The trailblazing hotelier and restaurateur says it's not just business when it comes to his projects
The photo shoot with hotelier and restaurateur Loh Lik Peng takes place in Nouri, the Singapore restaurant he opened with chef Ivan Brehm last year to instantaneous acclaim, and it is a space with a cool touch of Zen.
“I think it looks very beautiful,” Lik Peng says, as the photographer asks him to attempt a contemplative look. By way of encouragement, we quip that he should just think about his empire, which includes award-winning establishments in Singapore, Sydney, Shanghai and London. In response, Lik Peng gives his signature hearty laugh. “Actually, I’m just not that interested in growing an ‘empire',” he says. “Our projects are based on passion. We do take the business side of things seriously, but it’s not purely driven by money.”
Steering passion projects was somewhat simpler when he kickstarted the boutique hotel trend in Singapore with Hotel 1929 in 2003, followed by New Majestic Hotel in 2006. These days, demand for such conservation properties is white-hot. He sold Hotel 1929 in 2013 for US$27.5m—10 times what he paid a mere decade ago. As for New Majestic Hotel, it closed in 2017, and the property is now leased to a private members’ club. “From a business point of view, closing New Majestic was a logical decision. We’d have had to invest a lot to renew the hotel,” Lik Peng explains. “But from an emotional point of view, it was a difficult decision. I mulled on it probably longer than I should have.”
“We can’t work with the numbers being bandied about for these sorts of conservation properties anymore”, he says matter-of-factly. “It’s become a big boys’ game because the prices are astronomical. The level of adventurism that used to come with those spaces, I think that’s much harder to achieve now. I have mixed feelings about it, frankly.”
It may come as a surprise that he considers his umbrella brand Unlisted Collection to be a niche player. “And we are happy to stay that way. We don’t go into malls, we don’t try to open 50 restaurants under the same brand. I don’t think I’d be very good at that. The ability to innovate and move to new spaces all the time remains important to us.”
