Tropical paradise: The Four Seasons Koh Samui. Photo / Supplied
At the Four Seasons Koh Samui, Jasjit “JJ” Assi was preparing for another day in paradise.
He knew his guests were waking up refreshed after a night on a legendary Four Seasons mattress. They would soon be arriving at the lavish breakfast buffet where they could choose between European classics – croissants, eggs florentine – or dishes more reminiscent of their surroundings: a Thai omelette, dim sum. Afterwards, they’d want to settle by the pool, re-creating moments from the newly released season of the HBO hit show The White Lotus, which was shot at the hotel, among other photogenic destinations in Thailand. Weather threatened the evening’s programming, a barbecue on the beach with fire dancers and live music, but the rain held off.
“As a general manager, I cannot ask for a better day than this,” said Assi, who has been with the Four Seasons brand for more than 17 years.
The White Lotus is the poster child of the “set-jetting” trend that drives people to plan trips to filming locations. The trend has sent Yellowstone diehards to Montana and Outlander fans to Scotland. And if the legend of the “White Lotus effect” is true, the Four Seasons Koh Samui may soon be impossible to book.
The show is said to inspire so much interest in the hotels where it takes place that rooms sell out for months despite average daily rates exceeding US$1000 (NZ$1733). The effect can also trickle into the community beyond the hotels. Business owners in Italy say The White Lotus season two, which was set in Taormina, Sicily, brought a wave of new customers to the entire island. That wasn’t the case for Maui, the backdrop of season one, where tourism has struggled to return after pandemic closures and the island’s deadly wildfire in 2023.
Millions of viewers have already tuned in for season three and fans of the show and tourism insiders alike are watching to see how the effect plays out in Thailand. Assi says that the hotel hasn’t sold out yet, but he’s bracing for the boom.
“It’s only going to get busier,” he said.
The world looked a lot different when The White Lotus debuted in the summer of 2021.
Countries were beginning to reopen their borders for tourism as coronavirus vaccines became more widespread. But the surging Delta variant still kept many travellers on edge. The new HBO show provided a sexy distraction and wanderlust to the woes of the time. With it came an interest in the hotel where it took place: the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea.
During that first season, the resort saw a 425% year-over-year increase in website visits and a 386% increase in availability checks.
“That was very much attributed to The White Lotus,” said Ben Shank, the general manager of the famous property who has been with the Four Seasons brand for 23 years.
The website traffic did not translate to an outpouring of tourism on Maui.
A week after the season one finale aired, Covid cases were so high again that the governor asked travellers to reduce non-essential travel to the state through October 2021. Then came the devastating wildfires of August 2023 that killed more than 100 people and displaced thousands on both Maui and the Big Island. Non-essential travel to the island was discouraged by local tourism officials and hospitality businesses, including the Four Seasons.
Today, Maui is still in a rebuilding process, but “the island continues to welcome visitors”, Leanne Pletcher, a spokeswoman for the Maui Visitors and Convention Bureau, said in an email. Visitor arrivals and expenditures were up compared with a year ago, but were still down about 20% compared with 2023, before the wildfires, Pletcher said. Eighty-five per cent of jobs on Maui depend on visitor spending, she said. (Visitor numbers to all the Hawaiian islands for 2024 have yet to be released.)
“Many restaurants, businesses and activities in Lahaina have restored operations and need support,” Pletcher said.
The White Lotus may still have some pull. More than three years after the show’s debut, Shank says people continue to request to book the Pineapple Suite, a fictional room from the show that does exist in real life, but with a different name (and does not have a plunge pool). “It’s actually the Lokelani presidential suite,” Shank said of the three-bedroom accommodation that costs about $30,000 (NZ$52,369) a night.
The impact of The White Lotus was difficult to quantify in Hawaii, a destination familiar to an American audience. Not so much for Sicily.
By the time the second season aired, the show was an international sensation and businesses say they could draw a direct connection to their boost in sales.
Misty Belles, vice-president of public relations at the luxury travel agency Virtuoso, said the company had a 424% spike in sales to Sicily after the season two release. Italy was already immensely popular for travellers – and has been a top travel destination for Americans for years – “but Sicily wasn’t on the forefront”, Belles said. Hotels.com said recently that after the San Domenico Palace was announced as the season two “White Lotus hotel”, it was fully booked for six months.
“We certainly got a real bump in interest in Sicily for the first year,” said Elizabeth Minchilli, an author and food tour operator who lives in Rome and leads tours around the country, including Sicily.
Minchilli believes the show put the island on Americans’ radars in a new, glamorous way that challenged old stereotypes.
“I think that people sort of thought: ‘Sicily is maybe a little bit rustic. It’s maybe a little bit scary',” she said. “But no, it looks great according to White Lotus … and when they were looking for tours in Sicily, they found ours.”
Simone Amorico, CEO of the private tour operator Access Italy, says once Sicily’s season aired, “everybody wanted to go to the Four Seasons Taormina”. “Then it cooled down a bit … but cooled down meaning that it’s still very busy … but it’s not as crazy.”
Amorico says the show may have inspired trips to Italy, but the hotel was never the only item on travellers’ itineraries. Customers booked trips to spend a few days in Taormina, then move on to other parts of the island. They explored its cities, volcano, beaches; they learned about the island’s ancient traditions. Ultimately, “they [got] to see the Sicily that we Italians love”, he said.
In season three, The White Lotus is set in Thailand, a destination that is already a big draw for American tourists. It was among the first countries in Asia to reopen after pandemic closures and has long been popular for generations of travellers past.
“We are seeing a lot of Thailand [bookings]. That’s true. We always do, though. But I think it’ll be a lot more,” said Catherine Heald, chief executive of the Asia-focused luxury tour operator Remote Lands who has an office in Bangkok.
The new season’s storyline will feature more of its host destination than the others past. The characters travel between Koh Samui, Bangkok and Phuket. Tourism insiders predict that will mean Thailand will have a renaissance that rivals Sicily’s, rather than the quieter Maui ripple.
Belles says it helps that the show portrays hotels and their destinations beautifully and works as a “stamp of approval”. Once Thailand was announced for season three, “it immediately piqued interest” for clients, she said. The company has seen an increase in sales for Thailand bookings since.
Assi, the Four Seasons Koh Samui’s general manager, is leaning into the excitement. The property aired the show’s premiere on a big screen and is serving show-themed cocktails at the tiki bar. Assi prepared for guest questions by asking the show’s creator, Mike White, why he chose the Four Seasons over other luxury hotels in the region. His answer: “It was love at first sight.” Not all guests are aware of the show, but he’s seen some posing for photos in areas featured in the first episode.
Other travel companies are ready to ride the wave. Zicasso created a “12-Day The White Lotus Season 3-Inspired Thailand Tour”, which starts at US$9100 (NZ$15,886) per person, designed with the show’s latest spiritual theme. The Unforgettable Travel Company launched a seven-day customisable trip for fans to “indulge in the pinnacle of hospitality with 6-star accommodations” starting at US$7962 (NZ$13,899).
Graham Carter, Unforgettable’s co-founder and chief commercial officer, says the company has already had a 55% boost in web traffic for Thailand in the past six months and it anticipates much more. Their “set-jetting” itineraries usually have increases in bookings halfway through a series or after it ends, “so the traffic we’re currently seeing is a wonderful head start on the additional bookings we’re likely to see in just a few months”, Carter said in an email.
Chompu Marusachot, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) New York, says they’re expecting a 5% increase in American tourists compared with 2024. To accommodate the influx, they built a dedicated website for visiting filming locations for the show as well as learning more about their hidden gems that aren’t featured – like Mu Ko Ang Thong National Park and Bangkok’s best markets.
No matter how the White Lotus effect plays out, Marusachot says the production of the show alone has “already had a positive economic impact, with direct spending, employment opportunities for Thai cast and crew, and business for hundreds of local vendors throughout the filming process”, she said in an email.
Visitors who can afford to follow in the characters’ footsteps will not be disappointed – although they might be disappointed there are no monkeys at the Four Seasons Koh Samui. There’s no dramatic boat arrival to the property either.
Still, “it’s absolutely gorgeous”, Heald said. The hotel was already in demand for her clients, particularly during the “festive season” around the winter holidays, which is also high season in Thailand.
“If you want to get the perfect room that you want, then you need to book that well in advance,” Heald said. “Otherwise, you just have to take what you get.”
What you get is a tropical oasis nestled between layers of tropical jungle and a gemstone-coloured Gulf of Thailand. You get the symphony of cicadas and fresh guava juice. And you get bragging rights for staying at The White Lotus.
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