Hitting the ground running
Arriving in Cambodia in March, Pascal Deyrolle became vice president of the nation's hotel association in July. He's moving fast to carry out some big plans

PETER OLSZEWSKI

Pascal Deyrolle, general manager of La Residence d’Angkor and vice president of the Cambodian Hotel Association.

WATER conservation and cheaper energy costs in Siem Reap are at the head of the wish list of the new vice president of the Cambodia Hotel Association, Pascal Deyrolle.

Deyrolle is also general manager of Siem Reap's La Residence d'Angkor, and his rise has been rapid. He only arrived in Cambodia on March 19 from France, where he managed luxury canal barges.

Four months to the day after his arrival, he was elected to the vice presidency of the Cambodia Hotel Association, with Luu Meng, general manager of Phnom Penh's new Almond Hotel, as president.

Deyrolle is joined on the board by fellow Siem Reap hoteliers, the general managers of Raffles Grand D'Angkor, the Sofitel Phokeethra, and the Victoria Angkor. He also has the ear of the outgoing association president, Philip Set Kao of Borei Angkor Resort and Spa.

But while new to Siem Reap, Deyrolle is savvy to the looming issues of the day, particularly water conservation.

Water conservation
At the 17th technical meeting of the International Coordinating Committee of Angkor, held at the Sokha Hotel on June 4-5, there was agreement among the delegates to begin a push to persuade major Siem Reap hoteliers to contribute to measures to conserve the province's dwindling water supply. In particular, the delegates agreed, the hotels needed to be urged to spend the capital required to install water recycling plants.

Deyrolle has already begun meetings to address the issue.

"I'm talking to a company about dirty water recycling projects. I want to obtain figures about return on investment to see whether it's feasible for this hotel to have its own plant that can recycle water for gardening." he said.