Owner representative of The Plantation Urban Resort & Spa, Porleng Van, discusses the history and growth of her family's heritage project in the heart of Phnom Penh
The Plantation Urban Resort & Spa is unlike any other accommodation in Cambodia. Perhaps the preeminent boutique hotel in the national capital of Phnom Penh, The Plantation couples exquisite French colonial style with contemporary attention to hospitality. It pairs a high-end spa and a palm-swathed swimming pool with a French restaurant, La Pergola, that draws raves even from visiting French tourists.
A fascinating family history lays the roots for how The Plantation came into being in 2011. The story begins with Van Thuan, a Cambodian-Chinese businessman who owned several Phnom Penh factories in the early years of the Kingdom’s independence. None was better known than the Chip Tong factory in the Tuol Kouk district. Chip Tong made so many rubber sandals that the Khmer people took to calling the footwear “tongs.” Some speculate that this was the origin of the English word “thongs.”
In 1965, Thuan bought Phnom Penh’s Bank of Indochina on Street 106 as his business headquarters and family residence. In subsequent years he expanded his interests to finance, garments, jewelry and electronics in Singapore and especially Hong Kong, where his nine children spent many formative years. After high school, he sent them to universities in France and the United Kingdom.
After the Khmer Rouge assumed power in Cambodia in 1975, they seized the shoe factory and the bank building. Years later, after Thuan’s passing, his son Van Sou-leng acquired the old Chip Tong factory and converted it to the PPS garment factory, assisted by two of his sisters. One of them was Van Porleng, the youngest, who had returned to Cambodia in 2002.
In 2003, the Van family took back the Bank of Indochina building. It became Porleng’s passion to nurse this 1920 building at Place de la Poste back to life. Renovation began almost immediately. Aside from cleaning and redecorating, they left the French colonial exterior as it was, along with the floor mosaics, wooden paneling and plaster work. Here, opposite the central post office, Porleng opened the French fine-dining restaurant, Van’s, in 2007.
The success of the restaurant led indirectly to the hotel, another magnificent French colonial structure, built in the 1930s. It had been occupied by offices of the Ministry of Labour before being restored in 2011 to become the serene resort it is today.
A meeting with Porleng Van
Porleng Van is one of the owner representatives for The Plantation Urban Resort & Spa. It was mid-afternoon when Focus Cambodia sat down with her at a quiet table in La Pergola restaurant, overlooking a broad entry courtyard. Plump koi fish, speckled orange and gold, swam in the shadow of stone lions, beneath a tree hung with red lanterns. Here, she shared a few additional thoughts.
Could you elaborate on the restoration of the historic property that became the Plantation Hotel?
When I came back to Cambodia to stay in 2002, I was not used to the culture here. In France I had been in hotel management, but back here I was helping my brother at the garment factory. In 2006 we established the Cambodian Country Club, which began as a horse-riding school. (She is vice chairwoman.)
When we acquired this property, it rekindled my excitement for another new project. Not only did we like the location, so near the Royal Palace; the shape of the building was very interesting to walk around. It was already separated into small offices, so converting them to guest rooms was easy. We did create balconies, or patios on ground-floor rooms. The area where we put the pool was like a jungle. There was nothing there.
In recent months, a lot of additional renovation has been completed, reimagining the entry to the hotel and updating La Pergola restaurant. What was the thought process in this new work? What was the design process?
Plantation was always known as a boutique hotel that really respects and emphasises nature. With this mindset, we redecorated our rooms in minimalist linear design. When people go into the room, we want them to feel the openness. Each room has a facing window to the garden. Another door opens to nature.
Inside the room, we wanted it simple — earth tones, open space, but still a feeling of intimacy. In the décor, we emphasise Cambodian materials like sandstone, wood and marble. We replicated colonial tiles with the assistance of local artisans. We feature textiles by Siem Reap weavers. In the styling as well, we use Cambodian products, ceramics and amenities. At La Pergola restaurant, our longtime chef, Nicolas Malherbe, uses local herbs and products to the greatest degree possible.
Our concept for the future is more green. We are looking into more solar energy. We would like to eliminate plastic bottles in the rooms and continue to use as few plastic products as possible.
How are hotels such as yours responding to the challenges of the post-COVID era? Do you feel a fresher image is important to staying at the head of the pack, seeking to attract tourist business in a very competitive market?
Green is not the only criterion. If you don’t invest in the improvement of your product, you cannot survive. The clients no longer consider Cambodia a “least developing country.” The expectation now is higher than before — if you don’t have a smart TV, for instance, even if the clients are not using it, they might consider you outdated.
We are not too small, not too big. We offer a hidden peace in Phnom Penh. We are heritage but also modern. It’s the knowledge of the working team, their hard and soft skills, that we must always keep up to date and improve.
What’s your general feeling about the direction of the tourism industry in Cambodia?
I think the big investors have invested ahead of their time. Tourism is coming back slowly but there’s still a very fragile growth.
