Arnaud Béril is not a stranger to the Anantara family. He started at Anantara Rasananda Koh Phangan Villas as Food & Beverage Manager in 2013, where he received the Minor Award of Excellence. Arnaud then worked at the award-winning Anantara Chiang Mai Resort, followed by Anantara Sathorn Bangkok as a Food & Beverage Manager. Now, he's a Resort Manager at one of the most prestigious resorts in the world - Anantara Golden Triangle.
How has the transformation been for you starting from F&B and now the RM of Anantara Golden Triangle?
The transformation has been very natural and made easier for me as I have always been a people person who value teamwork and interaction and hence, I quickly adapted to leading a bigger team and operation. By growing and evolving with Minor Hotels for twelve years, I have also acquired essential tools, skills, and support structures.
Anantara Golden Triangle is a unique property, what's your day like?
It is truly a unique property and a very special place, and an early start is best to take in and appreciate the splendour of the Golden Triangle as you stand on a hill at sunrise overlooking the confluence of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar as the morning mist rise over the grasslands and Mekong and Ruak rivers, and elephants graze in the most stunning of natural settings below. The walk back to the hotel takes me through Bill Bensley-designed gardens before I meet up with our guests at breakfast and send them off on their day of exploration, whether it be walking with elephants through the jungle or discovering Thailand’s fabled Golden Triangle with a Royal Enfield Classic 500 sidecar. With 160 acres of lush jungle forest Anantara Golden Triangle is a big property, and our classic Jeep comes in very handy to do my rounds to inspect our organic gardens, chicken and mushroom houses, and beehives, as well as the elephant camp where our 20 rescued elephants receive veterinary care. My team and I are totally dedicated to our guests and we spend as much time as possible front of house to interact with them and hear their stories of their bucket list experiences and exploration, before sending some of them off to our Jungle Bubbles to spend the night observing majestic elephants in their natural habitat.
What's the biggest challenge in running your property? And how do you overcome it?
Recruitment has been a global challenge since the pandemic and our remote location also sometimes makes it harder to attract talent, but we overcome that by offering great benefits for our team members and always looking out for ways to improve. The family aspect of our team is very important here and each of us live and breathe for Anantara Golden Triangle and we value everyone’s input. It is my goal to make our property an even better place to live and evolve for all our team members. Our elephants can also sometimes be a bit naughty at the most unexpected times which keeps our team busy at any hour of the day or night
What do you like most about being a RM?
I love every aspect of my role here and one of the things I enjoy the most is to create memorable experiences for our guests. The region has so much to offer with discovery around every corner and it is very refreshing and stimulating for myself and our team to conceptualise and then put into action new unique experiences that enable journeys of adventure and indulgence. Teamwork and team wellbeing are matters I steadfastly believe in and we have recently introduced weekly group meditation sessions and wellness activities like breathwork, ice bathing and sound healing. I want to make this an important part of my journey here, to elevate wellbeing and mindfulness, as we have so much to learn to become better persons on all levels.
What does next year look like for you? (In the industry)
We are very enthusiastic about 2023 as Thailand is showing very positive tourism trends with this Q4 performing above pre-Covid levels. Following the overwhelming success of our Jungle Bubbles that we introduced in 2019 and the Jungle Bubble Lodge in 2021, we have a very exciting new development in the making that we will unveil next year.
Visit Arnaud Béril at Anantara Golden Triangle