Sonia runs the household’s lodge enterprise, turning it right into a sprawling assortment of resorts and luxurious places.
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Pictures for The Enterprise of Trend and Thomas Iannaccone/Penske Media by way of Getty Picture
Sonia, 43, studied utilized math at Harvard College earlier than working as an actual property banker for Morgan Stanley and in personal fairness for Warburg Pincus, in keeping with a 2019 profile by CNBC.
In 2008, she joined her household’s enterprise at age 28, changing into CEO of Rosewood Resort Group three years later when the Chengs bought the properties from Rosewood Corp. and Maritz, Wolff & Co.
The posh lodge model owned 19 properties on the time, together with the glamorous Carlyle Resort in Manhattan, which celebrities flock to after they go to for the Met Gala.
With Sonia on the helm, Rosewood has since expanded into a worldwide powerhouse for luxurious motels, with 34 places and one other 24 on the way in which.
It is pushed arduous into mainland China underneath the model title New World Accommodations, opening 16 extra properties in cities equivalent to Beijing, Sanya, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, for a complete of 51 motels and resorts.
Sonia has typically mentioned that she grew up within the lodge trade, since her father, Henry, began his profession as common supervisor of a lodge.
Her philosophy, in keeping with the Singaporean outlet Channel Information Asia, has been to ditch stuffy lodge requirements and entice youthful vacationers on the lookout for tailored experiences.
“There is a sense of discovery and curiosity after we go to motels, we do not need to go to a spot that does not replicate the native tradition,” she informed the outlet.
Rosewood’s Hong Kong property ranked second on the World’s 50 Finest Accommodations’ 2023 listing, with two different motels in São Paulo and Paris incomes spots as effectively.
Sonia is married to Paulo Pong Kin-Yee, who additionally comes from certainly one of Hong Kong’s wealthiest households, the Pongs. He is the founding father of Altaya Group, a wine wholesaler, and the boutique restaurant firm Categorized Group, which runs 5 places.
