Sonia Cheng, CEO of Rosewood Hotel Group | The Brave Ones

[Music] I've always had a passion for hotels it's a great opportunity to be able craft something on your own we're a very special collection around the world where the hotel itself celebrates the city's culture its history its heritage which really resonates with kind of the next generation travelers I see myself as target customer I think it's all about trying to push the boundaries and be top in the market the grand opening of Rosewood Hong Kong the fullest expression of the brand has to be and is in Hong Kong this room we are standing here tonight has been eight years in the making that Hong Kong hotel is 100% her vision I have a very special connection to this site because this is a site where my late grandfather created one of the most important landmark in the history of Hong Kong the old new world center every Hong Kong person has some memory of spending time there having that whole area can I transform and be kind of reborn for today was very very exciting very inspirational and here's a role model for me and my family we're extremely proud for her to be leading the Rosewood ran back to the home turf of Hong Kong to have the opportunity to carry on its vision is an honor I would like the guests to come here and say wow is something special my only hope is that with the newest rows of Hong Kong here we're able to create memories for the new generation when I start working on this project it becomes a very personal project for me this is a very special place in her heart I lived with my family in the serviced apartment in the complex and so there's a lot of childhood memories for me including you know riding my bicycle for the first time and you have sleepover parties with my cousin we will gather with my grandfather in this location dr. Cheng Newton is a Hong Kong legend her grandfather and her father working together at the time it's called new world development they were the one that built Hong Kong through the 70s 80s they really began to develop the whole property side the hospitality side and that was when that very first new world center appeared on the southern tip of you know the Kowloon Peninsula we can say that you know we are the Ponyo to build this kind of project watching her father Henry Chang run that Hotel and develop that spot would have made a huge impression on the young Sonia I would walk around the hotel with my father you know learning about and at that time you know firsthand what a hotel operation really looks like you sucked that in you inherit that maybe this reason why she's so gravitated to a hospitality industry right because it somehow isn't that blood after fourteen years ago I went to boarding school in the States I went to Taft in Connecticut and that was a completely different educational experience it was typical of the Hong Kong so what do you call all the money families you know they send their kids everywhere they've got really good education sannyas education in the US was extremely influential because it exposed the to new ideas and new concepts I entered to Harvard and I study applied mathematics when I graduated I went into Investment Banking I did a few years with Morgan Stanley and in real estate and then after more in Stanley I went into private equity and I work for Warburg Pincus both in New York and Hong Kong in 2008 I wanted to do something that's completely different and then that's hi my father wanted to start a hotel management business the amazing thing about Sonya is that she was there at the very young young age to the reign of this company I think dr. Chang knew at that time he was grooming her for something big people knew her from very early on and that she had in in some way in the public eye when I first started it was actually quite overwhelming because I didn't have a traditional hotel degree but Sonya was a big risk young CEO first time ce o-- everybody was expecting a bit of a flash in the pan I spent the first two years literally you know spending time in hotels and learning how different department works including you know from housekeeping to human resources to sales and marketing to operations it's self-taught and she'll learn through the process this is not a Cornell hotel school this is they chant Hotel School that she thought I learned she goes I think in Asia traditionally it's always been about the boys but in today's day and age it's much much more equal playing field and it comes down to her family culture I think they were very very supportive for someone who's from a quite a traditional big family you see a lot that they really follow what their parents grandparents want them to do she she did that too but then she really started to come into her own it was in 2011 when Sonya acquired the Rosewood for 229 million when we acquired Rosewood it has a presence of about 18 hotels mostly in America's Caribbean and Mexico Rosa is a brand of course go way back in good old America Texas really exhibited the Southern Comfort what the American hospitality is about with our groups network in Asia internationally we believe that we're the perfect partner to bring rosewood to become a much more global international brand Sonia identified was the beauty of that brand and how she could move it forward and really can reinvent it after Sonja acquired the brand she set out on this rapid expansion plan to really take it to the next level when I'm into it for the first time the first question I asked who are you going to build that brand for and she basically lived in mediant for me a lot of the kind of ideas that she wants to bring to hospitality I think are very very international and she's just wonderfully cosmopolitan I traveled around the world a lot so you go to one hotel it's the same as the other there's a need of a brand that has a stronger point of view and a stronger personality Sonya saw a void in the market and said hey where do I want to stay where do my friends want to stay she couldn't find the right answer and so that's what she set out to do when she created this new rosewood first thing that we did relaunched Rosewood globally with an international campaign the first new generation hotel Rosewood London a first baby people were very skeptical about the fact that it's not located where all the other luxury hotels are located it's in Holborn it's a location where it's very authentic it was a heritage building that they refashioned they invested over a hundred million dollars in this property when you walk in you've got all these incredible design details this beautiful marble geometric pattern floor the suites are just super chic when you're in your room you still feel the same intimacy for me that's important travelling so much that you feel familiar and you have intimacy in your space and it feels like your owner [Music] she totally transformed it changed it and modernized it basically made something completely different yet treasuring the culture of the place the heritage of the place we went with our instinct and without God that we'll be able to draw the people to the location and become making a destination because the atmosphere was so cool it was so inviting Londoners all of a sudden wanted to go to the Rosewood for a drink it opened a lot of doors it really established rosewood as a abroad not just an ultra luxury brand but a brand of style and we believe that it is exactly a brand that the next generation travelers are looking for Brian about experiences about discoveries Rosa Beijing was another challenging milestone we invested a lot in that project and it was definitely not an easy renovation and were essentially told all of the things that we couldn't do Oh No impossible and Sonia just turned to them and she said but that's what I want [Music] [Applause] you they're often you know preconceived notions about what you know kids like us grow up and then while no fondant would be in and there's a always a sense of urgency to kind of fight off that and and do something different your prominent family name might be Chang's it can be a double-edged sword because you have such high expectations of yourself high expectations that others put on you there are not many women running businesses in Asia or the world for that matter that said it's a measure of her competency that her father gave her this portfolio and she's proven that she's up for the challenge she's a name that represents the new generation of these big families but also took it to a new era people knew she had the means to create what she had I don't think they realized how determined she was and I think people underestimate how innovative she is she was tenacious she had a vision she just wanted to just shake things up the way we look at each hotel we really try to understand the location first and then which TaylorMade every hotel to the needs mostly what you want to do is you want to embrace the local sensibilities now of course world wars are always about a sense of place and nothing that some days on these were good at it why would you want to London stay somewhere you could have stay in Connecticut and it's the level of detailing the little accessories the things that you don't typically find in a in a normal hotel that really give you that feeling that you're staying in someone else's apartment it's not a cookiecutter approach we really wants to take the beauty of the city and weave it into the hotel when we then open the Rosewood Beijing was truly a milestone for the for the company because it was our first venture in in Asia Rose of Beijing was another challenging milestone we invested a lot in that project and it was definitely not an easy renovation I saw the existing building and I thought existing building your aspirations two entirely different things and then we learned about this big project we were wondering well what could they do with that building it had always been there and that location was very familiar to a lot of people in Beijing and trying to transform that building and to create a destination for brand that has no presence in Asia was quite a daunting task we sat in this meeting and were essentially told all of the things that we couldn't do about how difficult everything was oh no impossible won't happen and Sonia just turned to them and she said but that's what I want and that's what she got it's not easy you know for a company or family of that kind of size and that kind of tradition to move very quickly Sonia you know she has enough courage and conviction in what she sees is right and to do it in today's world and no Beijing quite well and Beijing has a lot of different brands in different hotels but what it lacks is a hotel that really speaks to the city that resonates with the locals one of the things that Sonia is really passionate about is food and connecting travellers to a city to a destination through food culture and so what she did when they opened rosewood Beijing she said I don't want the traditional celebrity chef restaurant we arrived with four restaurants three of which are Chinese and everybody might like you you need to open Italian everybody's in Italian we have to do anytime she went I don't care it's gonna work we go for it and so she created Red Bull which is a traditional hotpot restaurant so this is a style of eating that's been around in Chinese culture for fifteen hundred years but no one had elevated and made a more formal hotpot restaurant people love going to hop off but there's only places that are you know more casual restaurants out there for hotpot but nothing that is more stylish and more upmarket you had people who were traveling to Beijing wanting to go just to that restaurant you had locals coming in to dine there and so it became this buzzy creative social hub in the hotel was an interesting moment because I would say at that time nobody saw us coming sannyas belief in herself as essentially the next generation of luxury traveler meant that it was in the end very successful and successful success but then Paris you know delivery on can see right now the creon is booming it's become the darling of Paris so to revitalize that property with such a strong history and in people's mind it's not easy at the same time we made a long effort in trying to relieve in the Parisian culture in a subtler more sophisticated way and celebrates the city within the hotel the hotel was closed for over four years because they really wanted to make sure that they were taking this landmark Parisian Hotel into a new era and they brought in six designers including Karl Lagerfeld Sonja was very intimately involved with working with Colorado fellows team to ensure that Karl is also able to extend his personality through this amazing suite that he created I do get into the details and and I need to pull back in the future I think I get two decisions down to the uniforms of the people where the scent of the amenities that they choose for the property the concepts of the restaurants because that's my passion many exactly my work was it so well you know taste on my thing I'll leave it to somebody else buy your case what she know she will get involved in each and every uniform design in each and every tabletop in each and every menu in each and every detail of the interior design what is this she doesn't get involved which pushes other want to give him up sometime I said to Sonia Sonia let me do my job she's got an amazing eye for detail and the attention that she has on on everything I mean she really has she's great tea she's very sophisticated everyone has its own personality so I think Sonia is really added her touch in a very elegant and chic way it's all through her lens the design the food she is so exacting about her taste and her style and when you check into a Rosewood again in Beijing in New York in Paris it feels perfect for that environment my father always tell me the hotel is a people's business and you need to spend time to invest in people and build relationships because at the end of the day with other people you don't have the Brawn she is extremely passionate about building teams and I think that's been to her strengths I know that I don't have the 20 years of experience in hotels and I I tell the team up front that I need them to be a partner she's making these really impactful decisions but she's doing it surrounded by people who've been in the industry for 20 30 years she's a sponge she will learn from everybody around her that's how I built my team and that's how happy my company is investing in these relationships and to find professionals that are that have an aligned vision with me and and have the same passion really is about the people within her company how they keep up her with her velocity when she did the Tattler cover for Hong Kong toddler she told me I don't want to just do another cover and I don't want to just be the cover girl said for me it's about showing the team I'm proud of even though you had a vision you always have to make your team feel that this is part of their vision as well and give credit to the team on Rosewood Phuket she was a new mother and so halfway through the design there was all of a sudden this different focus so at the end of the day I think my family became an inspiration to me rolled wood is the shadow you know cast even taller the moonship [Music] [Applause] [Music] we opened with rose at London as well as rules of Beijing our first rose would in Asia and then after Beijing we opened of course the Creon in Paris we opened our first resort in Phuket and then subsequently more hotels in Asia such as luang prabang which has tented camps non-fan and cambodia and then leading up to hong kong which was a basically a combination of the entire journey a rose wood and the most comprehensive expression of of what we're trying to create for the bride rosemon is rapidly building and they've got some amazing properties in the pipeline today we're at 20 7421 more unique destination currently working on rosewood in Brisbane the first property in Australia working on Hotel and Chengdu Taipei Banco and Houston you know growth is very selective it's very strategic we take a very bespoke approach when we approach each of the hotels before I had children I always believed that you know resorts should be just for couples on rosewood Phuket she was a new mother and so halfway through the design there was all of a sudden these different focus the next generation of travellers and people like myself young families they travel less as couple we visit places as a couple we now visit as a family and it gives a different perspective she's now setting out to provide young families a whole slew of experiences when they go to any property so at the end of the day I think my family became an inspiration to me she is a kind of the guinea pig for our road to the Explorer program so when we developed Rosa Phuket we dedicated a larger ground for the kids facility it's not just about sticking them in a room and calling it the kids club and parking them there for the day they really want to get out and explore and explore the destination that there's you know water play herb garden so that they can grow their own plants we have a Thai weaving station they can teach time tie weaving which the pits love and she's a young mom and she knows she knows her kids want to keep busy and want to keep active and they want to learn something she is always making sure that her kids get the best she stays so motivated it's so excited I don't know how she does it she's got four kids she's a very attentive mother but at the same time she's steering a BMF of a hospitality brand there are a few female CEOs in the hotel world and so having somebody like Sonja at the helm of rosewood is really special and inspiring to many women in the travel industry women have a very difficult choice to make and she has deal with that on a daily basis I think she does that brilliantly she is a role model for women like us who want it all and are not afraid of sacrificing some parts of yourself in order to have it all she's continually evolving and therefore the brand is continually evolving that's what makes it really interesting and will continue to make it interesting it's dynamic roles Wood is the shadow of Sonya you know it's cast even call it the moon shadow and I see the moon shadow which is Sonya which is role for it so whatever it is Sonya you see the shadow of Rosa she really wants to bring something valuable to the community and to the world and in that she gets her sense of value for herself too she's also of course very competitive as a businesswoman so I think competition drives her to go forward a lot she's gone from really having no kind of classic Hotel training to being one of the preeminent minds in the hotel business I never want to stand still so everyday it's it's a challenge you know it's a people's business so you you will get involved in so many different aspects of the of the space and for the bit of the business her strength is is to be able to balance no dream and vision with operation and financial happiness the secret to success is the sort of left brain right brain thing and it's the kind of confluence of those two things that has allowed her to be so successful so quickly you know what I entered to Harvard I didn't want to follow the general population of studying economics I found a challenging route study applied math it's because I just don't want to be in the norm and at same with building this brand and building this company is you want to be known as the most progressive and most innovative hospitality company out there she's proved the naysayers wrong because the brand is thriving and really exceeding so many others because of her vision at the first meeting you probably don't think oh she's a dynamic person because she's so personable but once you get to see what she does and get to know her you'll feel that energy inside her and then it becomes very obvious I love sunny story because she's a young woman that obviously is extremely smart and is able to apply who she is or what she believes in her integrity to the hotel world others is mother of four children but still the Rosewood is her baby and one of the best in the world she created the Big Kahuna my friend right in the hospitality industry she's creating a legacy for the future I'm in Rosewood today is a brand to be reckoned with she's brave to to go to someplace she doesn't know anything about how many of us can do that I always think that you know the industry evolves so quickly you need to continue to evolve as a company you need to learn we need to keep moving when you keep pushing boundaries and be the most forward-thinking company out there [Music] [Music] [Music] you you

Channel: CNBC International TV

Views: 167,316

Keywords: CNBC international, CNBC Life, the braves ones, the brave ones cnbc, sonia cheng, sonia cheng 2019, sonia cheng question, sonia cheng episode, sonia cheng rosewood, sonia cheng youtube, sonia cheng interview, sonia cheng news, rosewood hotel group, rosewood hotels, rosewood hotels and resorts, rosewood hotels and resorts case study

Id: 6bGGCE5hmbI

Length: 26min 0sec (1560 seconds)

Published: Fri May 31 2019