As a kid I was naughty as hell! I was always getting into trouble and eventually my despairing parents sent me off to boarding school for some real discipline.
I wanted to be a doctor growing up but later on I realized it wasn’t for me. My parents are both doctors so I thought I would follow in their footsteps, but I think in retrospect they are probably glad I didn’t!
My memories of childhood are mostly good and my fondest recollections are of breakfasts with the whole family on Sundays. My parents worked very hard so we didn’t see them all that often on weekdays; but Sunday breakfasts were always special. We would have our favorite meal of nasi padang and mee siam!
My first real job was as a lawyer. I actually really enjoyed practice!
Creating Wanderlust was about having as many talented people contributing to a project as possible. We wanted something interesting and diverse, so the idea of working with different designers for the different levels came about from this.
You really have to work to your target customer. A Raffles Hotel customer, for example, is looking for something very different from a Wanderlust customer. We are in Little India and we play on that. The hotel is housed in a unique building and with all our projects; the conservation aspect and respecting the history of the building is paramount.
The hotel industry in Singapore is likely to continue growing and by its very nature it’s open to innovation and new trends. This will mean new offerings and new customers. It’s very exciting but I don’t know any more than the next person what the next trend will be. It’s all about keeping an open mind and constantly exploring.
Singaporeans will never be our primary target as hotels rely on visitors for the bulk of their business but we do get some Singapore residents who spend the weekend with us. They generally do enjoy staying in hotels and it’s a nice getaway for them.
I never have enough time. Sometimes taking the day off makes me feel guilty because there is so much still to do!
I believe in myself so I’m not really concerned about other people’s opinion.
I think just having a happy settled family life is what I want to achieve. I’m definitely not set on world domination or anything like that. I just enjoy spending time doing nothing and hanging out with my wife and family. To me, that is true luxury.
For me, life is about having fun and not taking things too seriously.
