Jill Goh is breaking ceilings in her hospitality career. She recently earned herself the title of first woman to lead the 36-year-old Mandarin Oriental Singapore.
Goh is no stranger to the luxury hotel brand or the Singapore property itself. She has held various roles within Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group since 1993.
Goh became general manager of Mandarin Oriental Singapore in January.
Previously, she served as resident manager both at Mandarin Oriental Singapore and Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park London until 2013. She then became corporate operations manager for Asia, based in Hong Kong. Most recently, she served as general manager at Mandarin Oriental's Macau hotel since 2015.
"I am delighted to return to where I first embarked on my career with Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group in 1993. Assuming the role as the property's first female general manager proves to myself that every individual has the capacity to achieve your dream regardless of one's background, gender, nationality, etc. We should not allow gender to take away opportunities and set a boundary to our dream as I always believe, let the sky be your limit and the world as your oyster," she said in an email interview with Hotel News Now.
Goh had the determination to "reach for the stars" at a young age.
"It was the artistic gene in me, having grown up in an artistic family and having a history of performance in music and public speaking, that triggered my career start in the hospitality industry, doing things beyond the norm and hence my venture into the travel and hospitality field," she said. "Till today, this unique gene in me is what propels me to continuously develop and excel in this industry as I was instilled from [a young age] to always 'reach for the stars.' The nature of our industry is also one of the motivating factors to why I stayed. This industry allows me to have the opportunity to further enrich my life experiences through the numerous travel opportunities to different countries and [immersion] in various cultures."
In her new role, Goh's on-property goals include redefining what luxury hospitality in Singapore looks like.
"This is the goal I would like to achieve with my team as we return with our new product offerings, for our rooms to our suites, to our restaurants and bars, as well as an array of experiences we curate for our guests," she said. "Aligned to our reopening theme of 'Exceptionally Singapore,' we would like to invite our guests to immerse in the destination when they are here at Mandarin Oriental Singapore."
Goh knows that competing in the luxury hotel segment has become more of a challenge as the definition of luxury shifts.
Hotels across the globe, including Mandarin Oriental Singapore, are expanding product offerings to maintain a competitive edge in the segment.
Mandarin Oriental Singapore completed its six-month, multimillion-dollar renovation in September 2023. The hotel has 510 rooms and first opened in 1987.
The hotel's refresh includes new guest rooms and suites, residential suites, a new lobby, redefined food-and-beverage outlets and an exclusive lounge.
"The recent transformation of our property brings forth an entirely refreshed look and feel, alongside a curation of experiences for our guests. In the past, our suites were located facing the city views, a prime view back then when the property was first built in 1987. With the development of the Marina Bay precinct, our 42 suites including our top-tier, signature Royal Marina Bay Penthouse and Presidential Suite will now face the most sought-after Marina Bay skyline or the stunning vistas of the South China Sea," Goh said.
The Mandarin Oriental Singapore debuted its refresh just in time to capitalize off of events, she said.
Numerous citywide events such as the Singapore Grand Prix, Taylor Swift's "Eras Tour" and many other events are contributing to an influx in tourism arrivals, which is in turn driving hotel room demand, Goh added.
Singapore hotels recently achieved healthy performance growth helped by Coldplay's "Music of the Spheres World Tour," according to preliminary January data from CoStar.
Occupancy for the month was 72.8%, which is up 9.6% from the previous year. During the same period, Singapore hotel average daily rate grew 334.46 Singapore dollars ($248.94), up 3.3%, and revenue per available room was 243.55 Singapore dollars, up 13.2%.
"Singapore posted its highest daily occupancy levels toward the end of the month, helped by six Coldplay performances that took place between Jan. 23-31. The market's highest occupancy levels (91.3%) were seen on Thursday, Jan. 25, and Friday, Jan. 26," according to a news release from STR, CoStar's hospitality analytics firm. "The market is expected to see another wave of high occupancy levels with Taylor Swift's 'Eras Tour' taking place March 2-4 and 7-9. Forward STAR data shows occupancy on the books already as high as 72% on opening night."
Mandarin Oriental Singapore has curated special programming and packages around events, including for the recent Lunar New Year.
For this year's Lunar New Year holiday, the property rolled out an accommodation package to go alongside the city's drone show, called "The Legend of the Dragon Gate: Drone Show by the Bay,” which took place in Marina Bay. A total of 1,500 drones illuminated the Singapore skyline and presented a story of a mythical dragon king. This year is the Year of the Dragon in Chinese zodiac.
The property rolled out a special accommodation package, called The Perfect Stay, where guests were given privileges such as dining credits, a seasonal welcome amenity and welcome cocktails as they watched the drone show from the hotel's Marina Bay-facing rooms and suites. In terms of food-and-beverage programming around the event, its outdoor lounge Bay@5 launched a limited-time Dragon Hour drinks package in conjunction with the drone show.
Overall, Goh said it's been encouraging to see the strong recovery of its tourism sector, especially from its key feeder markets such as the U.S., Australia and China. There's also been a notable increase in domestic tourism demand.
"The outlook for the hospitality sector is encouraging as we see Singapore plays host to several key international conferences and events as well as the announcement of travel arrangement such as the recent mutual agreement of 30-day visa free travel between Singapore and China. [This] inevitably will create positive growth in hotel demand," Goh said.