The Robin Hood Effect

By Jane Batchelor

Few hotels can claim to cater to the well-heeled traveller whilst simultaneously working with a city’s most under-privileged youths: Shinta Mani can and does; standing on a pedestal for its achievements in pro-poor relief in Siem Reap.

Mony, a 24-year-old student beams exuberantly over his dish of freshly cooked roasted vegetables while his teacher grades his culinary skills. The partially blind trainee has every reason to smile; within the past few months Mony’s future has taken a drastic step forward towards attaining his dreams of becoming a chef. At Shinta Mani’s Hospitality School, young Cambodians considered at risk and with a bleak future are selected to study on a nine-month culinary course with the hotel’s resident chef. The school, which is attached to the hotel, provides 16 students with uniforms, a basic income, stationery and four kilograms of rice per week – for their families. They study five days a week, both theoretical and practical lessons about the hospitality industry in Khmer and English and embrace the hotel’s philosophy of building a local community. Since the school opened in June 2004, the first graduates have all found full-time employment in hotels in Siem Reap, including at Shinta Mani itself. Several of the courteous staff in the hotel’s small but delicious restaurant are past students. Guests at this 18-room boutique hotel are encouraged to participate in the scheme and are welcome to observe the students at work in the open-sided classroom. The hospitality school is only part of the Shinta Mani’s services. The hotel itself provides the luxuries that a well-groomed visitor would expect from a boutique hotel. The cosy spa was the first to open in Siem Reap and entire day packages for both individuals and couples are one of its unique aspects. Body wraps, facials and traditional aromatherapy massages can all be indulged in at the three-room facility.