Real-life ‘White Lotus’ billionaires race to capitalise on show

HBO’s hit series The White Lotus could have picked any tropical backdrop for its third season.

That it chose the island of Koh Samui, population of about 68,000, to show to 15 million average viewers this season, has Thailand bracing for a tourism boom. And few stand to benefit more than two local ultra-tycoons, who believe tourists will keep coming, and that they’ll remember its lush jungles and stunning beaches rather than the dark plot of the season, which concluded on April 6.

The White Lotus season 3 is filmed on the Thai island of Koh Samui.

Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, the chief executive officer of Bangkok Airways, and his family’s wealth are closely intertwined with Samui, dating from the 1980s when his father bet on an airport to seize on the island’s tourism potential. The clan has a fortune of about $US3.5 billion ($5.8 billion), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

HBO selecting the local Four Seasons as its main set proved a boon to William “Bill” Heinecke, the American-born Thai businessman who founded Minor International, owner of the property. His personal fortune is estimated at $US1.2 billion, according to the index, which is valuing his net worth for the first time.

Bill Heinecke, chairman and founder of Minor International, in Bangkok, Thailand. Credit: Bloomberg

Attention from the series is expected to help the country reach a record 40 million visitors this year, up from 35.5 million in 2024, a boost that may be fleeting. The White Lotus, a show that dives into the dramas of the holidaying ultra-rich in luxury resorts, has moved to a new location each season – previous series were shot in Sicily and Hawaii – underscoring the urgency to capitalise on the boom.

The businessmen are happy to attach their companies’ brands to the confronting plot that exposes the dark side of characters – including a father who is travelling with his family and is constantly thinking of suicide, and another guest who was planning the murder of the resort owner.

Four Seasons Koh Samui was the main set for The White Lotus season three.

In addition to the challenging plot, a deadly March 28 earthquake in neighbouring Myanmar was expected to reduce international arrivals by as much as 15 per cent over the following two weeks.

“Our plans and projections remain intact,” Heinecke said on April 1. He expects his Bangkok-listed Minor International to set a record net profit this year largely due to the surge in tourists seeking to mimic the show.

Prasarttong-Osoth told reporters in a press conference on March 28, the same day the earthquake was felt in the Thai capital, that the expected short-term impact on tourism was minimal, and that the airline’s projections for the year were unchanged.

Airport expansion

Bangkok Airways is ordering as many as 30 new aircraft and will start expanding the island’s airport in the second half of the year, anticipating a record 2.7 million tourists to land this year on Koh Samui, which is about four times the size of Manhattan and is the second-largest island in Thailand. The airline provided about 1000 free tickets to the production’s crew and cast.

Samui routes, which generated nearly 60 per cent of the carrier’s revenue last year, will now become even more important. Return flights to the island are expected to rise from about 50 a day to 73 as demand surges, the CEO said. Ownership of the island’s only airport gives his company a virtual monopoly on flights. Ferries to the coastal city of Surat Thani can take from 30 minutes to four hours.

Jason Isaacs as Timothy Ratliff, the father plagued by dark thoughts.

Heinecke is also moving quickly as The White Lotus reels in those who had not thought of holidaying in Thailand, particularly from Europe and the US, he said.

His luxury hotel brand Anantara – launched in 2001, with traditional Thai elements – is planning to open its first hotel in the US early next year.

Minor’s four hotels, used as primary locations to portray the fictional resort in Thailand, were fully booked for the filming for six weeks at a time.

Beyond the island

Even before The White Lotus came to Thailand, the Prasarttong-Osoth family and Heinecke were building their empires far beyond Koh Samui.

Puttipong’s doctor father, Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth, now 92, founded Bangkok Dusit Medical Services in 1969. It is Thailand’s largest private-sector healthcare provider by market value and runs more than 50 hospitals in Thailand and Cambodia. His daughter, Poramaporn Prasarttong-Osoth, is the firm’s president.

Betting on the aviation industry in the 1960s, the elder Prasarttong-Osoth opened an airport on Samui in 1989. Back then, it was hard to convince bankers to fund the project amid doubts the destination would ever become popular, his son said.

Meanwhile, Heinecke moved to Thailand with his parents as a teenager, turning down a chance to go the university in the US aged 17 because he already had a business selling advertisements in a local paper. In a nod to his youth, he called his fledgling business Minor.

His hospitality ventures started in 1978 with a beachfront resort in coastal Pattaya, about 145 kilometres south-east of Bangkok, and have grown into one of Asia’s largest hospitality groups with 560 hotels in more than 50 countries. Minor took a major step in its global expansion after it bought Spain’s NH Hotel Group in 2018.

K-pop star Lalisa Manobal, in season three of The White Lotus, is “opening up a new sort of a younger generation of luxury seekers”, says Four Seasons owner William “Bill” Heinecke.

The billionaire’s favourite character in the show is the employee played by Lalisa Manobal, the Thai celebrity who’s a member of K-pop phenomenon Blackpink and has more than 105 million followers on Instagram.

She’s “opening up a new sort of a younger generation of luxury seekers because she has a huge following globally,” Heinecke said. “That’s really propelling a lot of the series, and the hype.”

Bloomberg

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