Cheng: Women offer a unique perspective for hospitality

In a recent episode of “Influencers with Andy Serwer”, Rosewood Hotel Group CEO Sonia Cheng discussed the impact of women in the hotel industry and how they’ve helped to “evolve” the hotel experience.

Video transcript

ANDY SERWER: I want to ask you about being a woman leader in the business and what that's been like, and if it's-- how singular that is, and what your experience has been.

SONIA CHENG: I think that, you know, for Rosewood, I think women in the hospitality industry, we can offer a very unique perspective to the hospitality industry. And I can speak for myself. You know, I'm a mother of four at the moment. And I find it very-- a very-- a tremendous experience to be in the hotel industry.

Because you know, previously, you were saying that there's challenges of, you know, work and family balance. But what I realize is nowadays, a lot of women, you know, travel with their family on vacation. There's a trend developing, you know, work-- blending work with leisure at the same time. And for us women, we have a different lens in the hotel industry where we can shed a different light that can help evolve the experience in hotels.

So for example, because I have four children and I know what is important to children, you know, the last couple years we revamped it. We revamped our children's program, which is called Rose Explorer. So previously in different hotels, kids' clubs are seen as of this 50-square-meter room where you have some art table, some books. And that's the kids' club to house the children in resorts.

But because I have children, I have a different perspective. In Rosewood Phuket, for example, we've launched a new kids' program where we built in a lot more educational experience, from programs to learn about coral reef to a herb garden. So they learn about organic planting, to tie weaving stations. So it's a very diverse education experience, and kids love it.

And families are going to Rosewood Phuket because we have an amazing kids' program. And I wouldn't have developed that had I not become a mother. So I think we women can really provide a different perspective to the industry.

The other example I want to give you is about the development of Asaya. And when we launched the Asaya concept, we created a focus group with a lot of women and talked to them about what their needs are, and what they're looking for that is beyond a traditional spa. So those inspirations are very important and critical for our hotel industry to continue to develop and continue to evolve our concept.