It's Personal Stories, A Hospitality Podcast

Raini Hamdi, Awarding Winning Journalist, Interviewed by David Kong

• David Kong

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Award winning journalist Raini Hamdi shares her career journey and factors that contributed to her success. We discuss networking, risk taking, and how she found strength and resilience to overcome setbacks. She reflects on her interviews with industry leaders and shares her thoughts on important leadership traits, strategic agility and turning crises into opportunities. Raini also offers thoughts on self-empowerment.

David Kong:

Greetings. I'm David Kong, the founder and principal of D E I Advisors. We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to self-empowerment. Today I'm delighted to welcome Raini Hamdi, a well-known business journalist stationed in Asia. She writes for several international business publications and also runs her own website, hotels-asia.com. Before going independent in August of 2021, Raini was with Skift and ttg Asian media. She has written two books and among the many accolades she has received. She was the journalist of the year presented by Asia Pacific Travel Association. Welcome to our show, Raini.

Raini Hamdi:

Thank you very much, David, for having me. I really enjoy seeing you, albeit is on Zoom because the last time it was in Singapore, and that was 2019 when I interviewed you and now you are interviewing me. How exciting is that?

David Kong:

I enjoy being able to turn the table and interview accomplished journalists like you for a change. It's great to have you on the show, Rainey, but let's start with your career journey. You've certainly had a very colorful and exciting career journey. Can you share some of the highlights with us and the factors that led to your success?

Raini Hamdi:

Yeah, I was lucky that I knew what I wanted to be, David. I wanted to be a journalist, period. I love words. I'm curious and I like to get to the bottom of things. And the word journalist was just so appealing to me compared with doctor, lawyer, or. Banker, which are more prestigious jobs as all parents would say, at during my time at least. I'd like to talk also about the paradox of having too many choices about what we want to do. But it, the paradox is that with so many choices, it can be limiting and distracting. I love reading. Liu, our founding father, and he once gave this advice to young people on how to live a fulfilling life. And I always remember this line that he said, don't force yourself down to a specific path because is deemed high paying. Just figure out what you're good at naturally. And. Seize your chances. I guess that's what I did. And my first break was with a newspaper in Singapore. It's called the Singapore Monitor, and it was set up to rival the stretch times, which was monopoly. I had no experience, so they put me right at the bottom as an editorial assistant. And one of my key jobs was to wait for the reporter to who, who was in court covering a civil or criminal case and to wait for her or him to call me and dictate that story to me over the phone because at the time we didn't have Internet yet. But that experience really taught me the value of being accurate and and to be very careful, in writing. Later. I got another break at the monitor. The real estate in Singapore was booming and they decided to create what is called a property desk. So we had four reporters there and I was finally a cup reporter, and then I became reporter. The, I didn't want, I really preferred to be on News Desk, because it's more wide ranging. It's more, exciting. But the property thing is that, the beauty is that it led me to, to hotels because, hotels is part of the real estate coverage. Unfortunately they closed down the paper three, three years later. Because I think in Singapore, Two rival papers. The authorities are not so comfortable with that, to say the least. I then joined the Singapore Hotel Association, which needed a writer for their magazines, and that was how I got to know hotels better. Then I joined E T G Asia, which was the travel trade publication in the region. It was the leader, and that was how I broadened my scope to cover not just hotels, but to operate the airlines and so forth. And not only Singapore, I went regional covering Asia. So I left after ttg after many years and joined Skiff, which I also enjoyed tremendously, but my life partner retired and we decided to spend more time together. And so I've chosen now to be an independent, not to be bound by any company or office, time and structure. So I guess what I wanted to say is that my experience shows that the dots will connect if you really know what your passion is. Yeah. Was that too longwinded?

David Kong:

Yeah.. Certainly sounds like a very exciting journey leading to where you are today. And I love what you said earlier about. The career path is usually not as straight lined up. Sometimes you have to take lateral moves and take risks to broaden your horizon. Very good points, and we're gonna talk about that in just a few minutes, but let's talk about the challenges and setbacks that you've faced. How do you find strength and resilience to overcome and eventually prevail?

Raini Hamdi:

Okay. For many years I was very disappointed that I couldn't go to university after my A levels because my dad passed away when I was 18 and I had to take care of my mother. I had to go to, to work right after college. I was really lucky that the Singapore Monitor gave me a chance. And I guess part of the reason why I was so eager to be a journalist is that it would be my university for life. I prevail because I think hardship is really a strong motivator to succeed and to survive. I also. A lot to the Singapore Hotel Association. I'm not sure if you're familiar with them, but the executive director then the late Mr. Singh, he was a visionary and he set up the first. Hotel school in Asia, in Singapore that's Shaak and Shaik actually collaborated with e hhl in back, e even we way back then to produce graduates in hotel management. So one day Mr. Parker came to me and he said Hey, ran, why don't we offer you a scholarship to do that three year program? And you can then afterwards be a journalist covering or specializing in hotels. Of course I agreed and if you knew Park here, he was a very convincing man. And I did enjoy the program. It really taught me how difficult the hotel business is. I guess I could have switched my career at that point and be a hotelier. But I really stuck to what I wanted to do.

David Kong:

You are very good at what you do. I'm glad that you chose your path. It's not that you couldn't be a good hotelier either, but so many people have benefited from your covering the stories and sharing the wisdom from all the leaders. Now, some people have said that your network is your net worth. And I agree that there's a lot of sense to that. Certainly we all should think about extending our network. You have a very vast network. You know so many people and so many people call your friends. So can you share your tips on networking with us?

Raini Hamdi:

David, actually, a big glass of wine always helps at networking parties. No, actually, to be honest, I was really very shy, but I got used to it. There was just so many events we had to cover. There's so many networking parties many conferences. Trade shows, forums that you end up invariably meeting the same people and then they introduce you to other people. And so over years it just becomes easier over time, just like public speaking or exercising. But I do think journalists have an advantage in that. We used to asking, People questions. And once they open up they tend, we could get them to share a little more. But the key to that is actually listening, as so I guess if you want to network one good skill is listening skills, which means I think being genuinely interested in the person you're speaking with. But there's also a downside in that people sometimes don't want to talk to you because you are a journalist. For virtual networking, I must say I cannot thank LinkedIn enough and I would advise, this is not a promotion for LinkedIn. I don't have a reason to do but I did make a lot of new connections. Or actually I could get in touch with people who I don't have their emails and then, through LinkedIn and I also. Got a lot more, a lot of followers actually. I'm blessed and that expanded network really helped me in my job. I hope that answers a little bit of

David Kong:

yeah, no, that's very good advice and I'd like everything that you said you use your existing network and extend them to other networks, and that's a very smart thing to do. And taking a genuine interest in people is also very good advice. Also, it gets easier, right? Some people feel uncomfortable going out there and saying hi to people and making small talk, but it gets easier, like exercise. Very good advice indeed. We talked a little earlier about taking risk and a lot of the advisors that have been on our show have talked about the importance of taking risk and broadening one's horizon. And experience, and I certainly have found that to be very useful for me. Now, what's your thought on that? Taking risk and broadening one's horizon.

Raini Hamdi:

One risk taking lesson I really learned was not taking risks specifically. I think there is a real disadvantage if you stay too long at any company, no matter how fantastic that company is, because looking back If I had taken the risk to say move maybe once or twice more, I would probably gain new perspectives. Leaving a comfort zone would toughen me up further as I would have to adapt to new environments, new colleagues, new systems, new ideas. And today as we all have to be more adaptable and they don't really teach you that at school So you gotta find or force yourself to, and find ways to be more adaptable. I guess that's one of my biggest regrets, not taking risks to move because I was very comfortable.

David Kong:

Yeah. No I do agree with you that taking risks is uncomfortable because you leave what is familiar and comforting to something that's new.

Raini Hamdi:

I'm sorry. No. Ahead. Sorry, go ahead. I'm just being curious again. I really like to know your own experience with this because I think you're also one of the if not the longest serving c e o at a hotel chain. Do you feel like you lost out in a way if you don't move? Several times, although there's no need to.

David Kong:

No, for me, I found that taking risk and venturing into uncharted territory has been tremendously beneficial. As I worked my way up the ladder as a busboy and dishwasher to being a general manager of the hotel, and I was very comfortable being a lived, live in general manager where you can order room service for dinner and take the elevator to work. It's a tremendous lifestyle, as but then I was asked to go to the office to head up. What's called the business process re-engineering efforts at Hyatt. And that's basically a way to finding a new way to do business to become much more effective and efficient and thereby generate a much better profit. And that was uncharted territory cuz nobody had done that job before. And I took that on and subsequently I. Filled up the database marketing efforts for Hyatt. At that time in the nineties, nobody's even heard a database. I launched the first hyatt.com. At that time, the internet was very nascent and not many people knew about it. And I got into electronic distribution. I got into sales and marketing using database. To deploy the sales staff and to market to people. And so I did a lot of things that were in what's called uncharted territory, but that gave me such wonderful experience. Yes. And then I went and became a consultant with kpmg. Oh. And, which is another new thing that I did. But I forced myself to leave the comfort zone and acquired all that valuable experience. So when I went to Best Western and I worked my way up the letter and. I had five promotions in three and a half years to become the c e o. People say you lucky. I don't think I was lucky. Certainly lucky had something to do with it, but that vast experience that I have got it along the way, had helped me tremendously. I was much more marketable. That's a candidate that, just another person in the industry. Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, I think taking risk has helped me tremendously. Now, you have interviewed a lot of very successful leaders in the industry and outside of our industry, and there are so many lessons that we can learn from them, but let's talk about strategic agility first, the ability to pivot quickly, to react proactively to disruptors and also to serve the competition. Can you share some stories and learnings?

Raini Hamdi:

Actually, when you mentioned the word strategic agility, the first person that comes to my mind is across Sebastian Baan. He could see that lifestyle was going to be big, right? And so he really went and snap up all the not all, nearly one brand a year, one lifestyle brand, a year from 2014. To 2020. So it's like Mama shelter, right? And then you have 25 hours s v e and of course Anni Small. Then he connected all the dots, and now as we can see, our core really is a heavyweight in lifestyle. And this. Was a hotel company, that was just famous for being mid-range, and now it's changed its image. It's got the lifestyle globe, but also the the upper luxury brand with brands like Raffles, orient, express, famines. So I think that's quite a turnaround, and that's strategic agility to me. Okay. I think if we go to Asia, I, I would say ho founder. He was well ahead of wellness and sustainability with Vanian Tree, and he's not averse to pivoting either. So now he's seeing his rainbow tourism flourishing. Now, this was a term he coined about 10 years ago. I'm not sure if you've heard that somewhere, but it was written. By some of us. So it describes the burst of people of all colors. So you have the Middle Eastern Indians south Koreans Chinese, Japanese, even pink people. So this burst of people, suddenly traveling the world instead of one color before, which was white and. Traveling in one direction, which was east. And all these new set of travelers what they want are experiences. Which, Stuck for a long time, like 30 years to just two, two or three, three brands has pivoted to become a multi-branded organization now in just a few years. Actually, COVID probably accelerated it, but it's not just for, at least they're original about it. It's not just about launching brands because one of the. Brands. I think for example, it's the bunion tree Escape, which is a sub-brand of bunion tree. I'm not sure if you heard that the first property in Bali is 20 villas open air, no windows, no dose. It's a naked retreat. That's how it's built. The idea is to for, to allow guests to be in one, with nature. I'm not sure how it works because, I'm scared how creepy crawlies and I dunno how, they're going to keep those creepy crawlies out. But I guess I, I'll go find out Definitely. So I, okay. Do you, do we have time for one more example? If you.

David Kong:

These are both wonderful stories and examples. And of course both of them are industry icons and I greatly admire what they have done with their respective companies. Sebastian, especially I'm a big fan of him. He's really transformed the core hotels and there's so many wonderful things that he is done. One of the things that he tried but failed at is actually opening up the whole reservation system to anybody. To, to all hotels. You don't have to be a co-branded or even soft branded. Yeah. You can leverage a reservation system and pay a commission. Although his franchisees had an uproar, he eventually had to stop it. But I thought that was a brilliant move. Also building on the success of the reservation system and enriching it further by including so much more inventory in it. He was certainly very. Yeah, strategically agile, I would say. Yeah. Not everything works, the things that work are really paying handsome dividends. Yeah. Both of them might admire greatly. Great examples. Thanks for sharing Rainy and talking about that. What are some of the other leadership traits that you've noticed and highly effective CEOs of different hotel companies?

Raini Hamdi:

I think it is astonishing how they could see into the future and how they act quickly to seize the opportunity. The other of course they're charismatic, usually, and they're able to communicate clearly. Openly and even admit mistakes. I have to go back to Sebastian Baan because I remember I interviewed him in 2020 at skip Global Forum and I asked him why there was so few female leaders in his reorganization and he admitted outright it was his fault and he failed miserably. Because at the EXCO level that's only around 20%. Female leaders, but he also pointed out that he's trying very hard. For example, in gender equality at GM level is 50 50 now, and that he had also achieved 100% of salary equality for men and women throughout a call anywhere in the world. So he asked to give him five more years for him to get it right. With that kind of frankness, it's hard not to win over. When people are your case, right? So I think that honesty, especially for us journalists is much appreciated Then another leader, okay? Hos shall say, he's a study of being a. Passionate about what you do. Because when he was in Singapore, opening the Capella Hotel, he showed me around personally and his site inspection took hours. David, I was so exhausted after that. But then, but okay. One more thing. I also met many kind, humble, and gracious leaders, and I must say you are one of them. KP is also another example because when I became a group editor at T G Asia, I asked my younger colleagues, who in the industry they would dream of interviewing. And one of them yin said kp. So I I asked k AP if my my colleague here can interview him. And he agreed it was different when I was interviewing this big door operator boss in Thailand, ceo, and he kept reminding me I was too young or a cop reporter, so I had to I should be learning more about the business before I interview him. You get all sorts of people. Yeah. But I think we do have very fantastic it's a fantastic industry. It is a privilege to interview CEOs and, try and get into their head and understand what you're trying to do. I love that part about my job.

David Kong:

Yeah. Great stories for sharing. Switch gears and about Crisis cuz many of us face a different crisis. And the word crisis in Chinese is actually comprised of two characters, opportunity and challenge. So we see opportunity. Opportunity and most challenges. And in your experience interviewing all these accomplished leaders, can you share some stories of how some of those leaders have turned? Crisis situation. A challenge into an opportunity.

Raini Hamdi:

You asked very good questions and very difficult questions, David? No. We saw how, hotel CEOs finally reduce the large corporate offices clustered job functions at property level 10 hotels into quarantine. During Covid, right? So that's making the best out of a crisis. But I do remember one, two operator in Yanmar. This operator happened to have a counseling business, although it's not their core business, but when to, is dried up because of Covid and the military coup, they suddenly. Got a lot of requests from corporate clients and international NGOs who want to. Take care of the mental stuff of their staff, mental health of their staff in Yanmar. So this operated doubled down on the counseling business and while they charge commercial rates to the corporations and to international NGOs, they actually gave a lot of free support to local NGOs and people who One, to to, to, they need mental support, but they, they couldn't afford it. So for example, they give twice weekly emotional workshops for free to anybody who needs that. And then they also started sponsorship. For scholarships to any local who wants to be a counselor. And, they are independent. They didn't depend on any donors. I don't want to mention the name because I wanted to do a story and They were afraid that it might come out. The military would think that they are saying that they, the military is responsible for making people go mad. But obviously it is. It is their responsibility. Yeah. But that's a nice not a nice, but I think, you really have to see a crisis and then do the best you can with it. And some people like that do.

David Kong:

That's a great story. I love that. And it's reminds me of what I saw in the industry during Covid, some companies pay particular attention to taking care of the Outplace employees, providing them with healthcare coverage and, raising funds to help them with everyday expenses and in general, stay in touch with them and taking care of them. And those are the companies that came back stronger. Than ever because those employees are so engaged with a company that felt such loyalty towards them. That's a perfect example of how you turn a crisis into an opportunity. Thanks for sharing that. I see that we're running out of time. Time flies when you're having fun. I feel like I can talk to you the whole day, but regrettably, we're running a long time. So lets ask you one more question, which is, About self-empowerment. This show is about self-empowerment. What what is your final advice on self-empowerment?

Raini Hamdi:

Watch your interviews. I think I think it's I mean it's difficult because I did also suffer. A need for acceptance. And a lot of it was due to my childhood. I was born Chinese and I was given away to Malay parents, who luckily for me were very kind and who loved me. But growing up in Singapore, the Malay kids, kids, being kids and the Malay kids didn't want to play with me because I didn't look like them. And the Chinese kids they, they wanted Why? I have a Indian sounding name. Rani. Rani, so they make fun of me. But then As I grew older I became interesting to adults because know my background. I never felt though, I never felt that I was fake. As the word imposter implies what I felt was I was not enough. In my worst moments. I think oh, my parents must have given me away because I was so bad. Oh I was less, I'm less because I didn't go to university and that kind of thing. Sometimes it's the people. We meet and I met my life partner and he's my biggest champion. And for the first time in my life I felt I was enough. So self-empowerment, you have to keep no, you asked me about what, yeah, about, about empowering ourselves, I think I think have a short memory on the injustices of life, whether it's perceived or real, and just for on, we have it within ourselves, that's been my journey actually. And really I meant it. Go watch David's interviews. I think you are doing, you, congratulations on creating such a relevant platform. There's so much to learn from other people, and I'm really excited to listen to more of these advisors because, really once a week at least would be, when or whenever there's more time to do it, would. Would really be beneficial. Thank you so much, David, for having me.

David Kong:

Oh, you're very kind, Rainey. It's a delightful, it's been a delightful conversation. I always learned from talking to all our advisors, including you. Thanks so much for sharing your wisdom with us. Regrettably, we're coming to the end of the show and to our audience, if you enjoy the show, I hope you will visit us on our website, dei advisors.org. Randy, thanks again. I appreciate taking the time. I know you're joining us from Zurich and dot convenient for you and I appreciate your making an effort and taking the time to be with us.

Raini Hamdi:

Thanks. Thank you having me. Yeah. Bye David.