Mr. Chen Changzheng is an executive director of Link Hotel and has over 25 years of experience in the tourism industry. He graduated from the hotel management department of the Beijing Tourism College and obtained a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Southern California. He has worked in international hotel groups such as Kempinski and Hilton, and served as general manager of hotels in Hawaii and Los Angeles. He has made outstanding achievements in the US hotel industry as a rare senior hotel manager from mainland China.

The entrepreneur considers himself to be an “old-school Beijinger” and is very proud of his own culture. He has a set of rules and principles for doing things and his vision is unique, focusing on the local culture, and to integrate and bring to exercise.

In 2005, Mr. Chen, who was then the CEO of Hanghuo Investment Co., was invited by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to visit and prepare for the construction of the Tiong Bahru hotel project. The original plan of the Tourism Bureau was to change to a budget hotel, and Mr. Chen believed that the development potential of boutique hotels were relatively large.

At that time, those Housing and Development Board houses planned as hotels were dilapidated, and there were certain challenges in the modification. Mr. Chen saw the uniqueness of Tiong Bahru, and felt that it was more suitable for transformation into a higher-level boutique hotel. In order to understand the historical background of the area, he went to the library to collect information. The Singapore Tourism Board was very satisfied with Mr. Chen’s design concept, and at the same time promotes Link hotel in the Singapore Tourism Board.

As a result, Link Hotel opened in 2007 and is the first boutique hotel in Singapore to enter the neighbourhood. The 288 rooms transformed from three-bedroom and four-bedroom flats are known as the largest boutique hotels in the Singapore.

Mr. Chen’s father was also engaged in the hotel industry, he has been sincerely interested in the development of the hotel industry. He is the first section graduate of the Tourism College. Before coming to Singapore, he also worked with his wife Mrs. Dong Hankun in China and Hawaii. He has opened a hotel in Los Angeles, and accumulated a wealth of experience in hotel management. The couple worked side by side and supported each other.

Mr. Chen established the design and planning of more than 20 domestic star-rated hotels and several hotel projects in the early days of Foster Hotel Management Company, and personally participated in the preparatory and pre-operation of the Royal Macau Jinbao and Integrated Entertainment City Hotel, Quanzhou Huaxing Classic Hotel, Guilin Guishan Hotel, Xinjiang Henghe Huaxing Hotel, and Indonesia Bintan Integrated Resort and Real Estate Development Project.

He also participated in the cooperation model of pension industry in Zhangpu Taiwan Farmers Pioneer Park, Yangshuo Leisure Resort Project and the planning of Singapore Science and Technology Park in Yunnan Dianzhong New District.

Currently, Mr. Chen is actively promoting health and wellness projects, and plans to integrate them into tourism this year. He will establish a health care centre in Singapore and radiate it to Southeast Asia.

For Singapore’s tourism vision, the entrepreneur holds his own views. He bluntly said: “The two casinos really drive the tourism industry in Singapore. However, the promotional photos of the travel websites are generally dominated by the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, giving tourists a very superficial view. It seems that Singapore has only a glamorous and modern side. When tourists visit all the major tourist attractions, what else can attract them to look back? A country can promote history and culture, this is what makes people want to explore again and again.”