Renaissance Woman

Hotelier Wee Wei Ling gets candid about challenging the authorities, the importance of failure and why there are no shortcuts to success—whatever success means, anyway

- Coco Marett

In a city known to favour the familiar, new ideas and concepts can be met with resistance. Wee Wei Ling discovered this in 1997 when she opened St Gregory Marine Spa—the first spa opened under a Singapore-listed company—during a time when local spas had a reputation for operating as a front for unsavoury business. “Back then, the authorities and anti-vice department classified spas under massage parlours, which had their own negative connotations,” Wee explains, joking that she was viewed “as a mama-san”.

But rather than resent the resistance from the authorities at the time, Wee worked tirelessly to prove that spas were a legitimate business and deserved a place in Singapore’s growing hospitality industry. The eldest child of Singapore tycoon Wee Cho Yaw, Wee was running the family’s Pan Pacific Hotels Group, and believed it was important for its hotels to offer guests “more than just a place to eat and sleep”. She explains: “I saw it as an amenity for the hotel.”

Inspired by spas she had visited on her travels to Europe, the young entrepreneur wanted to bring the concept of a wellness destination to Singapore. “We had salons and beauty centres, but not spas,” she recalls.