Veteran hotelier-turned-entrepreneur Asita Vimolchaichit exudes a confidence that can often be mistaken for arrogance. It is only when you sit down with the 48-year-old that you realise that behind her carefully manicured image is a women who is determined to prove herself in a man's world.
The Samut Songkhram native worked for the Novotel Bangkok on Siam Square for two decades, before setting up her own resort, Asita Eco Resort, two years ago. Although working this number of years in the hospitality sector very much prepared her to manage her own resort, getting to this juncture of her career, however, has been anything but plain sailing.
Asita often worked around the clock and has lost count of the sleepless nights she's had to get projects completed.
Going the extra mile in whatever she was assigned to made her popular with her bosses and it was this versatility that also helped her rise so quickly through the ranks. Asita began her career in the hotel industry as secretary to the director of public relations and prior to leaving the Novotel Bangkok she held the position of resident manager.
"I have always been a go-getter," states Asita matter-of-factly. "From the very beginning, I set goals to reach for myself and was adamant to work my way up to becoming a general manager. Opportunities did arise, but I opted not to take them because it is important for me to have the property owners trust me with many major decisions.
"I am picky and do not just settle in my position. Being the owner of a resort is great, because I am sometimes required to double as a general manager," she laughed.
Since she first began work in the hotel industry, Asita's aim had always been to open her own resort and was finally able to put this plan into fruition with the Asita Eco Resort, an eco-friendly destination near Amphawa and the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, in the province of Samut Songkhram.
Her two decades of experience in the industry quite literally was a huge pay-off and Asita claims it saved her around 30 million baht.
"I didn't need to pay for advertising. I didn't need to pay for any PR. I didn't even pay for an interior designer — I did it all myself," she says proudly.
Her eponymously-named resort was modelled on her dream retirement home. "I wanted something where I could imagine myself spending my life at a certain age. I wanted it to be as if I'm the host who welcomes all the guests, cooks for them and teaches foreign visitors and kids how to make Thai food. This was the initial idea."
In reality, the resort's array of luxury "huts" and sprawling grounds are far from a humble retirement home and the meals are prepared by top chefs rather than the hotel's vivacious owner. There are cooking classes, but they are run by the chef.
A three-day meditation and detox programme is also available where nutritious — "but still yummy" — vegetarian food is served in small portions, seven or eight times a day.
The Asita Eco Resort, as the name suggests, is also focused on being as environmentally friendly and self-sufficient as possible. It uses low consumption water devices and light bulbs and recycles its waste. Vegetables and produce grown on the grounds are also used in the hotel's restaurant.
With a surprising degree of honesty, Asita tells us that one of the reasons she introduced the environmental aspect to the hotel was because she knew it would generate more clients, as "eco" destinations tend to appear higher up on a Google search. This makes no difference when it comes to guaranteeing repeat business, however, which Asita insists is crucial to the resort's survival in these uncertain economic times.
Excellent service, she says, is key to ensuring customers want to come back. A great deal of Asita's attention therefore is devoted to meticulous staff training. She also strives to create a good working relationship with her employees to encourage them to stay, as frequent staff changes, she says, are disruptive.
One of the first mistakes she made, however, was attempting to directly instruct the staff herself rather than hire a human resources manager.
"People take criticism differently when it comes from the owner, as opposed to from an HR manager. When it comes from the owner, they see it as a bigger deal."
Making the leap from resident manager to resort owner is not something everyone would have the courage to do. It takes strength and confidence; qualities Asita seems to possess in abundance.
This does not mean that Asita finds being a successful female in business easy, rather the opposite, and states that the expectations placed on women can be quite restricting: "We're still supposed to do housework — to cook and clean and to raise babies. At the same time, we're expected to maintain our looks."
Asita declares herself "happily single" and insists she has no desire to get married or have children.
"I come from a big Chinese family and I'm the oldest. My parents split up when I was young, when my youngest sister was still a baby, so I was like a mum to my younger siblings." That, she says, was enough mothering for a lifetime.
A self-professed workaholic, Asita treats herself with weekly beauty clinic sessions. It takes a great deal of care to maintain such a glamorous image and — as she puts it — she's using her hard-earned money, so why not?
So, just how important is appearance in the hospitality industry? Is it necessary for a woman to be glamorous in order to be successful?
No, she says, but it doesn't hurt.
"If beauty comes with brains, that's a plus-plus. First impressions are still very important, but I would like to encourage all women not to look after yourself just for someone else. You have to do it for yourself. I don't dress up for men, I do it for me."
