Forbes Asia August 2017

AUGUST 2017 FORBES ASIA | 19

“That I enjoy, because I hope my experience can inspire a lot of

young students.”

Much like Eloise, the girl who lived in New York’s Plaza

Hotel in a series of children’s books and movies, Cheng was

enchanted by hotels as a child. “My family was one of the first

developers of luxury hotels in Hong Kong and in China,” she

says, “so I grew up surrounded by hotels.” Indeed, she spent

much of her childhood in hotels, including the Regent on the

Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront, which is now the Intercontinental

Hong Kong, and the New World Hotel across Salisbury Road,

where the new Rosewood Hotel is being built. She recalls how

she would have slumber parties in the hotels with her cousins.

But running hotels is different from staying in them. “It

was overwhelming at first, because I didn’t have the standard

Cornell University hotel degree or 20 years of hotel experience,”

she says. “I did a crash course. I literally went from department

to department to try to understand how everything works. I

learned a lot in a very short period.”

As she methodically spent two years visiting each hotel and

talking to staff, she also mapped out her idea for a luxury brand

appealing to travelers like herself. “The audience we are target-

ing is looking for a different experience,” she says. “These are

the affluent explorers, and they are looking for an adventure,

a sense of surprise, of discovery. They don’t want the expected

anymore. We’re delivering the unexpected.”

The acquisition of Rosewood was a fortuitous break. It had

a rich history, but a limited reach. It was founded in 1979 by

Caroline Rose Hunt, herself a rich daughter (of early U.S. oil

tycoon H. L. Hunt). Her first hotel was Rosewood Mansion

on Turtle Creek in Dallas. The luxury brand spread across the

U.S. and the Caribbean, commanding a loyal following, but its

growth had plateaued and it was exploring its options.

Cheng wasn’t looking to acquire a marquee brand, but one

of the Rosewood owners the family knew suggested a meeting.

Rosewood was never widely shopped around, and there was

no bidding war. The deal was done quickly, and New World

paid $225 million, a price some felt was inflated. Now many

call it a bargain. “It was a great buy,” says Bill Barnett, managing

director of the Asia consultancy C9 Hotelworks. New World, he

says, was positioned to unlock the value of Rosewood. “It was

perfect timing.”

Chief operating officer Symon Bridle, who came to Rose-

wood after 18 years with Shangri-la, another heralded Hong

Kong hotel company, says: “The challenge is creating a brand

identity and getting it right at the beginning.” He concedes that

Rosewood’s exact formula for luxury “is hard to explain” but

credits Cheng for offering a fresh perspective. She wants her

hotels to be hip destinations in each city; so she focused on cre-

ating lively lobbies and facilities rich in local color. “She didn’t

come to this with a lot of baggage. She knew hotels, grew up in

them, but she really brought a young mind-set to this. We’re

prepared to do things differently.”

The payoff has been in both accolades and bookings. After

opening in Beijing in 2014, Rosewood became not only the

buzzy new place to bunk but also to be seen. “Sonia has a pas-

sion for hotels, and it shows,” notes Gloria Chang, director of the

Hong Kong office of Horwath HTL, an international hotel and

tourism consultancy. “Rosewood really did a good job in Beijing.

Everybody is looking forward to seeing Rosewood in Hong

Kong.” F

It must be hard to balance being chairman
and also father. You must sometimes feel
like jumping in when Adrian and Sonia
propose their own ideas for the businesses?
I tell myself to keep an open mind, be sup-
portive, offer advice only when asked and
jump in only when necessary! It’s important
for me to listen to the next generation rather
than sticking only with my own protocol.
My children are incredibly talented, mature
and capable individuals with great ideas and
vision. We discuss different things all the
time—and they may not be happy with my
stance—but they do respect that I have been
doing this for a lot longer than they have and
will follow my lead.

Any fatherly advice to offer?
Sometimes I think they try to do too much,
too soon, but that perhaps is the way of the
younger generation. I think they have bal-

anced their lives well and managed to build

fulfilling personal lives as well as professional,

which makes me very happy as a father (and

grandfather!).

How did your family prepare you and

Sonia for the transition?

Adrian Cheng: They gave us the freedom

to explore and develop different interests,

and that’s been invaluable in setting our own

stamp on what we do and proposing initiatives

that we feel are the best way forward. Most

importantly, I think we’ve been groomed since

childhood to be aware of a sense of responsi-

bility to others and, I hope, humility.

What is your view on building the business

in China?

China will always be a wellspring for us—our

roots in the country go deep, our business

interests there are well established, and the

potential for growth is phenomenal. Since

this generation is the same age and has the

same experience and outlook of younger

Chinese consumers, I think we bring a spe-

cial insight and recognition to doing business

with them.

How is it working with your sister

and father?

We have always been close and feel free

to go to each other for second opinions

when we hit obstacles. One of the major

challenges is that we are all very busy

with work and our own families—which

keep growing!—so it’s getting more and

more difficult to sit down with each other

outside of work. And often it’s over the

family dinner and similar situations when

you really have time to get far-ranging in

your conversations rather than focus on a

short-term decision to make.