In Her Own Image

Rosewood CEO Sonia Cheng bears out her belief that she knows exactly what today’s luxury travellers want in a hotel – by building places that she herself will stay in.

- Karen Tee

When Sonia Cheng visits Singapore, she often stays at Capella on Sentosa. the newly refurbished Raffles hotel is also on her list for upcoming trips. however, the 38-year-old chief executive officer of the Rosewood hotel Group very professionally demurs from commenting on her visits. Instead, she lobs this rejoinder: “Come and stay at the Rosewood hong kong. I’ll show you what six stars is.”

Bold words indeed, but if there is any hotelier who can promise this – and deliver – it would be Cheng. Since she assumed her role as Rosewood’s CEO in 2011, following her family’s acquisition of the American hotel brand, she has been reinventing it for her generation of luxury travellers by refurbishing existing locations and opening new properties like a game of Monopoly. the group currently operates 27 hotels in 15 countries, with another 20 hotels slated to launch globally over the next five years. Included in its portfolio is the Carlyle in New York and Hotel de Crillon in Paris.

The Rosewood hong kong, which opened in March, is located at the former Regent hong kong hotel within the New World Centre complex owned by her multi-billionaire property developer family. this flagship is just one of five hotels she has launched this year. two weeks after Rosewood hong kong opened, the group opened its Bangkok property, located in the city’s prime business and retail district of Ploenchit. By the year’s end, Rosewood Yangon and Guangzhou will also be up and running.

“I want to create the most formidable brand out there, for people to see Rosewood as a top of the mind luxury brand. I want it to be a brand that is irreplaceable and so unique it is not easy for others to follow its innovative, unique ideas,” Cheng declares, speaking to The Peak at Rosewood Bangkok in September, during the hotel’s “housewarming” party.