Bill Bensley, co-founder of Shinta Mani Hotels, Siam Reap, Cambodia, as well as acclaimed architect and interior designer, was named among the inaugural HOTELS Top 10 award winners in the ESG category. His Shinta Mani Foundation has helped so many locals prosper with access education and opportunities for the betterment of their lives.
Since 2004, 270 Khmer students have graduated and the Shinta Mani Foundation has been able to help 100% of these students obtain work in the hospitality industry.
Because the hotel’s social enterprise model attracted such interest and support, in 2006 the Shinta Mani expanded programs to support more of the community. It focuses on empowering families through a number of educational, health and development programs.
In 2011, all such community projects were unified under an independent and locally registered (Cambodian) not-for-profit organization known as the Shinta Mani Foundation (SMF). Today, the Foundation operates in the core areas of education, micro-finance, healthcare and direct assistance.
Foundation programs have achieved measurable success in education and livelihood assistance, resulting in meaningful changes for families and the local community, including:
- 1,500 families drinking clean, filtered water
- 1,522 water wells built
- 102 families living in homes
- 9,000 children living healthy lives
- 62 entrepreneurs providing income for their families
- 270 Cambodians working in the hospitality industry
HOTELS reached out to Bensley to find out what he is doing for an encore, how he and his team have managed through the pandemic and more.
HOTELS: As the industry starts to reemerge from the pandemic, what is at the top of your to-do list?
Bill Bensley: The Cambodian government has put on hold our hotel school for less fortunate young adults. I want to get that as well as many other community projects back on track again.
H: What has been your biggest learn/takeaway from the pandemic?
BB: To appreciate freedom.
H: What are guests inquiring about most when it comes to your ESG program?
BB: They ask how they can support us, and the answer is to donate to SMF and the Wildlife Alliance. We are grateful for them and look forward to the day we can welcome them once more.
H: What is the newest internal program that helps better take care of your team members?
BB: Our three Shinta Mani hotels in Siem Reap have been closed for1.5 years, but we are still supporting the staff. We know that every employee supports on average seven family members. We organize food monthly via our enormous farm where some of our staff work.
H: What local community engagement program are you most proud of?
BB: At our Shinta Mani Wild, 72% of our 100-plus employees come from the tiny village of Tmor Rung at the edge of South Cardamom Rainforest. Prior to the opening of our low environmental impact camp, all of those villagers relied on harvesting illegal wildlife and timber. Now, the poachers turned guides and are very well fed.
H: What are you reading today?
BB: This past year I have never read so much. I just finished reading Bill Gates’ new book, “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.” It’s excellent. It’s a huge subject to cover – what we need to do to get to zero carbon by 2050. To my surprise, trains, planes and cars account for a small percentage… You’d think that the COVID break from travel would give the forests of 3rd world countries a break – but not at all. At Shinta Mani Wild, illegal poaching has ramped up as many Cambodians lack work. We remain committed, despite a lack of income from visitors, to protect the rainforest with Wildlife Alliance.
H: What is the most personally rewarding aspect of your job?
BB: I really enjoy seeing what might have seemed like a silly idea come to fruition.
H: What is the next big hotel trend in ESG programming?
BB: Recycling on a mammoth scale. Here in Thailand, at Khao Yai national park, we are upcycling very old decrepit train carriages into a fabulous camp of sorts managed by IHG.
The name of the property is InterContinental Khao Yai National Park, Thailand, with 61 keys (45 luxury rooms and 16 suites repurposed from heritage train cars) and a proposed opening data at the end of 2021.