Changing The Course

As co-founder of Lloyd’s Inn and Ove, Joan Chang is creating new spaces and experiences for the millennial generation. The Prestige 40 Under 40 2020 inductee tells Annabel Tan how she is helping to shape the real estate and hospitality industry from the ground up.

- Annabel Tan

When Joan Chang took on the task of revamping her family-owned boutique hotel, Lloyd’s Inn, almost seven years ago, it was entirely of her own volition. Contrary to popular belief, the daughter of Herman Chang, founder of property developer Macly Group, was never groomed to join the family business. Today, she is the lauded co-founder of the relaunched Lloyd’s Inn, as well as Ove, her own modern luxury lifestyle brand that encompasses homes, hospitality and wellness.

It was in 2014 when she first requested to get involved. Only 23 at the time and fresh out of university, she had no industry experience but, with her marketing background, saw the opportunity to elevate the Lloyd’s Inn brand from an old budget hotel to a novel concept that would ride on the staycation trend and satiate millennials’ growing appetite for unique experiences and authenticity.

A Singapore Management University business management graduate who majored in finance and marketing, Joan saw that hospitality had not fully transitioned into digital media yet, and wanted to take a creative and unconventional approach – not just in terms of the design of the hotel, but also in crafting a new way to market it and defining a new audience. She recognised that her own skill set could fill the gap and add value to what her family had already built.

GO-GETTING SPIRIT