Bill Bensley

[7] At University, Bensley went on to win an award from the American Society of Landscape Architects[2] which led to a full scholarship at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, studying Urban Design under famed architect Moshe Safdie, and alongside Lek Mathar Bunnag,[8] who invited him to come to Asia after they completed their studies at Harvard in 1984.

The day after graduation, Bensley started backpacking across Europe, before going to Malaysia where he hitchhiked and exchanged sketches of people he met for meals, as he worked his way to Singapore.

[15] A new concept in hospitality, it was awarded Conde Nast Traveller Readers' Choice #1 Hotel in the World three years in a row.

[19] Bensley’s work is centered around sustainability, with Tatler Malaysia writing that "he has made it his life’s mission to preserve the sanctity of the Earth through focused ecological practices.

Bensley's dedication to conservation and sustainability continued with the opening of a tented camp[21] in Cambodia's Cardamom mountains, under the Shinta Mani Hotel Group.

Bensley purchased a piece of land “roughly the size of Central Park”[22] to prevent it from being mined, and set up a 15-tent luxury camp, which helps fund Wildlife Alliance's work in the protection of the forest from poaching and logging – a common issue in the area.