An honourable hotelier

An honourable hotelier

A chat with Anchalika Kijkanakorn, one of the three Thais to make this year's Forbes Asia's Heroes of Philanthropy list.

SOCIAL & LIFESTYLE
An honourable hotelier
Anchalika Kijkanakorn.

Joining China's Jack Ma of Alibaba, who last year donated a whopping US$2.9 billion to education and social welfare causes, is Anchalika Kijkanakorn from Thailand, founder and managing director of Akaryn Hotel Group, who has been listed among the Forbes Asia's Heroes of Philanthropy in 2015.

The Heroes of Philanthropy singles out notable benefactors in the Asia-Pacific region, ranging from world-renowned billionaires with their charitable projects done in the past year to lower-profile, but equally benevolent businesspeople who have been committed to philanthropic work for a significant period of time. This ninth edition of the list was announced on Aug 27 and featured 40 people in total.

Forty-four year-old "queen of boutique hotels", Anchalika, who also sits as the chairman of the leading hotel alliance Small Luxury Hotels of the World, the first woman and Asian to hold the position, is one of the three honorees from Thailand. She was recognised for her Pure Blue Foundation, which she established in 2010 to work with the communities around her beachfront hotel properties.

Pure Blue Foundation was founded in 2010 based on Anchalika's original wish to look after the places she develop hotels in. Akaryn Hotel Group now includes award-winning Aleenta Hua Hin-Pranburi (launched in 2003), Aleenta Phuket-Phang Nga (launched in 2006), Akyra Chura Samui (launched in 2011), as well as two upcoming hotels in Chiang Mai and on a private island in Cambodia.

"We always did fundraising events with my hotels," Anchalika said. "At first, we didn't make a foundation out of what we did. Whatever we did, we didn't make a big deal out of it. When we got the money, we did community service. If the funds we raised were not enough then we put in our own money. We did that for a few years before we decided to turn it into a foundation, which was not a bad decision because it became more authentic and tangible."

Since the foundation was established, it has seen scores of charitable projects grow, along with the hotels.

At Aleenta Hua Hin-Pranburi, the foundation not only fosters a nearby local school, (its hotel guests are also invited to participate in hosting activities for students), but it hires local people; organises beach clean-ups; and raises money for the Soi Dog foundation, which looks after stray dogs. The foundation's activities for the area surrounding Aleenta Phuket-Phang Nga include hosting an annual charity gala to raise funds for its sea turtle conservation project; organising a workshop to highlight the importance of marine conservation for students at Natai Beach's Khao Pillai School, as well as awarding scholarships to them. At Akyra Chura Samui, the foundation focuses on the coral regeneration project. 

"There was a reason we didn't name it the Aleenta Foundation," Anchalika said. "Because we also wanted neighbouring hotels to be part of our projects we do for the communities. We didn't want them to think that the projects were for our hotels. This way, if we wanted their help, they wouldn't feel uncomfortable working with us."

Anchalika's passion for charitable work formed during the 10 years she spent working as a financier in different leadership roles for Honeywell and GE Capital in Singapore and London before she decided to leave everything behind to come home and become a hotelier. Serving the community wherever she goes, was one of the things she learned from these big companies. After her first resort Aleenta Hua Hin-Pranburi, where she transformed her family's holiday home into a 10-room boutique hotel, was completed in 2003, one of the very first things she did was to get in touch with the local community.

"I felt the value of doing such a thing," Anchalika said. "So when I came back to Thailand, I wanted my business to be like that. Once the first resort opened, we hired locals, so that we could be part of the community and part of the people in the community. If something was up, we would be able to rely on each other.

"Once we entered the place, not only did we have to make sure we wouldn't ruin what was there, but we would also have to make it better too. We make a living from nature, after all. We don't sell buildings, but we sell beaches. If we are the one who blows up the beaches. Could my business survive? No, it couldn't."

Apart from running different slices of paradise and engaging herself in altruistic work, Anchalika is also a mother of two. The on-the-go businesswoman said having children is a blessing in disguise because it leaves her with no choice but to step back and let her staff do some things she would have otherwise have taken care of herself. However, she said, she still finds time to read every guest comment and answer them herself because at the end of the day, it is this that makes a hotelier like her happy.

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