EXCLUSIVE TENTS The only place to be is in the thick of it Irrespective of whether a destination is a glamping site, a hotel or a resort, innovation in hospitality is often reliant on the pioneering spirit of the suppliers. It is a cycle of challenge and solution. This dance of supplier and customer is the engine that produces the marvellous and out-of-thisworld destinations that enthrals, and delights travellers like us. Not only one of the leading suppliers of safari tents globally, but also one of the most trusted, Exclusive Tents are often found wherever there is a new idea or a “never done before” project. With Founder Paul Zway often standing right in the middle of it in his khaki shorts.
Paul, who is a self -confessed weather junky, explains that he always has a satellite weather window open on his computer to keep aware of what is taking place. So, he was aware of the weather that Cambodia was having at the time but not the severity of what was taking place on the ground. In fact, it wasn’t until the next day that he received a message from Valentin telling that he and his family were safe.
Featured several times already by The Logbook, Paul has always enjoyed being in the thick of it, whether it was his seventeen years working as an anti-poacher in deepest Africa or his twenty odd years producing the most incredible tented projects. He is in every way an all-or-nothing kind of guy and this counts for a great deal for his customers and clients, or as he would refer to them, his friends.
“The lodge had survived inclement weather for years without any problems,” Paul reveals, “But this was an out of the ordinary flood and when it struck early in the morning Valentin’s wife and kids and some staff were on the lodge.”
4 RIVERS 4 Rivers is a floating lodge resort in Cambodia, that Paul and his team have worked with for roughly ten years. Being the first floating lodge and floating glamping site in the world, 4 Rivers is owned by Valentin Pawlik who built the lodge from scratch. Valentin has worked hand in hand with Paul to create a resort that stands as a testament to ambition, pioneering and friendships.
It was a matter of life and death and it was the local villagers who got into their boats and braved the water to go and help rescue the people off the lodge. Then they had to abandon the lodge until the waters had died down. “Valentin literally had to watch the business he had built largely with his own hands get swept away down a river,” Paul relates.
“It is a two way street,” Paul admits, “That is how friendships work, Valentin and I have worked together for over a decade and I learn as much from him as he does from me.”
Once the waters had died down, they then had to track down the lodge and luckily it had been caught on the bank further down the river and had not been dragged out to the ocean, but it was completely wrecked.
Customer relations is easy when things are going well, but a relationship’s strength is tested the most when things go wrong. This was the case just over a year ago when 4 Rivers Floating Lodge was struck by one of the area’s worst floods in recent history.
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