• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, February 13, 2025

The vastness of the Warner Bros. Discovery empire enabled the company to promote an HBO show on HGTV.

The two platforms could not be more different, but they intersected Tuesday night on behalf of “The White Lotus,” the HBO/Max series which starts its third season this Sunday.

Somehow, the company found common ground shared by HBO and HGTV in Thailand, where much of Season Three of “The White Lotus” was filmed.

It was also where Tuesday’s episode of the HGTV home-search show “House Hunters International” was filmed.

The production and timing of the airdate of the “House Hunters International” show was evidently deliberate. 

“The White Lotus” was name-dropped repeatedly by the participants on the show -- a U.S. couple seeking to move to Thailand and their Thai real estate agent. 

The season premiere was also promoted on the lower right corner of the screen more or less constantly throughout the episode.

The couple were looking for a home in the Thai resort city of Koh Samui on the Gulf of Thailand. 

The town was home base for the filming of the third season of “The White Lotus,” and that was positioned in the HGTV show as the very reason the couple wanted to live there.

They said they had been to the area before and fell in love with it. They also said they are big fans of “The White Lotus,” which propelled them to make their dream of living in Koh Samui a reality.

In the HGTV show, it was implied, if not stated outright, that the twosome believed they should act quickly before the premiere of Season Three of “The White Lotus” ignites a huge spike of interest in Koh Samui real estate on the part of other “White Lotus” fans.

The real estate agent said much the same thing, but realtors always say that a market is hot, regardless of location, on the HGTV house-hunting shows.

But interest in visiting Koh Samui as a vacation destination could experience a spike as the new “White Lotus” season unfolds.

The show really shows off the town’s luxe accommodations -- most notably, the plush Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui (pictured above), which appears to be the most prominent of the Thailand locations, according to a list from HBO.

Other locations include a bar and lounge at another Koh Samui resort, Anantara Lawana; a restaurant and a Wellness Sanctuary/Spa, both in Phuket; and the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok.

A production facility in Bangkok -- Acts Studio -- was used for some interiors, HBO said.

Are there enough rabid “White Lotus” fans to spur a rush for real estate in Thailand? The skeptic in me says no. But a vacation? See you there.