Letter from Amsterdam: Canals, coffee shops and contradictions
As in Fort Lauderdale, my room overlooks the ocean – only this time, it’s the North Sea and the air is decidedly colder and blustery.
I am told this is Holland’s finest beach and I haven’t dared venture out to the sand yet. I do like the contradiction of Christmas trees and beach [...]
A week of dramas, online talk and rainbows
It’s the day after the PhoCusWright Conference in Fort Lauderdale. After the heavy rains of last night – thought I was back in Singapore with palm trees being lashed by heavy rainfall – there’s more bluster than breeze in the air and the waves are strong and choppy.
It’s been a ra [...]
Letter from Ft Lauderdale: Putting a 28-hour journey into context
Sunrise in Fort Lauderdale (right) and morning walk on Hollywood beach
Landed in Fort Lauderdale after 28 hours of journey time and have to say, not feeling as ragged as I thought I’d be.
I had had som [...]
Letter from Shanghai: Redefining the China Dream – Kim Kardashian cannot be a role model
Just returned from Shanghai and wondering what’s the point of being rich if you can’t breathe? Okay, perhaps I am being over-dramatic but often one has to be to illustrate a point.
I was fortunate to have two clear days out of four in Shanghai but yet the one day I was out sitting in traffi [...]
Think like an immigrant, work like an artisan and live in beta
It’s the new formula for workers in the new sharing economy and I couldn’t have picked a more appropriate place to write this piece than Shanghai, gateway to 1.35 billion people in a country that’s on beta-steroids.
(Pictured left: Shanghai by day)
At the WIT Conference, Philip Wolf, fo [...]
Explaining ICCA to youths and what it takes to be an entrepreneur
I am headed to Shanghai today to attend the ICCA annual conference. Yesterday, my nieces, one of whom works in hotels and the other in a digital media agency, asked me what ICCA was and what the conference was about.
I told them that ICCA stood for International Congress & Convention As [...]
Take time to learn from silver surfers and grow your market
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet four Japanese seniors – two couples – who were visiting Singapore. One couple’s last visit to Singapore was 40 years ago and, of course, their impression is, “It’s completely changed.”
They stayed at the Marina Bay Sands, dined and wined at t [...]
Lessons from WIT: Key ideas from Day 1
Sitting at Penang airport and just got the news on my social feed that Lou Reed is finally taking the wildest walk of his life. Reed, 71, was a huge influence on blues and rock in his time and his words and music always made me smile for all that it implied.I feel like I too have just taken a walk o [...]
Letter from Hong Kong: Some pick hotels for returns, others for romance
Just returned from Hong Kong after attending the HICAP conference – good to see how the event has grown since its early days when it was held at the Kowloon Shangri-La.
It’s a sign of the growth of the hotel industry in our part of the world – when it began in 1989, the business was being dri [...]
Letter from Guangzhou: Mobile rules, outbound’s the new black
Alipay has 700 million customers. There were 83.2 million outbound trips in 2012 and Chinese travellers spent US$102 billion overseas. 98% of Chinese travellers, totaling 295 million, own a smartphone.At every conference, staggering numbers about the Chinese market are thrown at you. On their own, [...]
