A pair who have labored within the Maldives and Bali proportion how residing in paradise differs from visiting it

From the Maldives to Bali to the Cayman Islands, Marc LeBlanc and Laura Robinson have lived and labored in puts that most of the people dream of visiting.

They paintings within the hospitality trade — a adventure that LeBlanc, who’s Canadian, started at 16 years outdated when he authorized a role as a dishwasher at a resort. He labored his means as much as bellman, then to the reservations table, sooner than pursuing a point in resort control.

Robinson, who’s British, studied marine biology and labored as a diving trainer sooner than transitioning to resort management. 

The couple met whilst running within the Cayman Islands and feature since lived and labored on a number of islands in Asia — maximum just lately, the small jap Indonesian island of Sumba.

Now they live in Shinta Mani Wild, a luxurious hotel tucked away in Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains, the place LeBlanc serves because the resort’s basic supervisor, and Robinson oversees operations and sustainability.

The couple often talk with resort visitors, a lot of whom “are super curious to know about our story,” stated LeBlanc.

For starters, running in puts just like the Maldives — which is understood for its “one island, one resort” thought — isn’t the same as visiting it, he instructed CNBC Travel.

“You’re locked on that island, surrounded by water,” LeBlanc stated. “You’re not really going anywhere … you’re kind of stuck there for long periods of time.”

For workers, hotel existence facilities on a body of workers village, the place employees sleep, consume and do laundry — a scenario LeBlanc likened to a summer season camp.

“It becomes a little community of its own,” Robinson stated. “You still have the same challenges that having a large group of people living together can present. There are differences in personalities and opinions.”

Managing the ones variations is essential, she stated, particularly in puts just like the Maldives, which has a multicultural personnel. That has been more straightforward at Shinta Mani, as a result of “except a few of us, everyone is Cambodian,” she stated.

Many other folks suppose that running in hospitality is set making sure visitors are having a great time. But “you’ve got 100 [employees] that you’ve got to make sure are happy” too, she stated.

Robinson stated she and LeBlanc have a good time body of workers birthdays and different occasions on the resort. “Mark sometimes gets his decks out and DJs for them, which they adore,” she stated. 

While island existence spells solar and amusing for many vacationers, saltwater creates upkeep problems for the ones running in the back of the scenes, Robinson stated.

In the Cambodian woodland, the environmental demanding situations are other. “Here you’ve got the humidity and the forest trying to reclaim itself,” she stated.

Shinta Mani has 15 visitor tents, however the hotel sits on land that “is the size of Central Park,” and it calls for a “very high-level of attention to detail, in terms of product and service, but also the conservation work that we do,” LeBlanc stated.

He stated body of workers patrol the valuables, together with a big farm at the land, whilst additionally keeping up the paths that run thru it.

“It’s new for us,” he stated. “We’re learning.”