Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok PR Manager on Downsides of the Job

• 4 Seasons Lodge Bangkok’s PR supervisor says he works to dispel the concept Thailand’s only for backpackers.
• There are stunning challenges, reminiscent of restrictions on selling alcohol within the Buddhist nation.
• He beloved “The White Lotus” regardless of its exaggerated variations of business extremes.

Dan Schacter — a 35-year-old director of public relations for the 4 Seasons Lodge Bangkok — and I first crossed paths in Bangkok in January, again once I was nonetheless working in public relations myself.

In a café in a quiet nook of the Bang Rak district, we talked store in regards to the quirks and perks of our jobs.

Listening to about his work fascinated me, not simply because he leads branding and engagement for one of many motels extensively rumored to be the setting of the following season of the hit HBO collection “The White Lotus” but in addition due to the bizarre challenges that include representing a luxurious model within the nation.

And for these questioning: There’s nonetheless no phrase on whether or not these rumors in regards to the subsequent season of “The White Lotus” are true.

Initially from the US, Dan moved to Thailand in 2019 and lives together with his husband in Bangkok. Dan can also be the regional director of public relations for the 4 Seasons motels and resorts for Asia-Pacific. 

This dialog has been edited for size and readability.

What are essentially the most annoying misconceptions about your work?

One of many hardest issues about this job right here in Thailand is that we’re not allowed to advertise alcohol and consuming. Whereas we’re trying to promote a bar, we won’t simply say: “Come have a cocktail with us.”

We should be inventive whereas adhering to the restrictions that include working in a Buddhist nation. As an example, in video adverts, we concentrate on our bartenders’ abilities and the bar’s inviting ambiance. We deliberately avoid showcasing alcohol labels or folks consuming.

One other huge false impression is that Bangkok is not simply a budget expertise many understand it to be. It has a lot to supply and is steadily shedding the stereotype of being an affordable backpacker’s metropolis to being one thing that is extra up-and-coming within the luxurious scene — whereas nonetheless being nice worth for cash.

How do you overcome the notion that Thailand’s only a low-cost vacation spot?

We now have lots of journalists that come by which were right here after they had been simply beginning to journey of their 20s. And now that it is 10 or 20 years later, and so they’re coming again to Bangkok for the primary time since, they’re usually very stunned about how issues have advanced.

In Thailand, you may get a Michelin-star meal for $100, whereas within the US, that could be a $500 meal. And that is what I feel has turn out to be actually attention-grabbing for these journalists. You are getting the standard and luxurious however at actually good worth.

Journalists would not actually be capable to inform Bangkok’s story of change until we present them the hidden gems which will have gone unnoticed of their earlier visits. 

Has doing public relations for a hospitality large modified your journey habits? 

My husband, Michael, and I’ve turn out to be extra vital vacationers in some methods with regards to hospitality. I feel it is modified what we search for in a resort or in a journey expertise, and we have shifted extra in the direction of discovering distinctive locations to go to as a substitute of counting on Google searches or guides of main sights.

Once we had been touring in Hokkaido and Kyoto final winter, we had been armed with a listing of cool, little bars, eating places, and retailers from my colleagues in Japan and a few journey journalists I met there final 12 months.

The really useful stops — like a Kaiseki lunch at Sakuragawa — ended up being our favorites in each cities and issues we might have by no means discovered on our personal.

I’ve to ask: How has the present “The White Lotus” modified your job?

Two of our properties have been featured on “The White Lotus.” Within the first season, our Hawaii property, after which most lately within the Taormina property.

I am continually being requested about it, as rumors unfold that the following season could be in Thailand. Because it’s related to HBO. There’s clearly sure issues we are able to and might’t do with regards to speaking about it, however there’s positively been lots of curiosity.

And as somebody working within the hospitality business, I completely beloved the present.

I appreciated the inclusion of queer illustration, which felt genuine and significant, plus Jennifer Coolidge — at all times a homosexual icon however now introduced extra into the limelight.

And although I had slight considerations about the way it would possibly perpetuate sure misconceptions about luxurious properties, it was entertaining to see exaggerated variations of some business extremes.