Indian market?
India is among the top five markets for Thailand currently. But majority of Indians don’t travel beyond Bangkok and Phuket. Even if they visit Krabi, they don’t come to Pimalai because it’s not known.
We see India as potential market but for that it’s important we set our communications right. We want them to explore the beauty of Thailand beyond the usual and crowded destinations.
We are also trying to understand more about this market – What exactly an Indian traveller prefers to do on a holiday to service them better. For example, I just learnt Indians are interested in taking experiences during their stay. It fits in with Pimalai and it kind of encourages me to work in this market.
Currently we only have 0.4 per cent of Indian guests in our hotel. We used to have a good number of them before Covid but that number hasn’t come back as we didn’t reach out to Indian travellers as much. We want to get those numbers back.
What’s something you’d like guests to know about Pimalai Resort & Spa?
100 acres of sanctuary that offers a private pristine beach, forested mountains, fresh air along with good food, luxurious accommodation and everything possible to make your stay a relaxing and rejuvenating one. It’s a retreat with its own soul. Each Thai-styled room and villa is designed to offer lush greenery and endless views of Andaman Sea.
Also, not many people know that some of the best snorkeling and diving spots of Thailand are in Ko Lanta, just half hour boat ride from Pimalai Resort and Spa. So for that we have three private boats to take you to different islands (Koh Rok, Kok Haa and Koh Ngai) for water activities, national park and Cave exploration where you can swim through an 80-meter cave to discover a hidden emerald lagoon inside.
Sustainability is a big part of your hotel’s ethos. What exactly have you been doing in this space?
Pimalai Resort and Spa is an environment friendly escape where sustainability has always been an integral part of our activities even before it became a buzzword everywhere. We are fully committed towards preserving natural resources and local ecosystems.
Our target is to become carbon neutral soon. To achieve that, we do coffee meetings with our staff three times a year on what could be done to improve our sustainability initiatives.
We have Zero waste approach which means zero-food waste as part of our daily operations, zero single-use plastic, extensive recycling and waste water being fully treated and re used.
Almost 80 per cent of the waste at Pimalai is either composted or recycled and we are still working together on how to reduce even that.
To promote sustainable tourism, we have partnered with local communities/villagers to co-develop the eco tours together. This not just offers our guests local flavor of the place but also helps neighborhood communities run their livelihood. Our mangrove forest tour, operated with local people; on board a Gondola boat is quite popular. We are also talking to fishermen community to organise fishing excursions soon.
What are your further plans for Pimalai resort and Spa?
Increase in the number of rooms probably at Pimalai resort and Spa first because we still haven’t used the entire 100 acres. We will take a call internally on how; much land could be used for construction as per the legal aspect and have a concrete plan by next year.
What does you usual day look like?
I handle marketing, accounting and finance for Pimalai. So usually, the day starts with checking the sales volume of the previous day. I help plan strategies (most of them in advance) with the team in terms of operations – sales and marketing and budgeting – so that we are in the same direction and know where we are going.
All my meetings are scheduled one week in advance or more than that. This gives me enough time to think about what’s happening. If I decide last minute and go with the flow, I would not be able to analyse the situation.
What is luxury to you?
Luxury to me is privacy. Also, the freedom to do whatever you want to, anytime.
