Skift Take
All of the buzzwords are here in CEO Sonia Cheng’s strategy — from co-working and community to recognition and technology — but can Rosewood continue to maintain its uniqueness, even as it goes after what all the other hotel brands are going after, too? Given its track record, it just might.
It’s only been eight years since the former New World Hospitality group — a division of the larger Hong Kong-based conglomerate Chow Tai Fook Enterprises — purchased luxury brand Rosewood Hotels for $229 million. And in that time, Rosewood Hotel Group CEO Sonia Cheng has made it her singular goal to take the brand global, as well as retain its luxury heritage and make sure it remains relevant.
“I think that the last eight years have been just transformational for the brand,” Cheng said. “When we acquired Rosewood, we feel that there is significant potential with this brand, with all the DNA. But it was not present globally. And so the mission is really take the beautiful brand and make it a global, clearly recognized brand. And we’ve done that, and more, I think.”
Just this year, the company opened its flagship property in Hong Kong, where Cheng is based, and most recently, in March, a hotel in the heart of Bangkok. The newly opened Rosewood Hong Kong was “a project that was 10 years in the making” and, according to Cheng, “it’s the most comprehensive expression of the Rosewood brand and the vision of the Rosewood brand.”
When New World acquired Rosewood, it had only 20 properties; today it has 27 hotels and 21 more hotels in its pipeline. The group’s other brands also include lifestyle brand Khos, luxury Asia-based brand New World Hotels & Resorts, and neighborhood-lifestyle brand Pentahotels.
But beyond global expansion, Cheng said that what she’s most proud of in terms of achievements for the brand is the fact that it has changed how we look at luxury in the hotel space.
“I think what we’ve done in the last eight years is actually open the eyes of a lot of people that you can do luxury hotels differently,” Cheng said. “And I think that we have captured a space that is very unique and really is very different for us and for the market space.”
[caption id="attachment_335843" align="aligncenter" width="600"] A suite at the Hôtel de Crillon, a Rosewood Hotel. Source: Rosewood Hotel Group[/caption]
Rosewood’s ability to stand for luxury, as well as remain relevant as our concepts of luxury change, lies in the fact that each property is, in its own
