CREDITS：Luke Ding — Photographer｜Li Sa Low — Creative｜Thomas
Jaffre — Stylist｜Romyda Keth — Designer｜Suel Bee — Designer｜Ven Sreyphorn — Hair & Makeup (Song Saa Team)｜Khan Mouyly — Hair & Makeup Assistant (Song Saa Team)｜Enya Editorial Team — Editorial
Koh Rong 群島散落在柬埔寨西南外海。海水、珊瑚礁、漁村與叢林在這裡彼此靠得很近，島上的生活長久以來也跟著潮汐與季風運行。Song Saa Private Island 所在的 Koh Ouen 與 Koh Bong，便是其中兩座相鄰的小島。當地人將它們合稱為 Song Saa，在高棉語裡，是「甜心、愛人」的意思。
Melita Koulmandas 第一次來到這片海域時，Song Saa 還不是一座度假村。那趟路，她搭著老木造漁船，在海上航行了五個多小時。讓她驚豔的除了眼前幾乎未經開發的島嶼風景，在Melita眼中還有美麗風景背後的另一面：垃圾、過度捕撈，以及缺乏保護的海洋生態。於是Melita思考在一座島上建立一間旅宿應該是什麼模樣之前，她先把時間放在海裡，也走進周邊的村落。2006 年島嶼周圍開始建立海洋保護工作；直到六年後Song Saa Private Island 才正式迎來賓客。這六年的時間某種程度也說明了 Song Saa 後來成為什麼。Melita想的不是先完成一座漂亮的私人島嶼，再替其補上一套永續論述。海洋、社區與地方的關係先發生了，旅宿才慢慢進入其中。對 Melita 而言，一間飯店從來不可能只存在於自己的邊界裡；水質、珊瑚、漁村的生活，甚至一片森林是否仍能按照自然的節奏生長，最後都會回到每位來過Song Saa對這個地方的感受。這樣的思考也融入在島上的建築。木材、茅草、漂流木與再利用留下自然的循環，建築順著島嶼而行，沒有急著成為景觀的主角。二十四棟別墅排序在海嶼、岸邊與林木之間，真正吸引視線的仍是海面的粼光、午後移動的樹影，以及穿過屋舍的風。Melita 談起奢華時，也很少從「更多」開始。她在意的是如今反而愈來愈難得到的東西：時間、空間、安靜、乾淨的水，以及旅行到了一個地方之後，仍然清楚知道自己身在何處。這使 Song Saa 與許多私人島嶼度假村有了些微、卻關鍵的不同。它當然提供舒適、隱私與細緻服務，但真正到訪過的你未必是記憶著某一棟 villa 或某一道風景，而是人在自然之中重新調整感官的過程。接下來我們來更深入的瞭解Melita Koulmandas從一座島開始的的故事。
The Story That Began with an Island
Song Saa Private Island
The Koh Rong Archipelago lies off Cambodia’s southwestern coast, a scattering of islands where the sea, coral reefs, fishing villages and jungle remain closely intertwined. Life here has long moved with the tides and monsoon seasons. Song Saa Private Island sits across two neighbouring islands, Koh Ouen and Koh Bong, known locally together as Song Saa — Khmer for “sweetheart” or “lover.”
When Melita Koulmandas first arrived in these waters, Song Saa was not yet a resort. She spent more than five hours travelling by an old wooden fishing boat to reach the islands. What struck her was not only the beauty of a landscape that was still largely untouched, but also what lay behind it: rubbish, overfishing and a marine ecosystem with little protection.Before she began thinking about what hospitality on an island like this should look like, Melita spent time on the water and in the surrounding villages. Marine conservation work around the islands began in 2006, and Song Saa Private Island welcomed its first guests six years later.Those six years go a long way towards explaining what Song Saa eventually became. Melita was never interested in first creating a beautiful private-island retreat and then adding a sustainability narrative around it. The relationship with the sea, the communities and the place came first; hospitality followed.For Melita, a hotel can never exist within its own boundaries alone. The quality of the water, the condition of the reefs, the rhythms of village life, even whether a forest is still able to grow at its own natural pace — all of these ultimately shape how each guest experiences Song Saa.The same thinking is woven into the island’s architecture. Timber, thatch, driftwood and reclaimed materials are used in ways that allow their natural character to remain visible, while the buildings follow the contours of the islands rather than trying to dominate the landscape. Twenty-four villas are spread across the water, shoreline and forest, yet what draws the eye is still the glimmer of light on the sea, the movement of afternoon shadows through the trees, and the breeze passing through the open structures.
When Melita speaks about luxury, she rarely begins with the idea of having more. What matters to her are the things that have become increasingly difficult to find: time, space, quiet, clean water, and the feeling of travelling somewhere while still knowing exactly where you are.This is where Song Saa differs, subtly but meaningfully, from many private-island resorts. It offers comfort, privacy and attentive service, but what you remember after visiting may not be a particular villa or a single view. It is the way your senses begin to adjust to nature again — the quiet shift in how you see, hear and experience the place around you.What follows is a closer look at Melita Koulmandas and the story that began with a single island.
Enya: 有沒有某一個特別的時刻，讓妳意識到：這裡就是打造 Song Saa 的地方？
Melita:其實沒有一個很主觀性的瞬間讓我突然覺得：「就是這裡，我要在這裡蓋一間度假村。」這件事情比較像是慢慢發生的。我第一次來到 Koh Rong 群島，是搭一艘老木造漁船，航程超過五個小時位處偏遠，柬埔寨南部海岸幾乎沒有觀光開發，基礎建設也很有限。除了附近的居民，外面幾乎沒有人知道這些島。
我第一眼的感覺當然是它非常美。但待得愈久，也愈容易看見另一面。海面上有漂浮的垃圾、捕撈壓力很大，海洋生態幾乎沒有受到保護。這樣的美其實很脆弱。我想，我開始對這個地方產生感情，就是從那時候。當時我甚至還沒有想到建立渡假村，我先想的是：這裡有什麼值得留下來？我們可以為這自然保護什麼？六年之後才有了度假村。這個發展對我一直很重要。Song Saa 不是先有一間漂亮渡假村再把永續，環保，再生的概念加進去。最開始是我和這個地方建立了情感，後來旅宿才慢慢發展成為一個可以讓保育與社區工作繼續下去的自然。到現在，我還是用相同的方式工作。我會比較想先瞭解一個地方，而不是太快決定它應該變成什麼樣子。
Enya:Was there a particular moment when you realized this was the right place to create Song Saa?
Melita:I’m not surethere was one dramatic moment where I thought, this is where I’m going to build a resort. It was much less planned than that. When I first came out to the Koh Rong Archipelago, I travelled by an old wooden fishing boat for over five hours. At that time it felt incredibly remote. There was no tourism on the southern coast back then and very little infrastructure, and these islands were almost completely unknown outside the communities living around them. What first struck me was the beauty, but I also remember being very aware of how fragile it felt. You could see the pressures on the environment — rubbish, overfishing, very little protection around the marine ecosystem. I think my attachment to the place really began there. Before I was even thinking about hospitality, I was thinking about what could be protected. The resort came six years later. That sequence matters. Song Saa wasn’t conceived as a beautiful hotel that then added sustainability. The relationship with the place came first. The hotel eventually became a way of sustaining that work. I still work that way now. I’m much more interested in understanding a place before deciding what it should become.
Enya: 回頭看最初對 Song Saa Private Island 的想像，和今天有什麼是始終沒有改變的？
Melita:我一直相信，所有事情其實都是連在一起的。從一開始，我就沒有把賓客體驗、自然環境和周邊社區分開來看。對我來說，它們本來就是同一個地方的一部分。這一點沒有變。我一直希望 Song Saa 維持很親密的關係。賓客來到這裡，感覺應該還是在一座島上，而不是一間度假村進來之後把整個地方蓋滿而擁擠。我也希望附近的居民和這裡真正有關係，而不是度假村只活在自己的世界裡。包括海洋、森林和周邊生態，也應該因為我們愛護這裡讓自然能生生不息。這些想法到現在都一樣。比較不同的是，二十年前很多事情我是憑直覺知道的，現在我比較能說清楚為什麼。生態、社區、文化和商業不一定互相衝突。方法對了，它們可以彼此支撐。而且我愈來愈確定，好的渡假村體驗最後還是來自人、自然和地方之間的關係。只要其中一個被忽略，賓客其實感覺得到。
Enya: Looking back, what aspects have remained unchanged between your earliest vision of Song Saa Private Island and what it has become today?
Melita:The belief that everything is connected. From the beginning, I didn’t separate the guest experience from the environment, or the environment from the communities around us. They were all part of the same place. That has stayed consistent. I wanted Song Saa to remain intimate. I wanted the islands to still feel like islands, not like a resort had arrived and taken them over. I wanted the communities to have a real relationship with what happens here, and the natural systems around us to benefit from what we were creating. That hasn’t changed. What has changed is my understanding of why it works. Twenty years ago I felt that instinctively. Today I understand much more clearly that ecology, community, culture and commercial value can reinforce one another. I still believe that a great hospitality experience comes from the relationship between people, nature and place. If any one of those is diminished, eventually the guest experience becomes less meaningful too. What I understand much more clearly now is that these things are not simply values. They also create resilience and long-term value.
Enya: Song Saa 的奢華很安靜，更多來自自然、隱私與空間，而不是華麗。這樣的想法是怎麼形成的？
Melita:我一直都不太喜歡把奢華等同於「很多」。反而是現在真正愈來愈難得到的東西，才讓我認為稱得上是奢侈。時間、空間、隱私、安靜、乾淨的水、自然，還有人和人之間真正的交流。在 Song Saa，早上醒來會先聽到腳下的海水聲。光慢慢越過泰國灣，有時候會看到犀鳥在樹間活動，遠處有漁船經過。這種時候，真的不需要再加太多東西。自然已經把最精彩的部分做完了。我們要做的，其實是把舒適、服務和細節照顧好，讓賓客有時間、有空間去感受這個地方。當然，我也喜歡漂亮的東西。我喜歡好的材質、好的食物、工藝和細節，也很在意服務。但我一直覺得，真正成熟的奢華，不需要一直提醒你它有多奢華。現在很多人旅行，不只是想住一間很好的飯店。他們想知道自己到底來到了哪裡。如果一個體驗換到別的國家、別的島，也可以完全複製一次，那對我來說，就少了一些東西。我比較在意的是，賓客離開之後，會記得那就是 Song Saa。
Enya:Song Saa Private Island expresses luxury through nature, privacy and a sense of quiet rather than overt opulence. What shaped this philosophy?
Melita:I have never been interested in luxury as excess. The things that feel genuinely luxurious have become harder to find: time, space, privacy, silence, clean water, nature, human connection. At Song Saa, you wake and hear the water underneath you. You see the light come across the Gulf of Thailand. There may be hornbills moving through the trees or local fishing boats out in the distance. You don’t need to add very much to that. Nature does the dazzling for us. Our job has never been to compete with the islands. Our role is to create enough comfort, beauty and care that a guest can really experience them. That doesn’t mean I don’t love beautiful things — I do. I love beautiful materials, beautiful food, attention to detail and thoughtful service. But the best luxury has confidence. It doesn’t need to announce itself. People want to feel something when they travel. They want to know where they are. They want a sense that the experience couldn’t simply have been reproduced somewhere else. That sense of belonging to a place is the luxury I care most about.
Enya: Song Saa 大量使用天然材質，建築也刻意融進環境。當初設計時，妳最在意的是什麼？
Melita:我從來不希望 Song Saa 看起來像是有人先在別的地方設計好一間度假村，再把它搬到兩座熱帶島上。所以我們一直問自己的是：它怎麼樣才真的屬於這裡？這個問題後來影響了很多事情。建築的比例、材料、室內空間、步道、景觀，甚至連客人怎麼抵達，都包括在裡面。我一直很喜歡有質感、有歲月痕跡的材料，也很喜歡工藝。比起完美得看不出是誰做的東西，我更喜歡看得到人的手感。我覺得設計如果從一個地方本來就有的東西開始，通常會比先決定一套風格，再把它套進去有意思得多。後來我對「設計」這個詞的理解也愈來愈廣。它不只是建築和室內，也包括景觀、食物、制服、工藝，甚至一件東西壞了之後，你決定怎麼修、怎麼再使用。這次拍攝穿的銀色洋裝，就是從這個想法來的。我們之前做再生時尚計畫，有一些材料是被丟棄的，或是從海裡撈上來的。團隊開始想，這些東西還能不能變成別的東西。後來服裝都是 Song Saa 團隊自己做的，這次我穿的這一件，就是其中之一。我很喜歡這種轉化。好的設計，對我來說不是把所有東西做成同一種樣子，而是看見一個地方本來有的個性，不要把它蓋掉。
Enya:Song Saa Private Island makes extensive use of natural materials and architecture that blends into the landscape. How did you first envision the resort’s design?
Melita:I never wanted Song Saa to look as though somebody had designed a resort somewhere else and then placed it onto two tropical islands. The question was always: how does this belong here? That informed the scale of the buildings, the materials, the interiors, the pathways, the landscape and even the way you arrive. I love materials with texture and history. I love craft. I want to see the hand of the maker rather than something perfect and anonymous. Design gets much more interesting when you start with what a place already gives you instead of imposing an aesthetic onto it. That thinking has widened over the years. Design, for me, is much broader than architecture or interiors. It is also landscape, food, uniforms, craft, the way a guest arrives, and the way something is repaired or reused. The silver dress we are photographing for this story came from exactly that mindset. Our recycled fashion project came from the same instinct. We had materials that had been discarded or pulled out of the water, and we started asking what else they could be. The Song Saa team made the pieces by hand. The dress I am wearing on this is one of them. I find that transformation very beautiful. Good design isn’t really about making everything look the same. It is about finding the character that is already there and giving it room.
Enya: Song Saa 很早就把保育和社區放進旅宿核心。那時候「永續」甚至還不是奢華旅宿的主流議題，為什麼妳一開始就這麼在意？
Melita:你只要真的在這裡待一段時間，就很難忽略這些事情。附近居民靠海生活，島也靠健康的海洋生態維持，而我們做旅宿，最後依賴的其實也是同一個環境。所以保育對我來說，從來不是附加在商業之外的事情。這個地方好不好，本來就直接關係到我們的事業。2006 年，我們在島周圍建立了柬埔寨第一個海洋保護區，社區計畫也差不多從那時候開始。六年之後，度假村才正式開幕。後來這個保護區也成為 Koh Rong Marine National Park 的一部分。2018 年 2 月，這座海洋國家公園正式成立，面積 524 平方公里，也是柬埔寨第一座海洋國家公園。那時候其實沒有現在這麼多詞，像 regenerative tourism、nature-positive development。當時我們想得比較直接，就是：怎麼樣讓這個地方長期有收入，同時真的有能力支付保育和社區工作的成本？現在我比較常用 regenerative，也就是「再生」，而不是 sustainable。因為我覺得兩者差很多。永續比較像是盡量少造成傷害；再生則是做完一件事情之後，這個地方真的比原來更健康，而且是看得出來、量得到的。對我來說，這不是同一件事。而且這也不只是道德問題，其實是非常實際的商業問題。一個旅遊目的地為什麼有價值？就是因為它周圍的自然、文化、居民，還有這個地方自己的個性。如果這些東西慢慢被消耗掉，最後被削弱的，也是這個目的地本身。反過來，如果你真的願意投資它，結果也可能完全不同。我覺得旅宿產業到現在，都還只是在開始理解這件事情。
Enya:Song Saa Private Island placed conservation and community at its heart long before sustainability became central to luxury hospitality. Why was this so important to you from the beginning?
Melita:Once you had spent time here, it was impossible not to see the connection. The local communities depend on the sea. The islands depend on the health of the marine environment. And our business ultimately depends on exactly the same things. Conservation wasn’t something that sat beside the business. The health of the place was the business. I established Cambodia’s first marine protected area around the islands in 2006, and the community programes grew alongside it. The resort opened six years later. That protected area has since become part of the Koh Rong Marine National Park, declared February 2018, 524 km², Cambodia’s first. The commercial model was the answer to a practical question: how do you create a durable source of economic value that helps support and pay for conservation and community work? At the time, we didn’t have all of today’s language around regenerative tourism or nature-positive development. We were simply responding to what was in front of us. I use the word regenerative rather than sustainable, and I mean something specific by it. Sustainable means doing less harm. Regenerative means leaving a place measurably healthier than you found it. Those are different commitments, and only one of them is worth building a business around. This is not only an ethical argument. It is an economic one. A destination has value because of the place around it — its ecology, its culture, its communities, its identity. Degrade those things and you degrade the asset. Invest in them and the reverse can be true. That is the opportunity hospitality has barely begun to understand.
Enya:妳做過最大膽的一個決定是什麼？現在回頭看，值得嗎？
Melita:大概就是決定真的做 Song Saa。當時其實有很多理由告訴我，不應該做。島很遠，柬埔寨也還不是國際奢華旅遊目的地，基礎建設很困難，更沒有成熟案例可以參考。而且，我們還想把旅宿、保育和社區工作放在同一個模式裡。那個時候，這種做法並不常見。但真正困難的，其實是我不願意把它們拆開來。最簡單的做法當然是先把飯店蓋好，找國際集團或營運商進來，其他事情之後再說。很多項目都是這樣做的。可是我沒有。第一棟 villa 還沒出現之前，我已經先花了六年處理海域、珊瑚礁和村落的事情。過程裡當然也有很多時候覺得，自己是不是承擔得太多了。但從零開始做一件事情，本來就不會有一張地圖直接告訴你答案。你只能做決定，承擔結果，再調整，然後繼續往前。現在回頭看，我覺得值得。因為 Song Saa 至少證明了一件我到現在還很相信的事情：一個漂亮、成功的商業項目，和環境、社區之間，不一定非得二選一。如果方法對，它們其實可以互相支持。
Enya: What is the boldest decision you have made — one that, looking back, proved worth the risk?
Melita:Probably deciding to build Song Saa at all. There were plenty of sensible reasons not to build here.The islands were remote. Cambodia was not an international luxury destination. The infrastructure was difficult. There was no established model to follow. And we were trying to combine commercial hospitality with conservation and community work in a way that wasn’t particularly understood at the time. But the harder part was refusing to separate the two.It would have been easier to build the hotel first, bring in an international operator and deal with the rest later — that is what almost everyone does. Instead, I spent six years working on the water, the reef and the villages before a single villa existed. There were certainly moments when I questioned whether I had taken on too much. When you are creating something from nothing, there is rarely a point where someone hands you a map. You decide, you live with it, you adjust, you decide again. It was absolutely worth the risk because Song Saa became proof of something I still strongly believe: you do not have to choose between building a beautiful commercial asset and investing in the environment and the communities around it. Done properly, one strengthens the other.
Enya:如果只能用一句話形容，妳希望 Song Saa 最後留下什麼？
Melita:我希望 Song Saa 可以留下一個證明：渡假村不只是依賴一個地方，也可以真正幫助那個地方恢復。如果說得完整一點，我希望它證明，一個旅宿可以很美，也可以在商業上成功，同時讓成就它的那片土地，在多年之後，比我們剛來的時候更健康、更有力量。
Enya:If you could describe in one sentence what you hope Song Saa Private Island will leave behind, what would it be?
Melita:1. Proof that hospitality can contribute meaningfully to the healing of the place it depends on. 2. I hope Song Saa leaves behind proof that hospitality can be beautiful and commercially successful while leaving the place that makes it possible stronger and healthier than we found it.
Enya:Song Saa 從兩座小島開始，但妳今天做的事情已經遠遠超過一間度假村。現在最想做的是什麼？
Melita:我沒有想過去別的地方，再做一個一模一樣的 Song Saa Private Island。我現在比較有興趣的是，把我們在這裡學到的東西放大，看它能不能真正改變更大尺度的環境。Song Saa Reserve 在吳哥附近，占地 156 公頃。那是一個完全不同的場域。有森林、農地、村落、水系統，不再只是兩座島。但很多問題其實還是一樣。怎麼一邊修復生態，一邊創造經濟機會？旅宿怎麼支持整片土地的復育？社區怎麼真正分享到創造出來的價值？建築除了消耗資源之外，能不能也有所貢獻？還有一個我一直很在意的問題：怎麼做一個在商業上有吸引力的項目，同時不要把一個地方原本的個性做掉？目前我們已經種了超過 25 萬棵樹，也在慢慢建立一個更大的計畫，包括旅宿、生態修復、食物系統，以及 Institute of Living Systems。它未來會做培訓、研究，也會有很多真正發生在現場的實務學習。這是我現在最有興趣的一部分。我現在比較少把一個「目的地」想成幾棟漂亮建築，而是把它看成一個活的系統。Song Saa Private Island 讓我第一次看到，旅宿真的有可能成為改變的起點。現在我想知道的是，這件事情到底還可以走多遠。
Enya:Song Saa began with two small islands, but your work today extends far beyond the resort itself. How has your thinking evolved, and what are you most interested in building now？
Melita:I am not planning to recreate another Song Saa Private Island somewhere else. What interests me is taking what we learned there and applying it at a scale where it changes something. That is very much where my work is moving now. Song Saa Reserve, near Angkor, is 156 hectares, and we are working across an entire landscape. It is a very different place from the islands — forest, farmland, villages, water systems — but many of the questions are the same – How do you restore ecology while creating economic opportunity? How does hospitality fund landscape restoration? How do communities hold a share in the value being created? How can architecture contribute rather than simply consume? How do you create something commercially compelling without erasing the identity of the place? We have planted over 250,000 trees, and we’re developing the wider vision around hospitality, restoration, food systems and an Institute of Living Systems focused on training, research and practical learning on the ground. That is probably the part of my work I am most excited about now. I think about a destination now as a living system rather than a collection of buildings. Song Saa Private Island proved to me that hospitality can be a catalyst for much bigger change. The question I am interested in now is how far that can go.
Enya:當年像妳這樣主導大型旅宿開發的女性並不多。身為女性創辦人，有影響妳的領導方式嗎？
Melita:我一開始沒有因為自己是女性，就刻意想說我要用什麼樣的方式領導。那時候比較單純，就是一直解決眼前的問題。但現在回頭看，我想應該還是有影響。我通常會先看關係，再看單一的事情。我很在意一個人在一個空間裡是什麼感覺，也很在意一個團隊怎麼真正對一件事情產生投入感。包括一個商業決策最後會怎麼影響環境、影響社區，這些我都會一起想。我年輕一點的時候，曾經覺得領導者應該要更強勢、更確定，也更像傳統企業裡大家熟悉的那種管理者。我現在已經不這樣想了。我後來學會的是，相信自己的方式。你可以很清楚，但不一定要有情緒。你可以願意聽別人的意見，但真正需要做決定的時候，還是要做。你可以在意人，也可以同時對數字、商業結果很有紀律。這些年，我對自己的方式愈來愈自在，也比較不會覺得自己需要去模仿某一種權威。我還是在學怎麼當一個更好的領導者，我想這件事情永遠都不會結束。
只是我現在不會再把「還在改變」理解成「我不確定自己在做什麼」。你可以保持好奇、保持開放，也可以很有人性，同時很清楚自己要去哪裡。二十多年過去，Melita 關心的範圍早已越過這兩座島。從海洋保育、社區教育與醫療，到更大尺度的地景復育，她所思考的已不只是如何經營一處好的旅宿，而是旅宿究竟能為一個地方留下什麼。所以，當她再次談起 Song Saa，她談得最多的仍然不是飯店。而是一個地方。在旅客抵達以前，它已經存在很久；而真正值得思考的，也許是當旅人、建築與商業都曾經來過之後，它是否仍能保有自己的樣子，甚至比我們初次遇見它時，更多對地球自然， 再生 ，環保更多的責任。
Enya: When you began Song Saa, there were relatively few women leading hospitality developments of this scale in the region. Has being a female founder influenced the way you lead?
Melita:I didn’t set out to lead a certain way because I was a woman. I was solving the problems in front of me. But looking back, I think it has shaped how I work. I tend to see relationships and systems before I see the individual parts. I care about how a place feels to be in, how a team comes to own something, and how a commercial decision ultimately lands on an ecosystem or a community. Earlier in my career, I thought leadership had to look a certain way. More forceful. More certain. More corporate. I don’t believe that now. The change has been learning to trust my own way of leading. You can be very clear without being loud. You can be collaborative and still make difficult decisions. You can care deeply about people and still be commercially disciplined. I think I have become more comfortable with that as I’ve grown older — more willing to lead with intuition, empathy and conviction rather than feeling I have to imitate somebody else’s idea of authority. I am still evolving as a leader, and I hope I always will be. But I no longer confuse evolution with uncertainty. You can remain open, curious and deeply human while still being very clear about where you are going.
More than two decades on, Melita’s focus has long extended beyond these two islands. From marine conservation, community education and healthcare to landscape restoration on a much larger scale, her questions are no longer simply about how to run a good resort, but about what hospitality can ultimately leave behind in a place. So when she speaks about Song Saa today, she is still talking less about the hotel itself than about the place around it. It existed long before travellers arrived, and the more important question is what remains after tourism, architecture and commerce have all made their mark: whether the place can still retain its own character, and perhaps emerge stronger than when we first encountered it — healthier, more resilient, and more thoughtfully connected to the natural world.
Melita Koulmandas
頌薩私人島嶼及 Song Saa Collective 行政總裁兼創辦人
CEO and Founder of Song Saa Private Island and Song Saa Collective
Melita Koulmandas 是 Song Saa Collective 的行政總裁兼創辦人,總部設於柬埔寨,業務橫跨再生式款待、生態保育、社區韌性及在地經濟。她最為人熟知的是在柬埔寨高龍群島打造了頌薩私人島嶼(Song Saa Private Island)。她在當地的工作始於海洋保育及社區參與,而非度假村的創辦,其中更包括設立柬埔寨首個海洋保護區。這項工作後來成為頌薩私人島嶼的關鍵起點——該島嶼被構思為一個商業模式,用以支持周邊的保育工作與在地生計，早期案例、透過酒店業投資如何能夠強化生態、社區、賓客體驗及長期資產價值。
Melita Koulmandas is CEO and Founder of Song Saa Collective, a Cambodia-based group working acrossregenerative hospitality, conservation, community resilience and place-based economies. She is bestknown for creating Song Saa Private Island in Cambodia’s Koh Rong Archipelago. Her work there begannot with a resort but with marine conservation and community engagement, including the establishmentof Cambodia’s first marine reserve. That work became the catalyst for Song Saa Private Island – conceivedas a commercial model to sustain the conservation and local livelihoods around it, and an early demonstration of How hospitality investment can strengthen ecology, ommunity, guest experience andlong-term asset value.