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Published on April 1, 2008

Chief executive officer Deepak Ohri said last week that the hotel had invited 50 of its top customers, who regularly stay and dine at its facilities, to join the programme in which these wealthy people could help the poor in northeastern Thailand.

"Poverty cannot be distributed, but we could contribute to helping distribute the wealth," said Ohri, adding that the philanthropic programme is scheduled for this Saturday.

"Our schedule is to fly our guests in a private jet from Bangkok to the northeastern province of Surin's Elephant Village.

"They will spend four hours over there and hopefully help the local poor to better their quality of life."

"The lack of drinking water and water for farms is among the major problems, so we hope our guests will make their personal commitment in terms of both time and financial resources to help," Ohri said.

As part of the programme, the lebua has also hired five Michelin-star chefs from renowned European hotels and restaurants to prepare special dinners for these selected guests upon their return from Surin.

These culinary experts include Christian Lohse (two stars) from Fishers Fritz Restaurant in Berlin, Germany; Henk Savelberg (one star) from the Netherlands; Atul Kochhar (one star) from Bernares, London; and Yves Mattagne (two stars) from Belgium.

According to Ohri, the guest list includes top Bangkok-based and regional executives of British Airways, Deutsche Bank and Star Cruises.

The Nation