“You change what you can control, and go on,” says Kuching boutique hotelier
It was just slightly over 10 years ago when Rosemarie Wong burst onto the Sarawak hospitality scene with her boutique hotel, The Ranee. Brimming with enthusiasm and energy, she spoke of how she wanted to change the image of boutique hotels in the East Malaysian state – how a boutique hotel could command similar rates as a five-star branded hotel.
Rosemarie Wong at her new retail space at Borneo Cultures Museum.
“People were asking me, how can you charge the same rate for a shophouse as the Hilton,” she recalled. Well, she proved that at its height, she could although these days, post-pandemic, a check on Google shows The Ranee tracking about US$30-$50 behind the Hilton on most OTA sites.
So one pandemic, and a decade later, I asked Wong if she still feels the same level of enthusiasm about the state of Sarawak tourism and hospitality. She laughed, “Of course, I have learnt a lot of lessons, that some things take time, but what you do is stay on course, change what you can control and go on.”
Indeed, while the pandemic has been tough – The Ranee was closed for over a year when borders were closed – she’s taken the time to expand her hospitality and retail business with The Marian Boutique Lodging House (which opened in 2017) and the Ranee Artisan Gallery, which runs two floors of retail space at the newly-opened Borneo Cultures Museum.
She also held on to her team. “We didn’t retrench anyone. Our staff has been with us a long time, and we came to an agreement that we’d keep them on but if they could make an effort to find part-time work as well, that would help. We offered them jobs at another business, Rumah Asap, and some did Grab delivery and home catering. We pulled through together.”
When domestic tourism could start – the Sarawak government initiated a “Siasitok” campaign to encourage local travel by subsidizing 50% of travel costs – she pivoted to the domestic market. Prior to the pandemic, 70% of her customers came from outside Malaysia and The Ranee and Marian had to find a new market.
“The campaign worked well for us and we found customers at the higher end – couples, honeymooners. The Ranee, being a no-children hotel, was especially popular with couples who wanted to get away from their children,” laughed Wong. “We offered 40% discounts to locals and those who had always wanted to stay with us took the opportunity. Locals discovered our hotels and now we are seeing an increase in Malay travellers to the Marian.”
As travel has rebounded, Wong is hopeful for 2023. “We are seeing better business than pre-pandemic, people are hungry to travel and are willing to spend more on experiences and on food & beverage.”
West Malaysians and expatriates from Singapore are among new customers who have discovered her hotels. While online bookings through OTAs remain strong, Wong said she was pleased to see offline make a comeback with tour operators like Borneo Adventure and CPH returning with group business.
“The traditional tour operator business dwindled during the pandemic but we see it trickling back with smaller groups and special interest groups, like bird watching clubs.”
Welcome to the Marian Boutique Lodging House, a labour of love in heritage conservation and story telling
The Marian Boutique Lodging House itself is a labour of love in heritage conservation and story telling as well. Formerly the family residence of tycoon Ong Ewe Hai, and built in 1885, it was sold to the Anglican church which used it as a boarding house for the nearby St Mary’s Girls School. In the 1960s, it became a guest house for visiting priests and was later left empty.
The site was put up for tender in 2012 and Wong recalled “we had less than three days to submit a proposal and we told our story about what we wanted to do with the building – beyond hospitality, a food & beverage space as well as retail.”
It is in the area of f&b that The Marian has scored a hit. When she put up the lodging house’s restaurant space at the Granary for tender – the previous tenant called it quits during the pandemic – Wong awarded it to a local Chinese media company, Sarawak Eye. Although they had no experience in f&b, Wong liked their enthusiasm (probably seeing herself as she was 10 years ago) and their ideas to create a local eatery around the cuisine of Borneo.
Their media savviness has made The Kantin at the Granary the talk of town with social media hashtags bursting with as much flavours as the food served in this once-a-warehouse space.
“I am very happy it’s such a success story,” said Wong. “They came in during the pandemic and brought in a wave of new diners. It’s an all-women media team and they wanted to try something different. I felt this was the key – if you are enthusiastic and passionate, you can and will make a success. If you are in the job because of the money, you won’t last long.
The Kantin at the Granary: Leveraging Gastronomic City status by playing up the cuisine of Borneo.
With Kuching declared a Gastronomic City by UNESCO, the Kantin wants to carry that flag proudly and is looking to expand beyond Sarawak.
Wong, who is also president of the Sarawak Heritage Society, is also passionate about Sarawak’s arts and crafts. During the pandemic, she had to close two retail outlets but continued her crafting projects. She was forced to set up an online store. “If it weren’t for the pandemic, we wouldn’t have done it so thank you – it’s doing pretty well.”
It submitted for two grants to help its local communities stay engaged and employed.
At the end of 2021, it was invited to tender for the shop at the Borneo Cultures Museum. “We were unsure whether to take it on, retail was not looking good but an opportunity like this only comes along once and I believe, longterm, it could be worth doing.”
“With our own two retail outlets, we saw untapped opportunities. We have a lot of talented makers who have nowhere to showcase their products, so we decided to take that big leap.”
The new retail space, at 3,000 square feet, spans two floors and she had less than two months to open the shop. “We took the risk even before the paperwork was signed – we designed the space, got quotations, carpenters and went into work,” said Wong. It took whatever stocks it had left from its two shops, slowed down online sales, and stocked up the new space, which features works from close to 100 artisans across Borneo. The upper floor is an art gallery, a free space for Sarawak artists.
“It is doing well, but it’s early days,” said Wong. “I never planned to go into retailing. It started with a café at The Ranee, and a charity corner to showcase a few pieces of arts and crafts. But guests were asking, where can we go to buy good pieces of art? We made a lot of mistakes and learnt the hard way, but really I have no regrets.”
Wong’s next project is converting one unit of shophouse for short-term rentals on Airbnb and expanding into residences for longer term stays, given Sarawak’s attractive Malaysia My Second Home programme which has made it quite the magnet for foreign expats looking for a second home and digital nomads looking for remote work possibilities.
And if you ask Wong where she sees her heritage hospitality, lifestyle, art business 10 years from now, she said, “What has always inspired me is, if Jim Thompson can do it successfully for Thailand, why can’t we do it for Sarawak? Why can’t we do something as good for Borneo?”
