Interview with Willie Lau (IMHI 2017), Vice President & Head of Corporate Development at Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts

AAIMHI: What have you been up to since graduating from IMHI?

Willie: I’m probably one of the rare few who actually went back to the same company I worked for before IMHI. It wasn’t intentional as I had always wanted to stay in Europe. But life takes you to unexpected places and I’ve been here for the past 5 years. I restarted my career with Banyan Tree to drive development growth in Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Was in that role for around 3 years before switching to my current portfolio which involves corporate strategy, M&A, as well as our digital transformation efforts such as building in-house capabilities in data analytics. The pandemic forced many organizations to speed up their digital transformation plans and the hotel industry is definitely way overdue in this aspect. I’m also in the middle of another masters degree programme on data analytics and digital transformation. Never imagined doing anything tech related and I recall telling myself that I will not go back to school again after IMHI but here I am. Life takes you to unexpected places like I said. 

AAIMHI: You’ve certainly been busy! Was IMHI an accelerator for you throughout this journey?

Willie: We had great faculty from all over the world but for me personally, the honing of soft skills and management skills was more influential in my journey compared to textbook knowledge. I was a very introverted person (I still am actually!) when I first started IMHI, especially in a completely new environment and culture, but I gradually gained the confidence to engage with both peers and strangers. This helped tremendously when I was doing development work in new markets or embarking on projects that are outside my expertise, like the digital transformation work I’m doing now. Subject matter knowledge is important, but you don’t necessarily need to be an expert to be a successful leader. Working in teams with complimentary skillsets is a much better approach than trying to do everything yourself. That’s one of the key learnings I got from countless hours of project work during IMHI.  

AAIMHI: What are your fondest memories during your time at IMHI?

Willie: Most of my “best” memories are probably not suitable to be shared publicly! Jokes aside, a big highlight was participating as a student volunteer at the International Hospitality Investment Forum (IHIF) in Berlin. I’ve attended some hotel conferences in the past but nothing prepared me for the scale of IHIF. I remember feeling star struck seeing the top folks from major hotel groups in person. It was the equivalent of meeting the biggest celebrities, in our industry at least. 

Another highlight was participating in the MBA Tournament (MBAT) where students from all the top MBA programmes in Europe competed over a 3-day sports festival. My classmates found out about it by chance and it was actually the first time ESSEC participated. It was quite hilarious as all the other schools sent hundreds of students while we were a small but mighty group of 7. We found out too late that this was an extremely competitive event and most schools spent months doing intense training sessions while we went in with zero preparation but good spirits. Needless to say we fared spectacularly bad but we still had a fantastic time. I also discovered a knack for Pétanque even though I’ve never even heard of it. Not sure if IMHI or ESSEC still participates in MBAT but I hope they do! 

AAIMHI: Besides your hometown Singapore, you’ve also lived in Shanghai and Paris. Which is your favourite city?

Willie: Wow that’s a tough one. Singapore will always be home, while Shanghai and Paris are completely different. What I’ll say is that I miss the amazing food in Paris as well as the love-hate relationship with French culture. It can be all so charming but also frustrating sometimes. Oh! And of course the lifelong friends I made at IMHI too. I try to visit them in Paris every 1-2 years. They never come to Singapore even though they promised to do so. (Yes guys, I’m shaming you here. You know who you are!)

AAIMHI: Any final words to share?

Willie: On behalf of my batchmates, big congratulations to 40 years of IMHI! It’s a great achievement and we are all proud to call ourselves alumni.

AAIMHI: Thank you Willie for sharing your story with us! We hope to see you soon in Paris.