The sun was shining, the sea was glistening, and the woman in front of me looked every bit the boss of this little slice of paradise in Thailand.
Dressed in breezy beachwear — a matching set with bold prints in yellow, pink, and orange — she stepped out of the hotel’s front office and greeted me with a bright smile.
“Sunglasses are a must,” she told me with a laugh, as she led me down the long entryway lined with lush greenery, the tropical sun blazing overhead.
Pauline Cabessa runs Cielo Samui, a boutique hotel on Koh Samui’s Bo Phut beach.
For more than a decade, Cabessa and her husband escaped their home base in Saint Tropez every winter to holiday in Samui.
They were frequent guests of the hotel — then named Eden Beach Bungalows — where they struck up a friendship with the French owner. One day, during a casual conversation, he let slip that he was looking to sell the property.
Almost immediately, Cabessa and her husband, Francois Vargas, found themselves imagining what it would be like to take over the place.
The idea stuck, even after their vacation ended. “As we were on the plane, going back to work, we kept thinking, ‘Oh, we need to find a way to make it,'” she said.
In 2017, they packed up their lives in France, said goodbye to their loved ones, and moved across the world to run the hotel — never mind the fact that neither of them had ever managed one before.
“I felt like it was time in life for a challenge,” Cabessa, now 43, said. “Being an employee, doing the same thing all your life — if you don’t do things that are a little bit crazy, then afterward it might be a little bit too late.”
Renovating the hotel
As much as she loved Asia, Cabessa never thought she’d put down roots in Samui.
But her job managing a restaurant in Saint Tropez had started to feel hollow. It was as if the essence of hospitality was being replaced by a culture of showing off, she said.
“I was really losing the authentic connection I shared with people, and time with my family as well, because I was working a lot,” she said. “Well, it was thanks to that that I am here now. With the money I earned there, I was able to take on this project.”
She preferred to keep financial details private but said she and her husband co-own the hotel with another couple — longtime friends who came onboard as business partners. While their business partners are primarily investors and live in the US, she and her husband run the day-to-day operations of the hotel in Samui.
The opportunity to take over the hotel came at the right time, since she and Vargas were also thinking about expanding their family. Saint Tropez no longer felt like a place where they wanted to raise their kids.
“I wanted my daughter to learn more English and be in contact with people from different places. I wanted a second child as well,” she said, adding that her son was born on Samui.
Her husband needed little convincing — he had been vacationing in Samui since 1997, long before the couple had even gotten together.
Although the idea of leaving his previous life behind to start anew in a foreign country felt daunting, Vargas told me he wasn’t too worried.
“Moving to Samui was an opportunity to create our own dream,” Vargas, 48, said. “I love what we do, the island, the security we can offer our kids, and the people.”
For the first two years, Cabessa ran the hotel as it was, while Vargas, a chef, oversaw the in-house restaurant.
But when business ground to a halt due to the pandemic, she decided it was time to renovate.
“That was not part of our original plan at all,” she said.
Cabessa redesigned the hotel herself. Like many modern women, she drew inspiration from her Pinterest board.
With textured limewashed walls, stone floors, and an earthy-neutral palette, it’s hard not to notice the strong Mediterranean design influences that Cabessa infused into the space.
She also added a yoga studio and a spa to the compound.
The renovation took nine months to complete and was “quite stressful,” she said.
To stay afloat during the pandemic and retain their original staff, they opened a restaurant in the nearby tourist district of Fisherman’s Village.
“Everybody moved back here when we reopened,” she said.
These days, nightly rates for a regular suite begin at 8,500 Thai baht, or $260, with the largest option — a three-bedroom villa that accommodates up to eight guests — going for 26,000 baht.
Running the biz
Running a hotel is no walk in the park.
“People tell me, ‘Your life is cool.’ OK, there are coconut trees, there is the sun, I get it. But that doesn’t mean that there are no challenges,” Cabessa said.
With 45 staff members under her wing, she also finds herself smoothing things over with the occasional picky guest.
“I’ve got reviews from some people complaining about the noise of the waves when they live in the rooms near the beach,” she said. “Sometimes people even tell me that the sand on the beach is too hard to walk on.”
While Cabessa is always on-site and ready to fix any problems, some things are simply out of her hands. At the end of the day, Samui is an island. “I cannot control nature,” she said.
Thankfully, her background working in Saint Tropez prepared her for high-pressure situations.
“We were doing around 600 people per lunch per day back then,” she said. No matter how challenging things get in Samui, she says it’s hard to find guests with higher expectations than those in France.
It’s easy to see Cabessa’s dedication in action: She pauses to greet each staff member by name — and in Thai — and never misses a chance to speak with passing guests, even as she’s showing me around.
Most of her guests come from Europe, Australia, or around Asia, including Singapore and Hong Kong. In recent months, she’s also seen more American tourists.
An Australian couple in their 40s told me it was their first time in Samui, and they chose to stay here because the place seemed tranquil and the beach was, in their words, “right there.”
All room types at the hotel include breakfast. Guests can also enjoy complimentary activities daily, like Pilates, yoga, and Muay Thai classes. Padel and kayaking are also available.
The idea is to create a place where guests can happily spend their entire stay without needing to step outside, Cabessa said.
Adapting to life on Samui
Cabessa says adapting to life on the island was a breeze.
Her kids, now 11 and 5, go to an international school. Her mother, who is retired, even moved to Samui from Lyon three years ago. She now lives just down the street from Cabessa.
“This is a safe country. You can let your kids play in a mall or on the beach, and you are not worried about that,” Cabessa said. “I also love the culture of showing respect for your elders.”
Working in hospitality, she also appreciates the friendliness of the Thai people.
“People are always smiling, and this is such a relief. Because if you live in Paris and you take the subway, nobody’s smiling,” she said.
The island has changed significantly since the first time she visited.
It’s much easier to find international products or fresh produce now. And if something isn’t available locally, she can order it from Bangkok, and it’ll arrive within 24 hours.
Cabessa says she’ll “never, ever” move back to France. And even if she doesn’t live in Samui, Thailand will always be home.
“I’ll never quit this country,” she said.
Do you have a story to share about moving to a new country to run a hotel or resort business? Contact this reporter at agoh@businessinsider.com.
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