PLANNING ✽ TAKE MY ADVICE
The honeymoon hotelier
“We’ve had a few interesting requests...” Christoph Leonhard is General Manager of the Amari Palm Reef Koh Samui (www.amari.com/palmreef) “Koh Samui is a great destination for a romance-filled honeymoon and we get lots of couples travelling here to celebrate. We also conduct weddings on the white sand of Chaweng Beach. This can be quite spontaneous, although many guests actually come here for a beach wedding. “We try to find out in advance if an arriving couple are on their honeymoon so we make sure we can pull out all the stops
– though the couple are usually glowing with happiness so it’s easy to tell. “It’s always nice to be able to do something special for guests, particularly when they are on their honeymoon; we try to upgrade honeymooners to deluxe rooms whenever possible. For all honeymooners we offer special welcome amenities, including a heart made of rose petals on the bed. “We can arrange for in-room champagne, candlelit dinners on the beach and romantic excursions to neighbouring islands. We can even arrange a special blessing ceremony on the beach. We’ve also
had a few interesting requests: one couple asked us to arrange for an elephant to be at their beachside vow-renewing ceremony, because they met at a zoo; another couple wanted a candlelit dinner at the top of our poolside water tower – we timed it for sunset, so they could watch the sun go down while drinking lychee mojitos. “A massage always adds extra romance: at the Amari Palm Reef we have a great spa where couples can book a special double room so they can enjoy it together. A great romantic escape is a private picnic on the mountains, overlooking Koh Samui.”
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