It solely took 20 seconds for Mike White, the creator of “The White Lotus,” to solid the 4 Seasons Resort Koh Samui as the star character within the third installment of his hit HBO collection.
“Arriving to the resort, you are standing on prime of a peak and you’ll see 43 acres of lush land [and] the Gulf of Thailand, and it is simply stunning total,” Jasjit Assi, the resort’s common supervisor, informed TPG on a current go to to New York Metropolis. “And when Mike walked in, he was simply silent for 20 seconds, and he stated, ‘That is it.'”
In all three seasons of “The White Lotus,” the fictional common supervisor performs a key function: catering to haughty visitors, managing employees members who see and listen to all the things and, at instances, moving into sticky conditions of their very own.
For Assi, who has labored with 4 Seasons, the luxurious hospitality model “The White Lotus” is unofficially based mostly on, for 18 years, it is simple to separate the TV common managers — like Armond on Maui and Valentina in Sicily — from his real-life function as the first chief on the 4 Seasons Resort Koh Samui.
“Look,” stated Assi, who’s nothing just like the awkward, goofy common supervisor of The White Lotus Koh Samui within the present. “‘White Lotus’ is supposed to entertain. There’s a little bit of exaggeration. It is a satire; it is a fictional drama collection.”
However what’s actual, he insists, is the great thing about the resort and the distinctive Thai hospitality you see all through the season.
“You’re seeing the resort play a personality,” he stated. “To take care of the great thing about this resort, that is my function on this.”
After White “booked” the resort for the present, he reserved a keep for himself and “skilled all the things as a visitor,” Assi defined. He added that the 2 of them, together with White’s crew, “opened up each door that could possibly be opened” as Assi helped the crew plan the right areas for several types of scenes.
Then, in February and March 2024, the resort closed to the general public to rework into “The White Lotus.” It stayed totally open, although, for the present’s solid.
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“In actuality, it was like working a correct resort every single day,” Assi stated, though shoots had been occurring Monday by means of Friday.
On filming days, the 4 Seasons employees adjusted to fulfill the wants of the solid and crew’s wild filming schedule.
“No matter [the crew’s] wants had been, wherever they had been shifting across the resort, the employees was serving to them out to maneuver and arrange areas,” he stated.
On the weekends, the celebs of the present “embraced the true Thailand island life.” And, after 5 days of taking pictures, he defined, they wanted to calm down.
“We handled them like regular visitors. They might go right down to the seashore. They had been ordering cocktails. They had been going into the spa,” Assi stated, noting that additionally they hung out elsewhere on the island, like native eating places, “embracing actual life.”
Actually, he stated, they “felt like a part of the household.” A lot so, the truth is, that actor Parker Posey, whose journey to movie the present marked her first go to to Asia, “got here again to the resort to say thanks to the individuals who taken care of her” whereas returning to the island for a wellness retreat.
The 4 Seasons Resort Koh Samui employees might need tried to make the expertise on the resort as regular as potential for the solid and crew, however for them, enjoying host to one of many world’s hottest TV exhibits required some adjustments.
“We needed to educate them, to be sincere,” Assi stated about his employees, a lot of whom did not perceive simply how huge the present is — or that the present’s satirical have a look at its employees did not essentially characterize them, the real-life individuals who make the resort so fantastic.
Assi’s employees needed to be nimble, adjusting meals tailor-made to the solid’s on-set diets or serving to them plan days off. Additionally they needed to vow to secrecy.
“We needed to signal numerous NDAs and confidentiality agreements,” he stated, explaining that his employees discovered tips on how to be coy when visitors requested in the event that they had been going to movie “The White Lotus” there.
Now that individuals know 4 Seasons Resort Koh Samui because the property from the present, the questions have modified. Folks wish to know what villa the Ratliff household stayed in (a three-bedroom villa that begins at $8,000 per evening) or the place actor Patrick Schwarzenegger got here out of the pool shirtless.
“Company wish to [have] their very own ‘White Lotus’ experiences,” Assi confused, noting that his crew totally anticipated the drive in bookings the present would trigger — similar to the 4 Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea in Hawaii and San Domenico Palace, Taormina, A 4 Seasons Resort in Sicily, Italy, skilled after their seasons as visitor stars.
And that is why 4 Seasons has been — and doubtless will proceed to be — such an amazing companion for the present.
“The 4 Seasons philosophy has at all times been ‘inspiration by means of journey,'” Assi stated, “and I believe cinema on this age has [taken] it to the subsequent degree. [Four Seasons] is predicated on the pillars of an amazing location, an amazing resort and nice service … [and with the show,] you may see it.”
Now, with Season Three coming to an finish, simply do not ask Assi his ideas on the place Season 4 ought to happen. With amusing he stated, “Let me survive this one.”
Find out how to e book: Charges at 4 Seasons Resort Koh Samui begin at $1,800 per evening for a pool villa.
E-book by means of a program like American Categorical Positive Lodges + Resorts or The Edit by Chase Journey to attain elitelike perks, similar to room upgrades (when accessible), free breakfast, late checkout and property credit.
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