Samui Plus

[JamesE]

Chris Parker just dropped a video interviewing the head of the tourism org on Koh Samui. There are some interesting tidbits like the swab tests are included in the price of the hotel. I've also got some other questions out to see if I can get more clarification/confirmation from a different source.

 

[JamesE]

Some additional info.

Tests will be handled as at Phuket, prepaid to hotel but not included it the room. Reported as being the same cost. The ฿5,500 number was described as "fake news".

You can split your flight itinerary. So, fly to BKK on one ticket and then on to Samui on a different booking. This should open up some options on the international flights.

Biggest thing: You are never "free to travel around Koh Samui, Koh Phangnan, and Koh Tao." While you are in the Samui Plus scheme you are stuck with the sealed route and SHA+ restrictions.

[JamesE]

And then it gets weird: Per asq.in.th

Your accomodation options are:

14 days at Samui Extra Plus Hotel

7 days at Samui Extra Plus Hotel, and 7 days at a SHA PLUS+ Hotel.

That's it. The (currently 3) Extra Plus hotels start at ฿50K for a 7-night stay. (It does include food...) The "Extra Plus" hotels are ALQ by another name.

[AussieBob]

I am getting a little dubious about Chris.  He has been saying he is a retired guy and that he only monetised his youtube channel so that he could 'pay it back'.  All good and all that - and he has done a lot of good things that is for sure. But it has recently come to light that he owns part of the Moonstone Resort in Samui - not just owns the Unit he has been showing in his latest vids, but he also has ownership of the resort. Perhaps I am just being sceptical - but my BS radar has started to fire a bit lately when watching his vids. I still do not understand why he left Bangkok and became 'nomadic'.  I am suspecting that like some other very successful youtubers he has recently interviewed, he and his wife are going to spend all their time travelling and reviewing resorts in various SEAsian countries.  I dont think it is a coincidence that he interviewed the Head of the Thai Dept who is putting together the 'digital nomad' Visa.  All good if that is the case - as long as he 'comes clean' about what he is up to, and continues to 'give it back' to the local struggling Thais.

[JamesE]

Yeah, when I first started seeing him wearing the non-Awkward Moonstone shirts and knowing he really enjoyed Samui, I did a bit of digging and found the connection. I agree that his motivations were suspect from that point although he did, as you point out, do a great service from his Pay It Forward work. He must have sold his company in LA for a freaking fortune.

[AussieBob]

Yeh - I think you are correct.   He is sending his daughter back to Canada to attend University over there, and that will cost a lot of money.  Says he loves Thailand and Thais and is always going on about that and making himself look like a person of the Thai people.  But then he sends his kid overseas for her education? I have no issues with that, and if I had the money I would too. But he paints a very different picture of himself in his vids, than what he actually is and does.  Overall though, I have no issues with that, as long as he continues to 'pay it back' to poor Thais.  If he stops doing that, then I will figure he only did it to gain followers on his channel so that he can make money from his future travel vlogs and get free accommodation and travel (like many other travel vloggers on Youtube).  If that happens - I will be 'dogging' him big time.

[thai3]

Many of these vlogger people are not what they seem, remember Grahame Briar and Kev in Pattaya, personally I can't stand this guys accent so don't watch his material.

[peter_h]

I'm sure Chris could answer for himself, but I don't get what is suspicious about his intentions.  He has always been clear why he left the company he set up and developed - and, being in the LA film and TV industry, I'm sure he made a good living and was maybe bought out when he left.

The same thing about the move to Bangkok - one of the drivers was to give his daughter some exposure to a non North American culture and education.  Perhaps it was always the plan for her to return there for further education - and perhaps she wanted to go back?

I don't think he has ever gone into his finances in any detail, but then why should he?  He left his job at under 50 and moved his family to Bangkok, so I imagine he had his finances worked out (including his daughter's university education) in advance.  He has income from Moonstone (though he's said it only broke even in 2020), but I can't see that being the only source when he first moved.  He's been going to Samui for almost 30 years so why shouldn't he think of building a high end villa to form part of a retirement portfolio?  From his videos, he has lived comfortably since moving to Thailand (nice condo, plenty of travel, nice resorts/hotels).

However, the point is that all this was well before he took off in YT, so my thought is that he doesn't really need income from that at all or was counting on it.  Indeed, the success of his channel has always appeared to surprise him and, looking at his first videos, I can't see that he planned or imagined that the channel would be where it is now, 9 months later.

But I agree, he needs to continue the pay it forward payments - there's a good one coming up in Pattaya!

[JamesE]

1 hour ago, peter_h said:

I'm sure Chris could answer for himself, but I don't get what is suspicious about his intentions.  He has always been clear why he left the company he set up and developed - and, being in the LA film and TV industry, I'm sure he made a good living and was maybe bought out when he left.

The same thing about the move to Bangkok - one of the drivers was to give his daughter some exposure to a non North American culture and education.  Perhaps it was always the plan for her to return there for further education - and perhaps she wanted to go back?

I don't think he has ever gone into his finances in any detail, but then why should he?  He left his job at under 50 and moved his family to Bangkok, so I imagine he had his finances worked out (including his daughter's university education) in advance.  He has income from Moonstone (though he's said it only broke even in 2020), but I can't see that being the only source when he first moved.  He's been going to Samui for almost 30 years so why shouldn't he think of building a high end villa to form part of a retirement portfolio?  From his videos, he has lived comfortably since moving to Thailand (nice condo, plenty of travel, nice resorts/hotels).

However, the point is that all this was well before he took off in YT, so my thought is that he doesn't really need income from that at all or was counting on it.  Indeed, the success of his channel has always appeared to surprise him and, looking at his first videos, I can't see that he planned or imagined that the channel would be where it is now, 9 months later.

But I agree, he needs to continue the pay it forward payments - there's a good one coming up in Pattaya!

I agree with you for the most part except for the "he planned" bit. I think given his knowledge about how content works he could figure out what the "hook" was when starting his channel. He has knowledge about scripting, editing, and, importantly, character development. Look at the smooth transition from the old goofy Chris showing you "$10 buys WHAT???" style videos of the early days to the high-end resorts and condos videos he's doing now. He has (obviously) got his content planned weeks or months in advance and is definitely not the typical spur of the moment YouTube vlogger. He has started looking at this as a series and like all such things its about attracting eyeballs.

Given that Thailand has a surfeit of content he had to stand out so he created his character, and a couple of others to bring people in. He has great ideas for his videos, executes them well, and weaves together his pay-it-forward projects that really do shine a light on what's happening in Thailand right now. Indeed, his Five Star Marine story was so much more engaging than The Thaiger's own coverage which was distant and sterile at best.

But, Thailand is also a limited market. Even CB Media hasn't broken 400K. Chris knows that if he wants to grow the channel he's going to have to start pulling in more viewers and to that he's going to branch out and expand the Retired Working For You brand. I really wish him luck and I think that he brings the skill set and engaging characters he needs to do it.

BTW - Do you have any idea how much money he'd have to bring in to have Moonstone break even in 2020? I think he spent his 30 years of going to Koh Samui well.

[peter_h]

Hi James

I agree with your points too - except perhaps the sequence of events.  I don't think that Chris intended to start a YT channel that could end up as it is now when he started with the Canada Covid push up videos back at the very start.  0However, after he returned to Bangkok he started getting 10k+ views for the occasional videos.  I think that it was then that he realised that he could grow the channel - and releasing similar videos would have been an obvious strategy.  Look at his 100 sub video and the one with goals for 2021 (and take them at face value) you can get an idea of what he was going for.  He's also an intelligent guy, so maybe the YT thing was a retirement challenge!

He has made it clear early on that YT money would go towards pay it forward projects, which makes me believe that he is financially independent of YT.  Also, he hasn't gone down the merchandise or in-video sponsorship routes as potential ways of getting income by circumventing his pay it forward 'rule'.

As far as the Moonstone budget goes, I have absolutely no idea.  I know that Chris has said that there are five full time staff who have been kept on at full salaries for the whole pandemic but, given the rates that are on the website, I guess that this would be a relatively small amount compared to turnover if the occupancy was 'normal'.  I don't even know if he owns 100% of Moonstone - or whether it was paid for outright or was financed - both of which could affect the answer to your question.

I also think that he could have benefitted from the YT 'algorithm' by popping up in viewers suggestions and that effect can't be ignored, no matter the best efforts of the channel. There's a current YTuber based in the north of England who drives around just to review takeaways.  He released his first video in June last year and has uploaded 112 in all .  Since the end of March 2021 though, he has gone from 721 to 335k subs and 24k views to 35.4m.  His videos started popping up on my feed in April, for no apparent reason - and I'm sure it wasn't deliberate on his part (they are funny, though!)