Relying on mavens when deciding on specific topic

Standing in the departure lounge of Bangkok airport last Thursday evening I had a slightly unnerving experience. The unmistakable beep on my phone told me I had just received a text message. As I watched two members of the ground crew running around the lounge squirting each other with water pistols I opened the message from a restaurant in Dubai which was inviting me to celebrate Thai New Year (Songkram Festival of Water hence water pistols at the airport) at their particular hostelry. The price quoted for the buffet per person was exactly the same amount that I had paid the previous evening for a wonderful meal for four which included as many tiger prawns as we could comfortably ingest along with several cocktails and a full round of dessert. All this was served in a basic but stylish environment on a beautiful beach washed by the Andaman Sea.

The decision to spend a week at the Laguna Beach Resort in Phuket was taken with two key criteria in mind where could we find a reasonably priced holiday that (a) would keep two young children suitably amused and (b) as a result of point (a) my wife and I could re-introduce ourselves to an old concept known as 'relaxation'. Instead of throwing ourselves into a 'google-fest' of keywords we took an old fashioned approach to the job in hand and asked friends with similar joys/hindrances what they would recommend. They were practically unanimous in their response. Happy kids, reasonable price, relaxation it's got to be the Laguna Beach Resort.

The resort is a good example of what Dubai does so well turning adverse conditions into opportunity. The area which is now occupied by five complementary, interconnected hotels was thirty years ago the site of an abandoned tin mine. The vision that was eventually realised (not everywhere operates in 'Dubai-time'!) was to create an integrated resort of the sort that is now relatively common in many parts of the world though with some interesting and important differences. The first of these is the spectacular natural environment that Thailand enjoys. I challenge anyone to take even one of the most standard tourist boat trips and not be blown away by the range and beauty of the islands and marine life.

But the most striking feature of the resort is the way in which the large international brands of Sheraton and Dusit relate to small local business. The beachfront is not the exclusive domain of linen bedecked tables requiring 'smart casually' attired customers but is populated instead by modestly decked out cafes offering straightforwardly prepared seafood dishes at very reasonable prices. Should you wish to avail of a top of the range spa then you have the opportunity to do so within the hotels but if you feel like forking out Dh30 for a one hour massage on the beach then that's an option that is also available.

The strength of this proposition was brought home to me when I chatted with a guy from the UK who had been there more than a dozen times with his family. 'Why,' I asked in my role as supporter of Dubai Inc, 'had he flown another six hours past Dubai when much of what was available in Phuket weather, beach, watersports was also available here? He replied that he had looked at Dubai as an option over the past couple of years but in his words 'it isn't a great place for a family holiday'. He then proceeded to list several reasons construction, price of eating and drinking, traffic which demonstrated that he had done a lot of homework on the topic. The guy was clearly a Maven according to the description in Malcolm Gladwell's book The Tipping Point. These are people who have built up a fund of knowledge about a specific topic and on whom many others rely when making decisions. They are extremely influential individuals when it comes to spreading 'word of mouth' recommendations. 'How?' he asked me 'did you decide to come to this resort?' 'Friends recommended it to us,' I replied.

Dubai can't launch 'Phuket Beachfront City' soon enough.

- The writer is a regional client services director at Hill & Knowlton Middle East.