Before the Internet became the ubiquitous parenting aid, most children spent their childhoods in playgrounds, or running around their neighbourhoods with friends. Dawn Teo spent hers on a construction site. Her father Albert, the third-generation scion of a construction family, was a workaholic. The dusty grounds of 165 Tanjong Pagar Road was an incredibly significant site for the elder Teo. It was the family’s first venture into real estate. Before the hotel’s launch, he constantly tracked its progress with a young Teo by his side. She would wear a hard hat and gallivant through the sand and gravel between the heavy construction equipment and machinery.
When Amara Singapore opened, she walked around the premises folding napkins and setting tables while her father toiled in the office. “One bartender also taught me how to make mocktails,” Teo reminisces, laughing. She was only 10. There were Barbie dolls, of course, and other children’s toys. And then there were also the two stone lions guarding the hotel’s entrance. They would become companions in her imaginative mind.
Teo also accompanied her father to business dinners. They shaped her future, even though she had no inkling of the business at such a tender age. It was learning through osmosis. So, even after she graduated from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania followed by a long, storied career in investment banking with UBS Wealth Management and Credit Suisse, the seed of working for the family business took root, like a burdock gripping to the fabric of Teo’s mind.
When she finally took the plunge, there was no sudden spark of inspiration or one event that pushed her over the edge. “This property,” says Teo, gesturing around the Amara Singapore lobby where we’re seated, “has a lot of connection to me. I spent so much of my childhood here. I was looking for a sense of purpose and thought that if I’m going to look for something to work with, why not serve my family instead of serving others?”
Work And Family
As with most businesses, especially a large and rapidly growing one like Amara Singapore, which had already become an institution by the time Teo joined in 2015, there were many moving parts. She had to seamlessly integrate herself into the cogs. Together with her father, they created an action plan in which she would be immersed in all aspects of the company.
Playing softball and being part of a high-functioning team back in school prepared her for the rigours of managing and leading employees. “There’s a certain rigour and discipline that comes with every sport,” says Teo. “And in a team sport like softball, you must maximise everyone’s strengths. It’s like leading a business. We collaborate and work together to win.”
However, it wasn’t just the hotel she was worried about. She valued her relationship with her father, and she feared that it might become affected if they disagreed on professional matters. “Would we still have hotpot during Chinese New Year if he got really upset with me?” she says, laughing. Fortunately, the annual hotpot always boiled without fail.
Naturally, there have been challenges. A family business involves not only a physical employment contract but an unwritten social one that can drag out decision-making. It’s even more apparent in traditional Asian families like Teo’s. “I recognise that the fruits we enjoy today are the result of my elders’ hard work. While I respect that a lot, we also need to constantly grow and innovate.”
She notes that getting the support of all stakeholders, especially those who began the business, to welcome new practices can be challenging. That’s only natural. In chasing progress, heritage can be heavy luggage stuffed with unwanted memories. New leaders will always be tempted to throw everything out. However, when treated correctly, the past can be the foundation of a thriving business. But it takes a lot of time, effort, and understanding. Teo wears many hats, including that of a custodian carefully striking the balance between legacy and thereafter.
Moving Amara To The New Era
One of the hardest challenges was in 2016 when Teo had to convince management to let Jigger & Pony set up shop at the hotel lobby. Today, that decision must have seemed a foregone conclusion. The award-winning bar is 14th on the World’s Best 50 list in 2023, and has placed Amara Singapore on the world map. It also allowed the property to focus on more important things like the guest experience.
But, it wasn’t so almost a decade ago. Teo faced a lot of resistance. “At that time, we operated everything ourselves and a lot of the questions that came up revolved around bringing in another entity. We were doing fine. Every hotel ran its own bar,” she says.
Stability, however, breeds contempt, which is why she thought it was the right time to introduce something new. Teo went into the weeds and presented trends and numbers, such as the revenue per seat and the number of hours each employee worked, to demonstrate that it was the best move. As a result, everyone got on board. Today, Jigger & Pony is an integral part of Amara Singapore’s programming and a huge draw.
So, pitching the hotel’s latest refurbishment, expected to be completed later this year, proved easier. Amara has undergone several replacement and maintenance works since its opening in 1986. However, this is the second major overhaul in its history. It has been a sentimental exercise for many of the long-serving staff. Nevertheless, they all understood how vital revitalisation was to the hotel’s longevity.
Teo and the team worked with acclaimed hospitality design firm Hirsch Bedner Associates on the hotel’s new look, which took 12 months to complete. The lobby has went through a massive makeover. Gone are the long check-in counters. Instead, the first thing you’ll notice are the high ceilings. Then, the rows and rows of wine and champagne bottles at the back capture attention. Amara worked with wine importer Grand Vin to curate the selection, which includes the largest list of Champagne Louis Roederer in Singapore. Teo is an oenophile, and I suspect she paid extra attention to the Lobby Bar.
However, there was more to the revamp than just building new, shiny hardware. “We’ve grown so much with this neighbourhood and wanted to weave elements of it into the new Amara. We’re also proud to be a Singaporean brand,” says Teo. Granite steps pepper the lobby, symbolising the capping stones used by the old houses in the area. To pay homage to the bright exteriors of Peranakan shophouses, the ballroom is decked in vibrant green tiles.
There are also new sustainability-focused initiatives, which are de rigueur for all hotels now. From the removal of single-use plastic to sensors in every room to manage energy consumption, Amara is working towards Sustainable Hotel accreditation with the Global Sustainable Tourism Council.
The hotel is in talks with external partners such as the Triad Trails to introduce guests to the occasionally dark history of the Tanjong Pagar neighbourhood. Teo shares the hotel will also engage the artisans in the area to create more programming and content.
Boardroom and Living Room
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is another issue weighing heavily on Teo’s mind. Every industry is grappling with the implications and how it will upend their operations. Teo believes otherwise. “Yes, AI has arrived and it will only continue growing. But, in my opinion, it shouldn’t affect the front of house experience dramatically. You shouldn’t go to a hotel and check in yourself, then have robots bringing your bags up, and have no human contact along the way. It’s like going to a dinner party and the host isn’t home,” she says.
Instead, she sees AI making a greater impact on the back end. For example, engineering requests such as fixing a broken faucet can be automated, or the system automatically flagging room preparations when someone checks out. This leaves staff free to focus on the most important thing: the guest.
In many ways, Amara’s evolution mirrors Teo’s journey from a young girl playing on the dusty grounds of the construction site to the fourth-generation scion of a legacy brand and having children of her own. She recalls a book her brood enjoys reading. It’s titled If I Built A House. Chris van Dusen wrote it. In it, the young protagonist describes his dream house in rhyme. There are trampolines, ball pits, and giant slides, with a conveyor-style car wash for the shower. It’s fantastical and wholly impractical, but gave Teo the idea to ask her children what they would include if they built their own hotel.
“I did a focus group with my kids, as geeky as it sounds,” she says, chuckling. But, her reasons were grounded in reality. “We always try to build a family programme from the perspective of the adult, never children, and frankly, the latter are the ones deciding.” So, Teo noted down the ideas that her kids threw out. Of course, not everything came to fruition. For example, she briefly considered the petting room with dogs and cats before putting it on the back-burner. But that turned into the Pampered Paws staycation programme, where owners can bring their dogs for a stay, at Amara Sanctuary Sentosa.
“Wi-Fi is also very important to them,” says Teo, a hint of mock exasperation in her voice. “They were insistent on not having colouring books! They kept telling me no one likes to colour anymore.”
Balancing work and children has been a trial by fire, and Teo is grateful for her own hospitality team at home who helps her keep all the balls juggling in the air. While one or two might occasionally drop, she has realised that not every ball is made from glass. Some are plastic, and can be picked up again so that life can continue. Now, she’s embraced the philosophy of failing fast and intelligently. “You cannot expect perfection in today’s world. Instead, take measured risks and adjust as you go along,” she says.
Fortunately, she has company: the watchful eyes of her father and the two stoic stone lions at the hotel’s entrance. They remind her of her legacy.
Photography Wee Khim
Styling And Art Direction Chia Wei Choong
Hair and Makeup Rick Yang/Artistry Studios, using Guerlain and Keune
Photography Assistant Ivan Teo
Styling Assistant Julia Mae Wong
