How Singaporean hotelier Cinn Tan is building a global brand

(Edited and refined by Grace Chong, with the assistance of AI translation.)

I met Cinn Tan about 20 years ago, when she had just returned to Singapore after a stint with Ascott’s China operations. We would run into each other at gatherings or galas every now and then, and whenever I saw her, I would think: she is really lucky. Time seemed to have forgotten her, leaving no trace on her face. Each time, she was still the Cinn I remembered, her eyes crinkling into a smile.

Now 58, she carries herself with the same elegance she has maintained for decades. That vitality and composure, radiating from within, may well explain how she has weathered the ups and downs of a career in the global hotel industry without ever losing her passion.

When asked why she was willing to build her career in China in her 20s, she tilted her head back and thought for a moment. She recalled that when she agreed to embark on a new professional adventure there, even her family and friends found it hard to believe. After all, China’s hotel market was still in its early stages of development.

But driven by curiosity about the unknown and an eagerness to explore new environments, she embraced the challenge, viewing every move to a new place as an opportunity to broaden her life.

“When I accepted the offer, everyone asked me, ‘Are you crazy?’ China had only just begun opening up, and the hotel industry was still in its early stages. But I saw it as an opportunity to be part of something new and to learn from an emerging market,” she said.

Over the years, she worked across eight cities in China, supporting hotel pre-openings, setting up and consolidating teams, and leading new properties. “Each new opening was a chance to step into a new city, take on a different challenge and learn something new. So whenever an opportunity came my way, my response was usually, ‘Sure, I’ll go.’”

The ‘Chinese cabbage years’

In 1994, during the golden age of China’s rapidly developing hotel industry, she joined international hotel groups including Lingnan Group, Century, Gloria, Ascott and Jin Jiang. Her career took her across eight Chinese cities, from Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan and Sanya to Beijing, Changchun, Suzhou and Shanghai.

At Yalong Bay in Sanya, she experienced one of the most unforgettable chapters of her career: helping establish Sanya’s first five-star resort. At the time, Sanya was far less international and developed than it is today, and the area around Yalong Bay was still a desolate stretch of dark shoreline and tidal flats.

Infrastructure was severely lacking, and the pressure of preparing for the opening was immense. Yet Tan embraced the experience, finding joy in the natural beauty where the sea merged with the sky, and turning the arduous preparations into a dialogue with nature and aesthetics.

While preparing a new hotel in Changchun, she encountered a completely different kind of challenge. It was the depths of winter, temperatures had plunged below minus 20°C, and the biting cold added a formidable physical challenge to the already demanding work. With the hotel yet to open, amenities in the surrounding area were rudimentary. Even vegetables were often limited to one variety: Chinese cabbage.

In the bitter northern winter, endless servings of Chinese cabbage became a lasting culinary memory.

“Changchun was certainly an experience. During winter, temperatures could fall below minus 20°C, and Chinese cabbage was practically the only vegetable available,” she recalled. “But I thought, why not? I wanted to experience something completely different. So I went.”

Faced with the extreme cold and monotonous diet, she and her team did not retreat. Instead, they treated the experience as a rare opportunity to grow. Amid the ice and snow, driven by her passion for the hotel industry, Tan made sure every detail of the preparations was carried out.

Those “Chinese cabbage years” became not only a unique mark on her life, but also laid a strong foundation for the confidence she would carry throughout her career.

It began in a hotel staff canteen

Tan’s first real glimpse of the hospitality industry came during a university holiday job in the staff canteen of a Shangri-La hotel. She was deeply moved by the industry’s people-centred culture, which led her to consider a career in hospitality.

Her entry into the industry was filled with challenges and opportunities. What gave her a profound sense of belonging — and respect — was not the grand lobby or glamorous guest rooms, but the small, human world she encountered in the staff canteen.

She was struck by its impressive scale, the abundance of ice cream and fresh fruit, and the culture of care in which the management looked after every employee with extraordinary attention.

“I remember thinking, ‘This industry really knows how to take care of its people.’ That was one of the things that made hospitality so special to me,” she said.

That early experience became the clearest expression of her professional convictions. Over the following decades, no matter how dramatically the industry changed or how fierce workplace competition became, her commitment to caring for and serving people never wavered.

It also became a powerful defence against burnout and ultimately shaped the management philosophy she would embrace as a leader: care for your employees, and you can create an exceptional guest experience.

After graduating, Tan joined the former Hotel Equatorial, which closed in 1998, and began her career at the starting level in sales.

At the time, hotel sales had little of today’s digital marketing or online channels. It meant getting out there and making cold calls. To build her own customer database and sales network, the company required staff to visit six or seven clients a day.

Tan doubled the target, making 13 to 15 client visits every day, without fail. She was determined to go the extra mile.

High heels and lorries

What made it even more demanding was that she had no established client base to rely on. Every day, in her high heels, she made her way to office buildings and even remote industrial estates to meet prospective clients.

This was before ride-hailing apps, when public transport could be inconvenient. To reach industrial areas, she would sometimes ask lorry drivers heading in that direction for a lift, so that she could pursue new business.

“I could easily wear out a pair of high heels every month,” she recalled.

That was no figure of speech. It reflected the sheer determination with which she worked day after day. Her relentless drive saw her promoted twice in just three years. By her third year, she had risen to sales manager, leading her own team.

Those pioneering years not only sharpened her business acumen but also gave her a profound understanding of what execution really means. In the hotel industry, every grand vision and carefully crafted service ultimately depends on the solid groundwork laid by people willing to get their feet on the ground and do the hard work.

Finding romance in Suzhou

From Suzhou to Shanghai and Beijing, and eventually back to Singapore for her daughter’s education, Tan’s career moved from city to city as her personal circumstances evolved.

She stressed that she was never the kind of career-driven machine who meticulously planned every step. More often, she simply followed where opportunities led, making choices guided by a genuine passion for and belief in her work. That ability to go with the flow has allowed her to remain calm and assured through the turning points of her life.

Of all the twists and turns in her international career, perhaps the most unexpected was meeting her husband while working in Suzhou.

She laughed as she recalled that his company was an important corporate client of the hotel where she worked. Their first encounter came after one of the members of her sales team had a minor disagreement with him. Concerned about preserving the valuable client relationship, Tan stepped in to resolve the matter.

Out of the little friction grew a bond between two people working far from home, and their relationship gradually blossomed into romance.

With a warm smile, Tan said, “You asked me which city in China I like most? Definitely Suzhou. Not only because of its rich cultural heritage, beautiful canals and bridges, but more importantly, because of the people I met there. The relationships I built in Suzhou are what made the city special to me.”

The cross-border workplace romance not only changed the course of her personal life, but eventually led her Taiwanese husband to build a life with her in both mainland China and Singapore.

From the Jiangnan water town of Suzhou to the cosmopolitan city-state of Singapore, her personal and professional paths have continually intertwined, reflecting her philosophy of taking life as it comes while always moving forward with purpose.

A truly Singaporean hotel brand

After years of experience with numerous international hotel chains, Tan has always carried a deep-seated aspiration: to play a meaningful role in building or promoting a truly representative Singaporean hotel brand.

Just as Marriott represents the US and Accor France, Singapore enjoys an excellent reputation in international tourism, yet it still lacks a major global hotel brand that is truly rooted in the Lion City and embodies its local spirit.

Tan understands that building such a brand cannot happen overnight. It requires Singapore’s distinctive multicultural heritage, world-renowned food culture, and spirit of being refined, efficient and warm-hearted to be seamlessly woven into a modern, international operating system.

This vision is not only a culmination of her career, but also a tribute to the land that nurtured her. She hopes to draw on her professional experience to give Singaporean brands a stronger identity.

So when Millennium Hotels and Resorts approached her late last year, she took on the challenge.

The group has as many as 12 brands. Tan is currently working to sharpen their positioning, enhance the customer experience, strengthen customer loyalty through more refined loyalty programmes, and improve collaboration across departments.

She stressed that her focus is on long-term value and building a strong foundation. For example, she would rather spend a year or two establishing robust internal systems and a distinctive brand identity than sacrifice brand development or the customer experience for short-term gains.

Not just a cold building

Tan understands that hotels are never merely cold buildings or a simple business of selling rooms. They are places that facilitate human connection and cultural experiences.

Only when the most important elements are built on solid foundations can a brand grow into a strong, enduring presence capable of withstanding the test of the market.

From a trailblazer who traversed industrial estates in high heels to an executive focused on integrating and shaping multinational brands, Tan’s story is one of drive and warmth.

It is not simply a story of professional success. It is the story of a seasoned manager who has measured the world with her own two feet, shaped brands with care and craftsmanship, and embraced life with sincerity amid the tides of history.

In the years ahead, this tireless hotelier and brand dream-builder will continue to carry her original intention and vision, writing more remarkable stories of travel and belonging between the snowy landscapes and bustling cities of the world.

This article was first published in Lianhe Zaobao as “酒店业“拼命三娘”陈思霖——跨国酒店逐梦路上 每月走坏一双高跟鞋”.

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