Thai hotel launches one million baht meal for wealthy guests
By Channel NewsAsia's IndoChina Correspondent Anasuya Sanyal | Posted: 04 April 2008 0026 hrs

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BANGKOK : Poverty and luxury - can the two ever meet? Well, one Bangkok luxury hotel thinks they can.

Lebua Hotels has courted criticism for its plan to take its mega-rich guests to observe the rural poor followed by an extravagant meal.

The hotel intends to thank 50 of its top-spending guests with internationally-renowned chefs preparing the world's most luxurious food.

The price tag - one million baht or nearly US$30,000 per head - is high enough to make anyone blanch.

But the dining experience comes with a twist.

The guests, who may be more accustomed to elegant suites than rural villages, will be flown to an elephant camp in Surin, one of Thailand's poorest areas, to see how the other half lives.

The plan caused a scandal when the three Michelin-starred chefs dropped out of the event, claiming that visiting poor villagers followed by such a lavish banquet left a bad taste in their mouths.

But executives say the controversy is simply a misunderstanding and that the hotel is trying to encourage "creative capitalism", kind of like philanthropy with a luxurious touch.

Hotel management say they want guests to observe the lives of the kingdom's rural poor and encourage them to help those less fortunate in the long-term.

Mr Deepak Ohri, CEO of Lebua Hotels, said: "We are taking them to a village and help the distribution of wealth. We could have done a thank you dinner, called our guests and said bye bye to them and the chefs would have come easily, cooked the food and gone. The issue is that people do not want to get involved and people do not want to see."

In a reversal to earlier statements that no money would immediately go to charity from the US$300,000 event, the hotel and some of the chefs involved will be donating their nearly US$9,000 fee.

The hotel owner also intends to donate land and money to help farmers in Surin with clean drinking water and growing rice in the next six months.

But it remains to be seen if what's been dubbed "emotional tourism" will prompt the guests to bring out the cheque books. - CNA/de