A Bangkok luxury hotel treated its top clientele to a tour of a poverty-stricken Thai village on Saturday.

The Lebua, the hotel hosting the event, jetted its well-heeled group to one of the poorest parts of Thailand.

Their destination was Ban Tatit village, a ramshackle community of wooden shacks in the northeast that once raised hundreds of elephants. Currently, there are about 600 impoverished residents in the village.

Deepak Ohri, Chief Executive Officer from Lebua Hotels and Resorts, said he hopes the visit will inspire their wealthy customers to act charitably.

"For us until and unless you do not get involved you do not understand the issues. You do not understand the problem, like in the school where we gathered, there's a satellite which is far much, hundred times more expensive than the water filtration plant and the villagers have no clean drinking water, but has a satellite. So what is where the money is needed is what these people (Lebua guests) will come and see. they will involve, and they will help."

The interesting twist was that all the guests were required to spend the afternoon seeing how the other half of the world lives.
Some critics say the trip was aimed to make the wealthy people feel guilty in front of the poor.

Kathy Barnett, a New Zealand woman living in Thailand and a member of the tourist group, denied the criticism.

"It's not trying to make us feel guilty or make anyone else feel guilty but if it can get some people off their bottoms, fantastic! Get money here, fantastic! If it can help the people, and help the communities, fantastic! Not a guilt trip at all."

Organizers have drawn nearly 50 thousand US dollars in advance donations. A foundation founded by the hotel will arrange the contribution combined with its own donation of 3 million Thai baht or 96 thousand US dollars to bring clean drinking water and other basic infrastructure to the village.