Forbes Asia August 2017

W

hen it comes to luxury hotels, Hong

Kongers can be a bit blasé. Most of the

glitzy global brands are represented, and

opulent new openings occur regularly. So

the buzz over the arrival of a new brand

that’s more than a year away seems surprising. All the more so

because the brand, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, has little vis-

ibility in Asia, with just a single hotel in Beijing.

Much of Asia may be unfamiliar with Rosewood, but Hong

Kong is already enamored of the upscale hotel group. “I’m a

total fan of Rosewood, and everybody in Hong Kong cannot

wait to have our own,” says Goodwin Gaw, a major hotel owner

and investor. “Rosewood is like a Four Seasons for Millennials.

It’s really connected to young travelers, especially Asian.”

Hong Kong hotel-and-property company New World

Development bought U.S.-based Rosewood in 2011, and in the

third quarter of next year it expects to finally open the chain’s

first Hong Kong hotel. It knocked down the New World Centre

on Salisbury Road in Tsim Sha Tsui overlooking the harbor and

is putting up a 66-story tower with 398 hotel rooms and

199 long-term residences.

New World is part of Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, founded

by Cheng Yu-tung, who died last September just after his 91st

birthday and left a roughly $15 billion fortune. He had come

from China as a teenager and his rags-to-riches tale began

with his transformation of a Macau gold shop into Chow Tai

Fook, one of the world’s largest jewelry chains. Unlike many

Hong Kong tycoons whose family dynasties end up hobbled by

succession disputes, he carefully plotted his own transition. Son

Henry Cheng took over and groomed his four children, Adrian,

Sonia, Brian and Christopher, to run the family businesses.

Rosewood is the baby of 36-year-old Sonia, or rather, one of

four babies. Hailed as a model Millennial, she’s the chief execu-

tive and also a mother of three under the age of 5; her husband

runs a restaurant company (see box, p. 18). Under her, Rose-

wood has become one of the world’s fastest-growing luxury

hotel brands. Among its prized properties are the historic Hôtel

de Crillon, in Paris on the Place de la Concorde, which just

16 | FORBES ASIA AUGUST 2017

FORBES ASIA

SONIA CHENG

Hong Kong

Homecoming

Sonia Cheng grew up in New World hotels. Now

she’s opening new ones for the family empire as her

Rosewood Hotel Group keeps expanding.

BY RON GLUCKMAN

A GENERATION EMERGES